Invention Workshop allows UWS researchers and students opportunity to pitch their ideas

UWS Innovation and Intellectual ventures (IV) jointly hosted an Invention Workshop for a select group of UWS researchers and honours students, where attendees were able to pitch their research and ideas to a small group of technology investors for feedback.

In addition to Dr Scott Needham from IV Australia, a special guest on the panel was Dr James Wang, Director of Invention Development at IV China. James is responsible for the Physical Science Group, and before joining IV was founder of several start-ups in Silicon Valley and Shanghai. Prior to that, James was a senior scientist and manager at Pfizer, working on biomaterials and medical device development.

With billions of dollars under management, IV are specialists at assessing and investing in some of the world’s most promising and cutting edge inventions.

Honours students Chris Godfrey, Simon McElduff and Linren Zhou presented their idea for the development of a novel two-way-shape memory polymer matrix, while Dr Grace Yan from Civionics/School of Engineering pitched her idea on wireless structural monitoring.
James and Scott provided invaluable feedback in regard to material selections, developing a business case, and attracting investors and collaborators.

The workshop was a great success and confirms UWS’s growing capability in developing innovative ideas.

2011 NSW Pearcey Award winners announced

Image: Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner announces the winner of the Annual Pearcey Award in ICT.


The NSW Pearcey awards were announced on 12 October 2011, with Simon Pool and Steve Frisken of Waterloo-based Finisar Australia named NSW’s Entrepreneurs of the Year in the information and communications technology field.

In 2001, Mr Poole and Mr Frisken founded Engana, which developed wavelength selective switching technology that is now being used in the national broadband network. Now trading as Finisar Australia, their company is a world leading manufacturer of wavelength selective switches for optical communications networks, with annual export revenues of over $350 million.

Speaking at the event, Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner also announced an industry Taskforce to develop a Digital Economy Industry Action Plan for NSW, and $3 million over two years to support creative digital content projects. We believe that access to this funding comes at a critical time as Australian ICT start-ups and business are struggling to attract financial resources to further their great ideas.

UWS has growing expertise in the ICT sector, and in particular the development of virtual worlds and Artificial Intelligence (A.I.). Our researchers are currently developing one of the most advanced A.I. platforms for use in virtual worlds, with the potential for far reaching applications such as education, commerce and tourism.

Researcher Anton Bogdanovych’s work on the virtual city called Uruk recently placed 3rd at the 2011 Federal Virtual Worlds Challenge held by the US Army Research Laboratory – Simulation & Training Technology Centre, and we congratulate him on this great success.

UWS has filed a provisional patent based on Anton’s research and we encourage companies interested in co-development or commercial applications to contact Dr. Stephan Golla on 9685 9853 or email him at s.golla@uws.edu.au

UWS Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry Workshop

UWS will host the Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry Workshop. UWS’s Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer (SIMS) research facility houses the only instrument of its kind on the east coast of Australia. The University’s substantial investment in upgrading this equipment has now been completed. The SIMS is one of the most effective surface analysis instruments for advanced material research. Used in semiconductor R&D, materials and nuclear sciences as well as environmental applications, the SIMS provides high-sensitivity trace element depth profiling and secondary ion microscopy imaging.

UWS plans to expand its collaborative research efforts with both other research institutions and industry.

We invite both existing users and others wishing to enhance their research to attend.

Details:
Wednesday, 2 November 2011
9.30am to 2.30pm
UWS Hawkesbury Campus, Cnr Bourke St and Londonderry Rd, Richmond NSW 2753

If you would like more information on the workshop or the instrument, please contact Robert Burnside on 02 9685 9742 or at r.burnside@uws.edu.au

Senate rejects Patent Amendment Bill

A controversial private members Bill entitled "Patent Amendment (Human Genes and Biological Materials) Bill 2010" was introduced into parliament in November 2010 with the intent to restrict the patenting of genes and related biological material. UWS made a submission opposing the bill as a member of the S7 group of Sydney Universities.

On 21 September 2011, after more than one hundred written submissions and two days of public hearings, the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee has recommended that the Senate should NOT pass the Bill.

In arriving at its recommendation, the Committee considered a number of key issues. An example of these issues and the findings included:

• The distinction between discovery and invention - The Committee noted that although the Bill sought to clarify the distinction between discovery and invention, the amendments proposed would not assist to clarify that distinction and may make the distinction more obscure.


• Impact on treatments, methods and healthcare - The Committee indicated in their Report that there was no evidence that patents were adversely impacting on the provision of healthcare in Australia.


• Freedom to research - It was disagreed that the Bill would provide certainty for scientists conducting research on biological material and concluded that the amendments in the "Raising the Bar" Bill regarding a research exemption would provide greater certainty for researchers.


• Impact on investment - It was agreed that without certainty in relation to patent protection for biological materials, companies would have less incentive to develop and commercialise new products for the Australian market or, alternatively, a greater incentive not to publicly disclose inventions.

The Committee agreed that that although the Bill was "well intentioned" it did not represent an effective solution to any potential or perceived problems that may be caused by the patenting of biological material. It is evident that the debate is not yet complete with the Bill now likely to be brought back to the Senate, with the amendments proposed in the dissenting report. The issue now will be whether such an amended version of the Bill would be able to get sufficient support for it to pass the Senate.