In the lead-up to COP26, the Academy has launched its Climate change hub: science and solutions—a single point of climate resources for policymakers, researchers and the public.

Accessible science videos, including one explaining the consequences for Australia of a 3°C warmer world, are hosted alongside more detailed scientific reports and evidence briefs, such as explaining the impact of bushfires on soil condition.

The hub also features Academy Fellows who are experts in the fields of renewable energy technologies and sea level change, as well as climate science.

“Australians know the Academy is a trusted source of scientific information and the climate change hub is designed to make that information accessible so informed decisions can be made,” said Academy Chief Executive, Anna-Maria Arabia.

“We want Australians from all walks of life to be able to engage with climate science and learn more about the science-led solutions that will pave the way to a sustainable future.”

The Academy has 2.5 million followers on social media, and Academy videos and articles about climate science remain popular across its outreach networks.

The hub resources include:

• videos, articles and reports explaining the science of climate change
• evidence briefs synthesising the scientific evidence on the impact of bushfires on soil condition, wildlife recovery, ecosystems and human health.
• reports, strategies, position statements and submissions to government related to climate change.

Visit the climate change hub

The Australian Academy of Science has launched a new report: ‘Advancing Data-intensive Research in Australia’.

The report, launched at the virtual eResearch Australasia conference, was written by Emeritus Professor Michael Barber FAA (lead author), Professor Jane Elith FAA, Dr Danny Kingsley and Dr Ayesha Tulloch.

It presents findings from consultations with the research community on the challenges and opportunities of data-intensive research in Australia.

While data has always been the bedrock of scientific research, technology-driven advances in data collection – together with advances in computation, communications and storage – are dramatically increasing the volume and the nature of data available for research.

Combined with significant advances in data analytics, including the emergence of the new discipline of data science, these developments are impacting all fields of science and technology and many fields outside STEM, including the humanities.

They are enabling research that was previously not possible, including:

• from the frontiers of the universe—the first images of a black hole
• the global response to COVID—modelling the pandemic and the creation of vaccine in record time was only possible because of the new data technologies
• important Australian issues—the impact of bushfires on wildlife and the transcription of Indigenous languages.

Emeritus Professor Michael Barber said that in a real sense, all research is now data-intensive research.

“However, as significant as these developments are, the report finds that for Australia to fully exploit data-intensive research, we need to address some critical issues,” Professor Barber said.

These include:

• a coherent and strategic approach to the next phase of investment in the enabling infrastructure
• the adoption of coherent and integrated research data policies and practice covering data for research and data from research
• an upskilling of the research work force in data skills and ‘savviness’
• a targeted investment in underpinning research in enabling data science.

The report also describes how advances in data science and data-intensive research are challenging some of the fundamental tenets of scientific research, such as ethics, transparency and replicability, and thereby potentially affecting trust in science.

The report recommends strengthening the governance of research integrity and calls for a national policy statement on ensuring research integrity for Australia.

The report is essential reading for researchers and their employing institutions, particularly universities, funding councils and agencies, publicly funded research agencies (PFRAs), professional societies, learned academies, policy makers and organisations charged with maintaining and building Australia’s eResearch infrastructure.

The Academy gratefully acknowledges funding provided by the Australian Research Council under the Linkage Learned Academies Special Projects (LASP) scheme to support this project.

Read the report.

A new survey by the Australian Science Media Centre (AusSMC) has found one in five Australian scientists experienced death threats and/or threats of physical or sexual violence after speaking to the media about COVID-19.

Professor John Shine, President of the Australian Academy of Science, said the results of the survey are shocking but not surprising.

“The Academy has also received a number of anecdotal reports from researchers who have been bullied, harassed or the subject of death threats during this pandemic, simply for doing their job,” said Professor Shine.

“It is unacceptable that scientists have been subject to this abhorrent behaviour, particularly while many have been working tirelessly for the public good and providing their expertise and advice on COVID-19 as Australia has navigated the pandemic.

“This is a global issue with researchers around the world also facing serious threats to their personal and professional lives as a result of their research on COVID-19, as highlighted recently by the International Science Council.

“All scientists should be free to go about their work, share their expertise and promote their research in appropriate fora without fear of intimidation or violence from individuals, groups or governments.”

