(From left) Professor Brian Abbey, Professor Ian Porter and Professor Aniruddha Desai. Image courtesy La Trobe University
La Trobe University has received $8.1 million as part of the Federal Government’s Australia’s Economic Accelerator (AEA) scheme, a portion of which will go towards development of innovative smoke taint detectors.
Three La Trobe researchers have had projects funded by the AEA’s Innovate Grants, which support mid-stage research of national significance in partnership with industry.
Professor Ian Porter from the School of Agriculture, Biomedicine and Environment, was awarded $1.78 million. Professor Porter’s research uses Wine Industry Smoke Detectors (WISDs) – colloquially known as ‘wizards’ – to track smoke events like bushfires and burn offs around vineyards and advise winegrowers whether it is likely to taint their grapes. In addition to the government funding, researchers received funding from partner organisations.
Professor Porter said the WISDs were in the final stage of development, with this funding to be used to expand across Australia, as well as key overseas markets.
“Smoke taint is the Australian wine industry’s greatest economic production risk, costing the industry multi-million dollar loss every year,” he said.
“We hope to see a widespread adoption of the WISD system throughout key wine-growing regions in Australia. Growers and winemakers will benefit by making early decisions for management of smoke impacts on vineyards. For the first time, they can have the confidence to market quality grapes and wine from smoke-affected areas.”
Professor Aniruddha Desai from the School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences (SCEMS) and the Centre for Technology Infusion, was awarded $3.8 million.
Professor Desai’s research will partner with Robo Jedi to create a fully integrated digital technology solution for enhanced dairy farm management.
Professor Brian Abbey, also from SCEMS and the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science (LIMS), has been awarded $2.5 million in funding.
Professor Abbey is partnering with AlleSense, a Melbourne based MedTech company, to refine and scale up the manufacture of NanoMslide, a nanofabricated sensor technology that significantly enhances the contrast of microscope tissue samples, enabling pathologists to instantly visualise and identify cancerous cells.
La Trobe’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research and Industry Engagement, Professor Chris Pakes, said the successful outcomes were indicative of the University’s commitment to research translation and strong ties to industry.
“Our research is entrepreneurial and ambitious, with direct links to industries locally and globally. These projects will have positive impacts in agriculture and healthcare,” Professor Pakes said.
“I congratulate Ian, Ani and Brian on their respective funding outcomes and look forward to seeing how these projects support growth of their industry partners.”
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