CRCs are contributing to the fight against COVID-19

The CRC Association is growing a directory of CRCs’ and CRC-Ps’ responses to COVID-19. These initiatives are building a more innovative society, accelerating recovery and positioning Australia as ready to confront future challenges.

Continuing the CRCs’ and CRC-Ps’ economic contributions and life-changing innovations is now more important than ever and we invite members to contact us about how we can best support them.

Please contact us if you have anything to add below.

 

CRC Association

 

Digital Health CRC

 

Innovative Manufacturing CRC (IMCRC)

 

Cyber Security CRC

  • Providing security assurance of the COVID-19 tracing app – The Cyber Security CRC with Data 61 has been working closely with the DTA, ACSC and ASD on providing security assurance of the COVID-19 tracing app.
  • Conducting a short survey around COVID and the cyber risks of working from home and this will be distributed publicly. The Cyber Security CRC is doing this in conjunction with Data61. The CRC also has a longer form piece of research (6 months) that will explore the impact of COVID on workplace and home security.

 

Fight Food Waste CRC

 

CRC for Alertness, Safety and Productivity

 

 

CRC for Developing Northern Australia (CRCNA)

  • Virtual cropping field day – Travel and social distancing restrictions have forced some of the CRCNA’s project teams to re-think how they deliver some of their research activities. This has been the case for three Far North Queensland-based broadacre cropping projects, which were due to have a series of on-site field days this month. Each of these projects are part of a series of Northern Australian broadacre cropping co-investments by the CRCNA and the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC). The three project teams will come together to present, for the first time, a virtual field day.

 

 

CRC-Ps

  • Vertiia: Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) Aircraft –
    Vertiia will supplement helicopters and road ambulances in providing rapid response, by air lifting patients in rural and remote communities and transporting them to major hospitals for critical treatment. Patients will receive on-board treatment by medics. Vertiia’s key advantage is that it is able to take off and land like helicopters, and yet operates at a fraction of the cost of helicopters and provides high levels of safety and is emissions free. The lower cost of operation and high levels of safety and speeds of up to 300km per hour, means that Vertiia will supplement and replace road ambulances in dense urban areas as well.
  • COVID-19 Australian Property Market Dashboard –  A collaboration between FrontierSI (the legacy organisation of the Spatial Information CRC) and UNSW has allowed researchers to create a COVID-19 Australian Property Market Dashboard, which provides a snapshot of how the property market is performing before and during the pandemic. The live dashboard, updated daily, consists of an interactive map of Australia identifying COVID-19 hotspots based on several state governments’ Department of Health data, alongside a range of interactive city-based property market metrics.
  • Allogeneic Stem Cell Cancer Immunotherapies – Technically sophisticated genetic engineering has enabled revolutionary chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) immune cell therapies. This CRC-P is developing a unique technology platform for producing CAR-Natural Killer cells from induced pluripotential stem cells. These iNK cells have a natural propensity for killing abnormal cells such as cancers. They can also be applied to removing viral infected cells preventing virus production. The iNK cells can also be further enhanced functionally by the addition of a CAR specific for COVID-19 infected cells, and the deletion of strategic “immune handbrake” gene(s). This CRC-P isthus a fundamentally new, “seek and destroy”, “off-the-shelf” cellular immunotherapy for cancer and virally infected cells. This unique approach would complement new COVID-19 vaccines which primarily remove virus from fluids but not infected cells.
  • Geovision CRC-P – TruScan and TruView – Boart Longyear, in collaboration with University of Adelaide researchers, have developed TruView, a new geo-analytical platform which allows the user to dig down deep into data generated from Boart Longyear’s TruScan, a drill core or chip imaging and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) system that captures high-definition images and matrix-matched geochemical data. Data is delivered in near real-time anywhere in the world via cloud technology and is seamlessly integrated into the TruView platform, allowing the user to characterize rock types and alteration, accelerating geological understanding of remote projects and facilitating real-time, remote decision making. Furthermore, developed machine learning models can identify, classify and measure the orientation of structures in drill core, allowing geologists to log core remotely. In combination, these tools allow the geologist to do their job without ever being on site, perfect for those working from home due to quarantine or social-distancing.
  • Kapunda In-Situ Gold and Copper Recovery Trial – Resources are the backbone of Australia’s economy since the days before Federation and will continue to be at the forefront of establishing our sovereign wealth post Pandemic. Environmental Copper Recovery (ECR) is creating a unique arm of the mining industry in extracting stranded assets of copper and gold, in economic levels whilst being environmentally sound and socially acceptable. Working in conjunction with the University of Adelaide and CSIRO, ECR are looking to extend existing knowledge of InSitu Recovery, bringing jobs and economic growth to regional Australia. Using Kapunda in SA as a demonstration site, ISR mining can now have a lower footprint, minimal environmental impact and acceptable to communities whilst still providing financial benefits to governments and investors.