“Despite these attacks on scientists by a vocal minority, it is important to note that Australian’s trust in scientific bodies remains high as evidenced by a number of surveys.”

A breakthrough bioprinting system that can rapidly produce 3D cell structures is set to be a game-changer for cancer research and therapeutic development.

Academy Fellow Professor Justin Gooding led the team which has been awarded the Eureka Prize for Innovative use of Technology for its work on the bioprinting system. The team was made up of researchers from UNSW Chemistry, Australian Centre for NanoMedicine, Children’s Cancer Institute and Inventia Life Science Pty Ltd, and includes Professor Gooding, Professor Maria Kavallaris, Dr Julio Ribeiro, Dr Aidan O'Mahony, Dr Robert Utama and Dr Lakmali Atapattu.

While 3D cell culturing offers vastly enhanced models of cell structures than 2D methods, it remains slow and expensive. The new bioprinting system can produce 3D cell structures with unprecedented cell viability and tunability.

According to UNSW, Professor Gooding said it has been an incredibly exciting journey that reached a real high receiving the Eureka Prize.

“The technology addresses an incredibly important problem in terms of potentially playing an important role in personalising cancer treatment. What we have achieved would not have been possible if we were not part of a great team from both industry and academia who worked in an integrated way towards a common vision. For me, it really shows what universities and companies can do together when they truly work together as partners.”

It's not Professor Gooding's first Eureka prize; he was awarded the University of Technology Sydney Eureka Prize for Outstanding Mentor of Young Researchers in 2017.

This week the three prestigious Nobel Prizes for science were announced for the fields of Physiology or Medicine, Physics, and Chemistry. Here’s how some of the Academy’s Fellows responded to the announcement.

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2021

The 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was jointly awarded to David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian “for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch”.

Professor Boris Martinac FAA says:

The award of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian for their discoveries of vertebrate thermo- and mechano-receptors recognises the significance of the evolutionary inherent sensing the surrounding environment and responding to changes within it by the living organisms from bacteria to humans.

Without the ability to receive sensations of touch, hearing, sight, taste, smell, temperature or pain, the outside world would cease to exist for vertebrate organisms, including humans, which emphasises the importance of sensory input for the existence of life. David Julius identified TRPV1 ion channel, a thermoreceptor activated by temperatures above 42^oC, which are perceived as painful, whereas Ardem Patapoutian discovered the family of mechanosensitive Piezo ion channels serving as mechanoreceptors in senses of touch and pain.

Prior to these great discoveries, I and my former mentor Ching Kung at the University of Wisconsin-Madison firmly established the existence of mechanosensitive channels through their discovery and characterisation of this type of ion channels in the Escherichia coli bacterium, where they play an essential role in regulation of the cellular osmotic pressure. This breakthrough achieved in the late 1980s led the way to this year’s Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.

Professor David Burke AC FAA FTSE says:

For over 100 years, researchers have probed how sensory receptors in skin and muscle respond to different inputs, which nerve fibres and nerve cells transmit the signals to the spinal cord, which pathways carry the messages up the spinal cord to the brain, whether the signals are modulated during transmission, and how the arriving information is processed by the brain. Australia has a long history of seminal contributions in these areas of sensation.

The major gap in our knowledge lay in the precise mechanisms through which sensory receptors in skin and muscle translate the applied stimulus (mechanical, thermal, noxious, irritant) into nerve impulses. This gap has been filled by the seminal studies of the Nobel awardees and their research teams. They have identified the molecular changes that allow thermoreceptors to detect changes in temperature, nociceptors to detect noxious stimuli and mechanoreceptors to detect touch, pressure and displacement.

While the focus of the Nobel Prize is on sensation, this seminal research has opened up new avenues for exploration of other bodily functions. The importance of the discoveries is not just theoretical: they identify another mechanism through which sensation can be modulated, alleviating distressing symptoms in patients with peripheral nerve diseases or skin disorders. The promise of this research is that, based on the known underlying mechanisms, medications can now be developed to control, e.g., neuropathic pain, inflammation, excessive sensitivity. Hopefully, agents targeting ion channels on sensory receptors may not have the undesirable addictive properties of opiates.

