Australia should focus investment in building sovereign capability in quantum and other innovative technologies, rather than play catch up with “yesterday’s technology” like semiconductors, according to the new head of the University of Sydney’s Nano Institute.
Calls from some stakeholders to develop a semiconductor manufacturing plant in Australia are becoming more persistent as Taiwan continues to dominate semiconductor and advanced semiconductor supply chains.
As the Albanese government continues its push to expand sovereign manufacturing capability following the supply chain disruptions of the pandemic, theoretical quantum physicist Professor Stephen Bartlett said Australia “should be thinking about the investments we can build to make tomorrow’s technologies”.
“We have such incredible capabilities here in Australia around developing new technologies… we can be really leading on the next generation of things like quantum computer chips or new technologies that will really drive innovation and rive prosperity over the next 50 to 100 years,” he told InnovationAus.com.
Professor Bartlett is currently leading a program on designer quantum materials at the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Engineered Quantum Systems and an associate dean (research) at the University of Sydney’s Faculty of Science.
He is also the inaugural lead editor of the American Physical Society journal PRX Quantum and a member of Transport for NSW’s Quantum Expert Advisory Panel.
At the end of 2020, an Australian Semiconductor Sector Study was published by the Office of the NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer in collaboration with the University of Sydney’s Nano Institute, which identified a potential opportunity for Australian firms “to enter and prosper in the global semiconductor value chain and related industries”.
As recommended by the report, the Semiconductor Sector Service Bureau was then set up at tech incubator Cicada Innovations with experts from the University of Sydney, Macquarie University, UNSW Sydney, CSIRO and the Australian National Fabrication Facility.
Last September, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute called on the Australian government to launch a “national plan that will enable capacity building in the semiconductor space” to break the country’s dependence on global supply chains.
While Professor Bartlett believes it’s important to address Australia’s ability to have access critical technologies such as computer chips, he highlighted that “we do have a lot of long-standing security partners that can supply us with yesterday’s technologies”.
This includes the United States and the European Union, which are expanding their domestic semiconductor industries by attracting investment from the world’s largest chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.
“What are the capabilities that are really going to put us as leaders, you know for decades to come, rather than just saying, let’s build a catch up to make yesterday’s chips here in Australia,” he said.
“We should be thinking about what are the investments we can build to make tomorrow’s technologies and really be ambitious on us saying, ‘okay, well, we don’t need an old fabrication facility for old chips. We need something that can really harness the types of new innovations that are coming out of Australia’.
Professor Bartlett highlighted the quantum industry but noted that it is just one of many innovations that Australia could be seizing.
He also highlighted the development of new clean energy materials like batteries and solar cells and nanotechnology in health research as other areas being pursued across the University of Sydney.
“I think it is the right time to be thinking as a nation, what are the things we need to be building now. Whether they’re fabrication plant to make [semiconductor] chips or incuabtors to support startups and new agile companies that are going to be able…take advantage of those opportunities in AI [and] also make sure that we have the capabilities in cybersecurity that are going to let us be a leading nation for the next 100 years.”
Professor Bartlett also called for development of innovative technologies to be thought of as a “collective agreement amongst like minded countries” to jointly assure security and prosperity. Australian firms that produce innovative technologies should pursue global markets and set up operations where it makes sense to do so.
When he begins his role as director of the Nano Institute on July 3, Professor Stephen Bartlett said he is eager to drive research that will help address “big societal challenges” including climate change, preparing for the next pandemic, and improving sustainability across buildings, transport systems, and the operation of society.
“This is really a whole of university effort to see what can be done in terms of new discovery research at the nanoscale, which is down at the scale of individual atoms and the speed of which atomic processes occur,” he said.
Professor Bartlett hopes his experience in breaking down disciplinary boundaries in quantum computing research — between the likes of quantum physicists, computer scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and chemists — will foster a cultural change at the Nano Institute to being “bit more open and engaged with that broader research agenda and framing it around” tackling the world’s major challenges.
