Whether you seek answers to the meaning of life or hourly updates on Angelina Jolie’s weight, the right information in this digital age is never more than a few clicks away. Until very recently, most of us had to settle for an education within reach – a local school, a municipal library, perhaps a fortunate…
There can be no more important mission for today’s innovators than saving the planet. In Australia, the cleantech industry recently rose to the challenge at Enviro 08, the nation’s premier conference dealing with environmental and sustainability issues. Anthill went along and met some exhibitors showing the world how to recharge, recover, recycle, reuse and reflect,…
Not so long ago, cleantech was an indulgence reserved for tech geeks, fringe-dwelling eco-activists and latte liberals crusading against their own existential guilt. Today, cleantech is on the brink of mainstream adoption, with a ready market of consumers eager to reduce their impact on the environment. Australia has no shortage of clever researchers churning out…
Most of us agree that technology is great. It feeds us information, speeds things along, connects people scattered around the globe and means we don’t have go get up off the couch to change TV channel. In this era of entertainment-on-demand, it’s easy to forget that technological innovation underpins far more than our frivolous distractions….
Advertising firms could be forgiven for feeling under siege. After all, it’s tough to get your message through in a world of broadband internet, cable TV, DVD and time-shifting TiVos, with clients demanding ever deeper brand impact with the lucrative but fickle Generations X and Y. However, with all these competing tensions, it’s easy to…
The wheel. The print press. The gun. The railway. Electricity. Photography. The aeroplane. The microchip. The internet. (The iPod?) Could such epochs in human invention be rendered insignificant by these seven new Aussie innovations? Perhaps not, but this hand-picked selection of finalists from INNOVIC’s 2007 Next Big Thing Awards are sure to resonate in the…
ECO ENTREPRENEURS It took a while, but even the most hardened sceptics now acknowledge the reality of global warming and other damaging human footprints on the planet. So why have so many businesses been slow to embrace the green revolution? Intrepid reporters Liz Heynes, Catherine Kerstjens and Jodie O’Keeffe take a look at nine Australian…
BIOTECH BULLANTS: BORN GLOBAL? If ever a local industry was defined by its fortunes overseas, it is biotechnology. Things have not been all rosy for Australia’s biotech sector, with sober reflection supplanting the heady excitement prevalent just a few short years ago. With Australian biotech companies holding less than one percent of the global market,…
About four years ago I took a break from my day job and went to Hollywood to chase Australian actors and filmmakers. The idea was to write a piece for Rolling Stone Australia on the lives of Aussie expats working in the entertainment industry. It was a similar project to one I had done a year earlier looking into the lives of expats in the technology equivalent of Hollywood – San Francisco’s Bay Area.
Most people will always forfeit personal luxury to provide for their baby. It’s no wonder that the baby industry is perpetually booming. Liz Heynes and Catherine Kerstjens take a look at five Australian companies on the move in an industry where only the best will do.
We often associate high tech with exciting gadgets, but it’s easy to forget that technological advancements are responsible for saving thousands of lives every day. It’s big business, with profound purpose. Catherine Kerstjens and Liz Heynes profile six “Medical and Scientific” category finalists from the 2006 Australian Design Awards.
For the most part, we Australians huddle in and around our eastern seaboard cities, with healthy respect for the harsh realities inland. But there’s more to Australia’s tech sector than MBA-educated entrepreneurs and wealthy investors in Sydney and Melbourne. As globalisation levels the international playing field, so the performance gap between urban elites and regional innovators narrows.
In these pensive days, where a backpacker on a bus could pose more of a threat than a cave-dwelling Taliban, Governments and corporations are hungry for technology that will help secure their people and resources. It has fed a boom in the defence tech sector; a world of cutting-edge machinery and multi-million dollar contracts, and home to some of the world’s keenest strategic and technical minds. Several Australian companies are emerging as genuine players in this highly competitive space. Liz Heynes and Catherine Kerstjens take a look at six on this new front line.
The Commonwealth Games are almost here, and you know what that means? Self-congratulations! But next month, when our swimmers are lapping Jamaica’s finest and our archers are splitting Rhodesian arrows, spare a thought for the behind-the-scenes success stories – our technology developers who give our sportsmen and women every opportunity to excel. Liz Heynes and…
Sleight of hand: mobile comes of age In the developed world, mobile phone ownership is nearing saturation point. In some technology-obsessed countries (like Singapore), it is not uncommon for people to own more than one mobile phone. You need only watch a teenager punch out an SMS to comprehend how pervasive and indispensable the technology…
Our biotechnologists are making all manner of discoveries across a diverse range of sectors, generating lucrative commercial opportunities along the way. Roving Anthillians Lize Heynes and Catherine Kerstjens isolated six Australian biotechs whose innovative mastery of molecule mysteries could well make waves on the global stage. SHEARER’S DELIGHT It is suggested that counting sheep…
Profit is often assumed to be the bottom line for many entrepreneurs. But some innovations are about more than lining pockets. While most new teChnologies claim to change your life, here are seven that could one day save it. By Liz Heynes and Catherine Kerstjens. FEVER FOOD What is it about Aussies and shrimps? Not…
What’s better than creating a successful business? Doing it with style! Most companies are content to provide a useful product or service. But for a groovy few, this is not enough — they have to bring a smile to your face, tickle your fancy and leave you wanting a piece of their action. Who needs…
Like every great technological epoch, the nanotech revolution appears unstoppable. The companies and societies that adapt best will thrive. Those that don’t will perish. Fortunately, Australia’s research institutions and cutting edge companies are awake to this reality. They are developing the next generation of products, fiddling with the bricks and mortar of matter to produce…
As Mother Earth groans under the weight of human progress, smart and efficient environmental technologies are gaining currency. Global warming, dwindling power supplies, toxic waste and alarming plant and animal extinction rates all point to the need for change. While many of us still pay lip service to our need to get greener, these six…
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