Professor Elspeth McLachlan FAA says:

Neurophysiologists have studied the processes of temperature and touch sensation for over a century, including in Australia. The early research defined the types of nerve fibres that carried signals towards the brain and the brain centres that received these signals and clarified the responses to each specific type of signal. Australians such as Darian-Smith, Goodwin and Rowe (touch), Gandevia (respiration), McCloskey and Gandevia (perception of body position), Korner (cardiovascular and respiratory regulation), have undertaken neurophysiological studies on sensation and sensory reflexes that result from particular stimuli.

Julius and Patapoutian have added a new dimension that expands the possibilities of research into many aspects that were previously impossible. They identified the genes for particular ion channels by expressing them in the membranes of isolated cells and applying the specific stimuli. The family of TRP channels discovered by Julius include TRPV1 (sensitive to capsaicin, which is in chili peppers, and to heat) and TRPM8 (sensitive to cold) as well as several others present on nerve and muscle cells and in the brain. Patapoutian’s main discovery was of mechanosensitive channels which he named Piezo1 (in nerve endings in skin and in visceral organs) and Piezo2 (sensitive to light touch and joint position, to lung stretch). The structure and behaviour of these channels at the molecular level is now being revealed. The distribution of nerves having these channels can be demonstrated in many different tissues and their function investigated by pharmacological or genetic manipulation.

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2021

This year’s Nobel Prize in Physics was jointly awarded, with one half going to Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann and the other half to Giorgio Parisi, "for groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of complex systems".

The Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded this week with one half jointly going to Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann and the other half to Giorgio Parisi.

They have laid the foundation of our knowledge of the Earth’s climate and how humanity influences it. #NobelPrize pic.twitter.com/9YAXeVPwvx

— Australian Academy of Science (@Science_Academy) October 7, 2021

Dr Steve Rintoul AO FAA says:

It is wonderful to see the achievements of Manabe, Hasselmann and Parisi recognised. Their work showed that the complex system that is the Earth can be understood, and that the laws of physics can be used to anticipate the influence of human activities on climate. 

While responding to climate change remains an immense challenge, we would be lost without their fundamental advances that have made it possible to make projections of future climate.

For Australia, which is more exposed to climate variability and change than many nations, their work has been of profound importance. The climate model developed and used in Australia can trace a direct lineage to the models developed by Manabe and colleagues at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton, and we continue to work closely with them.

Physics of the Earth system has not always been recognised as a legitimate topic for a serious physicist. To see the Nobel Prize in Physics go to earth scientists is recognition of both the difficulty and relevance of understanding how the earth works.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2021

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2021 was jointly awarded to Benjamin List and David MacMillan “for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis”.

Professor Kate Joliffe FAA says:

The 2021 Nobel prize for the "development of asymmetric organocatalysis" recognises that the development of methods to synthesise new molecular structures or to simply improve the way that we synthesise known structures is extremely powerful. This underlying methodology facilitates the synthesis of molecules for a wide range of applications in our daily lives – from the development of pharmaceuticals, polymers and plastics to new materials for use in solar cells and batteries.

Catalysts are substances used to accelerate and control chemical reactions, but they are not themselves consumed during the reaction. Traditionally, catalysts have been metals or enzymes, but small, chiral organic compounds can catalyse complex reactions. They can also do this in a way that promotes the formation of only one mirror image of ‘chiral’ or ‘handed’ molecules, which is of particular importance in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals. Organocatalysts are generally cheap, easier to produce than enzymes and have lower toxicity than metal catalysts, with potential to make synthetic routes ‘greener’ in the future. For example, a key chiral intermediate in the synthesis of Paroxetine, an antidepressant, can be synthesised on a multigram scale by using an organocatalyst without the need for solvent.

Professor Andrew Holmes AC FAA FTSE FRS says:

The Prize recognises the importance of sterocontrolled organic synthesis. Many pharmaceutical drugs and agrochemicals are manufactured in this manner. Most are chiral, meaning that they can exist in two non-superimposable mirror image forms, just like our hands.

The drug thalidomide was found to cause distressing limb defects in babies born to women who had taken thalidomide to relieve morning sickness. It was withdrawn in 1961, and the cause of the birth defects was attributed to the fact that one of the two mirror image forms of the thalidomide molecule damaged the developing foetus. 

