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The Australian Government has announced over $20 million in funding for projects under the 5G Innovation Initiative, speeding up the adoption of productivity-boosting applications of the latest mobile network.
The Initiative was announced in the 2020-21 Budget as part of the Job Maker Digital Business Plan, which plans to accelerate the digital transformation of local businesses and create jobs.
The $20 million funding under the Initiative will support 19 projects across key sectors of the economy. These projects will be introduced in sectors such as agriculture, construction, manufacturing, transport, and education and training.
“The projects being funded under the Initiative will use a range of complementary technologies to take the benefits of 5G further, such as Internet of Things devices, edge computing, artificial intelligence, and augmented and virtual reality,” Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities, and the Arts Paul Fletcher said.
Some of the projects that will be funded under Round 1 of the Initiative are the following:
5G Enhanced Mobile Broadband for Agricultural Applications with Zetifi — Agsensio Pty Ltd’s project was given a grant of $932,850 to enable rigorous testing of innovative, ruggedised long-range 5G gateways in agricultural applications. The project will also show the benefits that high bandwidth, low latency connectivity can deliver to primary producers and the wider agriculture sector.
Aqura 5G Underground Experience Initiative (A5UX) — Aqura Technologies Pty Ltd will use its $1,931,254 grant to create a private 5G LTE network technical architecture and commercial model as a viable underground network wireless broadband technology.
Smart Food Safety Verification for Australian Meat Processing Exporters — The Australian Meat Processor Corporation Ltd will use their $412,000 grant to implement a 5G-enabled technology platform that will address improvements in the quality assurance process of meat production, addressing regulatory costs and eliminating human inspection errors.
Project Endeavour: Enhancing Electricity Grid Reliability & Safety with 5G — Under this project, Optus in partnership with Endeavour Energy, Unleash live and Amazon Web Services will use their $648,000 grant to trial the use of drones and vehicles equipped with 5G-connected ultra-high definition (UHD) cameras to intelligently monitor Endeavour’s critical electrical infrastructure.
5G Connected Cobots (Collaborative Robots) — Nokia Solutions and Networks Australia Pty Ltd’s project was given a $923,613 grant to offload both sensor data and intensive processing from the cobot to a powerful edge cloud computing platform and instruct the cobot how to interact with its surroundings including nearby humans in real-time.
“The Initiative will help businesses take advantage of innovative digital technologies, creating jobs and supporting Australia’s economic recovery in the ‘Year of 5G’,” Minister Fletcher said.
“This is a critical technology and these projects will help Australians realise the benefits of 5G sooner.”
This article was first published on Public Spectrum
Eliza Sayon is an experienced writer who specialises in corporate and government communications. She is the content producer for Public Spectrum, an online knowledge-based platform for and about the Australian public sector.