It therefore became essential that pharmaceutical companies identified and used just one of the two possible mirror image forms. It is here that organocatalysis comes to the rescue. A catalyst accelerates a reaction without being consumed. Asymmetric organocatalysis involves molecular catalysts of a chemical reaction that deliver just one of the two possible mirror image forms of a chiral product. These organocatalysed reactions can now make single mirror image forms of numerous molecules more efficiently than enzymic processes. Organocatalysis is replacing metal-mediated catalysis in synthesis, thus leading to more sustainable manufacturing processes. It is practised widely in Australian universities, in CSIRO and industry.

Find out more about the 2021 Nobel Laureates and their work at the 2021 Nobel Prizes website.

The full proceedings of a national roundtable to identify Australia's RNA science and technology priorities have been released.

The roundtable was held on Thursday, 29 July 2021, hosted by the Australian Academy of Science and the Australia and New Zealand RNA Production Consortium.

The proceedings, aimed at policymakers and science funders, detail the discussions about how Australia can play a leading role in the global ecosystem of RNA science and harness the opportunities for Australian industry to develop RNA-based products and services for global markets.

"This roundtable was a step forward in presenting a united voice on RNA science and technology in Australia: what we are capable of and what we have the potential to achieve," said Professor John Shine, President of the Australian Academy of Science, in the foreword to the proceedings.

The group, comprising 38 experts in RNA biology and biotechnology from the Australian university and research sectors along with industry, has called on Australia to play a leading role in the global ecosystem of RNA science and harness the opportunities for Australian industry to develop RNA-based products and services for global markets.

Associate Professor Archa Fox from the University of Western Australia, co-chair of the the roundtable, said that “Now is the time to be bold.”

Professor John Mattick from UNSW Sydney and Professor Trent Munro from the University of Queensland were also co-chairs.

The agreed recommendations from the roundtable include:

• a national mission for the whole RNA science and technology pipeline in Australia, driven by strategic investment and prioritisation across funding schemes, providing sustainable, long-term funding for projects from fundamental research to translation,
• a local mixed RNA manufacturing ecosystem, including pilot facilities, production of pre-clinical trial components and sovereign manufacturing capability to support clinical trials, and
• schemes to build capacity in entrepreneurial and translation expertise, including facilitating greater mobility between research and industry.

Read the full roundtable proceedings.

Read the full statement from the roundtable.

Dr Lilian Pearce from the Centre for the Study of the Inland at La Trobe University is the recipient of the Academy’s 2022 Moran Award for History of Science Research.

She receives the award for her proposal entitled ‘Toxic Legacies, Contaminated Communities: A history of lead poisoning and power in Broken Hill’.

Dr Pearce says the project will explore the ways that mining toxicity has been understood, resisted, managed and silenced by Australian mining communities and industries.

The award funding will go towards a case study considering mining toxicity within an environmental justice framework in Broken Hill, one of four case studies planned.

The other studies include a study of arsenic in Central Victoria, mercury in the West Coast of Tasmania and uranium in the Northern Territory.

Dr Pearce's work will look to inform current debates about legacy mines, ongoing issues of responsibility and rehabilitation, and contemporary controversial approvals for mines across the nation.

Dr Pearce said that she is especially grateful for the chance to seek out the voices of women in the archives.

“Women have played a crucial role in advocating for industrial, environmental, and public health reforms in Australia.”

This research draws on her earlier work in Broken Hill connecting ecological restoration work in mining communities to issues of environmental and public health.

The Moran Award for History of Science Research provides up to $5000 in funding each year, and is aimed at postgraduate students and other researchers with expertise in the history of Australian science. Applications for the 2023 award will open in early 2022.

‘Adapt to protect communities and natural habitats’ - that’s one of the four goals of COP26 which is just around the corner. But is Australia’s current approach to climate adaptation sustainable and equitable?

Not according to the Director of Future Earth Australia, Dr Tayanah O'Donnell. She says more work needs to be done both at a community level and on a national scale to ensure science underpins the design of adaptation responses.

“Science is needed to ensure local and regional climatic variation and related community needs are well understood, and to ensure that most vulnerable in society are not left behind as Australia adapts to a changing environment,” says Dr O'Donnell.

And with COP26 looming, an imminent Australian Government National Climate Resilience and Adaptation Strategy, and an IPCC Working Group II (impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability) report all occurring in the next six months, the need is urgent.

“A scientific approach is needed to support an approach to adaptation that is nuanced to particular geographies and attuned to specific community needs,” says Dr O'Donnell.

“The research needed is wide-ranging: science, the social sciences, the humanities, and First Nations knowledge perspectives in equal measure.”

The work required to ensure future generations of Australians can cope with climate change in a sustainable and equitable manner will be mapped out in a new national strategy currently under development by Future Earth Australia, called a ‘National Strategy for Just Adaptation’. 

Dr O'Donnell says the strategy will build on the successful model used to create earlier national strategies on sustainable oceans and coasts and sustainable cities and regions.

“We are assembling an Expert Working Group of leading climate adaptation researchers and practitioners from across specialist fields to provide strategic oversight into the strategy.”

The strategy will be launched in March 2022. The working group will be co-chaired by Mr Bhiamie Williamson (ANU), a Euahlayi man from north-west New South Wales, Professor Petra Tschakert (University of Western Australia) and Dr Mark Stafford-Smith (CSIRO). Other working group members will be announced soon.

“The strategy will build on a series of climate adaptation events and consultation workshops conducted over 2020/2021, including the Reimagining Climate Adaptation Summit,” says Dr O’Donnell.

Dr O'Donnell says while measures announced in this year’s Federal Budget to help Australians withstand and adapt to climate change are welcome, disaster recovery must not be the sole focus of climate adaptation. 

“There must be a broader approach as we prepare and adapt to climate change. As climate impacts will affect every part of society and our economy, this task requires that all sectors – public, private, not-profit, community, and research – come to the table,” says Dr O'Donnell.

“Future Earth Australia is well positioned to continue to lead the necessary cross-sectoral and community engagement work needed to underpin an equitable pathway forward." 

Quotes from Co-Chairs

“Climate change adaptation presents a unique opportunity to walk alongside Indigenous peoples and create a more just and sustainable future” – Mr Bhiamie Williamson

“Just climate adaptation means addressing the root causes of systemic injustices and recognising disadvantaged and vulnerable individuals and groups as part of desirable, dignified and fair solutions” – Professor Petra Tschakert 

“With the impacts of climate change becoming ever more apparent, it has become urgent to revitalise the community of adaptation researchers and practitioners in Australia.” – Dr Mark Stafford-Smith

Future Earth Australia is a program of the Australian Academy of Science.

STEM Women Asia has been launched—providing an online directory of women in Asia and Oceania working in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

Led by the Australian Academy of Science (the Academy), STEM Women Asia has been developed in partnership with the Association of Academies and Societies of Sciences in Asia (AASSA) and the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP).

Building on the success of the Academy’s successful Australian version of the STEM Women platform which hosts 3,300 profiles of women, STEM Women Asia extends the STEM Women platform to women in Asia and Oceania.

“STEM Women Asia aims to promote gender equity in STEM by showcasing the breadth of scientific talent in the region and by enabling a diverse range of women to connect with exciting opportunities to progress their careers and personal capabilities,” said Emeritus Professor Cheryl Praeger, Academy Fellow and Chair of the Women in Science and Engineering Committee of AASSA, who oversaw the delivery of the project.

“IAP recognises that women face many barriers to building a STEM career. By creating a profile, STEM Women Asia can increase their visibility to the world and help them access career and development opportunities and join a growing community,” said Professor Krishan Lal, IAP Co-Chair.

Launched with 293 profiles of women from 30 countries across Asia and Oceania already listed on the directory, the Academy and its partners hope to grow the exciting opportunity offered by STEM Women Asia as a platform to increase the representation of all women at all stages of their STEM career. 

“This project would not have been possible without the support of the many academies and science organisations from Turkey, India, Thailand, Korea, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, who have helped us reach their networks of women in STEM,” said Professor Yoo Hang Kim, President of AASSA.

Dr Pawarat Nontasil from the National Electronics and Computer Technology Center in Thailand is an inaugural member of STEM Women Asia. “I joined STEM Women Asia because I would like to be a mentor for women scientists, and I am supportive of anyone in STEM,” she said.

STEM Women Asia links a diverse range of women with opportunities to progress their careers and personal capabilities such as speaking at conferences, being part of committees and boards, being nominated for awards and being interviewed in the media. Users of the database can search for women in STEM based on their expertise, location and other search fields. Users can create their own shortlist and then message experts directly.

If you a woman scientist from a country in Asia or Oceania and you wish to create a profile on STEM Women Asia check the eligibility criteria here.

A recent report led by the Australian Academy of Science and supported by the Australian Government, found the COVID-19 pandemic had exacerbated existing gender inequity in the Asia-Pacific STEM Workforce. STEM Women Asia is a practical way to break down barriers women face and support women to stay in STEM.

For more information about STEM Women Asia, email:  hello@stemwomen.asia.

About the project partners

InterAcademy Partnership (IAP)

Under the umbrella of the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP), more than 140 national, regional and global member academies work together to support the vital role of science in seeking evidence-based solutions to the world’s most challenging problems. In particular, IAP harnesses the expertise of the world’s scientific, medical and engineering leaders to advance sound policies, improve public health, promote excellence in science education, and achieve other critical development goals. IAP’s four regional networks—AASSA, EASAC, IANAS, and NASAC—are responsible for managing and implementing many IAP-funded projects and help make IAP’s work relevant around the world.

Association of Academies and Societies of Sciences in Asia (AASSA)

The Association of Academies and Societies of Sciences in Asia is a non-profit international organisation with science, technology and innovation (STI) interests. It consists of scientific and technological academies and science societies in Asia and Oceania. Its current membership is 32 national academies and societies of sciences from 30 countries and one regional academy of engineering and technology.

Australia risks becoming a laggard among the world’s top technologically driven nations without a stronger investment in digital technology-based research, innovation and workers, according to a new summary for policymakers published today.

While countries such as the USA, United Kingdom, France and Canada are prioritising digital technologies as a strategy to bolster competitiveness in the emerging ‘digital economy’, Australia is falling behind. Digital innovation accounts for only 7.4 per cent of Australia’s GDP compared to the 11.2 per cent average enjoyed by the OECD.

The summary, by the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, calls on the Australian Government to make emerging digital technologies a national science and innovation priority.

It says while the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the prioritisation of emerging digital technologies in Australia, they must now be recognised as an independent growth sector.

The summary also recommends research and innovation in emerging digital technologies be included in the Australian Government’s 2021 Research Infrastructure Roadmap.

It looks at emerging digital technologies including artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT), augmented and virtual reality, blockchain and 5G. It also provides examples of the benefits being seen by other countries that have prioritised investment in science and technology research and development, and in particular in digital technologies.

Professor Shazia Sadiq, Chair of the Australian Academy of Science’s National Committee for Information and Communication Sciences, says while the Australian Government’s investment in key digital capabilities, through its digital economy and modern manufacturing strategies is welcomed, more needs to be done.

“We call on the Australian Government to recognise the importance of building scientific capability behind the digital economy, both in investment and narrative,” says Sadiq, who is also Professor of Computer Science at the University of Queensland and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering.

“While it is difficult to predict what future innovations might look like, a strong national focus on fundamental science and engineering behind emerging digital technologies will allow Australia to stay ahead of the curve in a dynamic and fast evolving landscape.”

The summary says the next wave of emerging digital technologies, such as autonomous vehicles, smart micro-grids, 6G and quantum computing, will further disrupt and transform many sectors.

Professor Mike Miller, Chair of the Digital Futures Forum at the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, says Australia is at a crossroads in the development of a strong digital technology economy.

“We have strengths in emerging digital technology research and development, but opportunities for sector growth and sovereign capability are nascent and require coordinated and strategic support,” says Professor Miller.

The summary points to Australia’s looming shortage of digitally-skilled workers and says the growing demand for this workforce is expected to increase by 100,000 between 2018 and 2024.

“To grasp the opportunities presented by a growing emerging digital technologies sector, Australia must address the digital divide to ensure equity of access to the benefits delivered by digital technologies, and to meet the skill requirements for a future digital workforce,” says Professor Miller.

“Australia’s emerging digital technology capabilities must receive this support in order for the nation to remain internationally competitive and ensure that scientific leadership is adequately harnessed in shaping our collective digital future.”

The new summary for policymakers follows the publication of a strategic plan in 2019 outlining Australia’s potential as a digital nation.