Chatbot assistant conversation, Ai Artificial Intelligence technology
AI/Machine Learning

The Business Council of Australia sees AI as the solution to productivity growth

- June 2, 2025 2 MIN READ

The Business Council of Australia doesn’t see artificial intelligence (AI) as a chance to improve CEO bonuses by firing a company’s workers, but rather a chance to finally lift national productivity after decades of stagnation. The industry lobby group has released a report, Accelerating Australia’s AI Agenda, arguing AI has the potential to reverse Australia’s… Read more »

Vanessa Waddell
Business

NRF backs glaucoma biotech PolyActiva’s $40 million Series C

- May 30, 2025 2 MIN READ

The federal Labor government’s flagship National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC) is back investing post-election, hitting the send button on another $27 million to lead a $40 million Series C for PolyActiva. The 15-year-old Melbourne biotechnology scaleup is developing potentially revolutionary eye implant technology to treat glaucoma and improve treatment outcomes for patients with ocular (eye)… Read more »

Sydney
Global tech

StartupBlink’s latest global rankings sees Sydney rise to 31 as Australia slows overall

- May 30, 2025 3 MIN READ

Sydney’s startup ecosystem has enjoyed a rapid rise in the last year and is near the top 30 cities in the world, but Australia has continued its decline overall, according to a new report. StartupBlink’s Global Startup Ecosystem Index Report 2025 ranks the startup ecosystems of more than 1,400 cities and 100 countries, using hundreds of thousands… Read more »

AI/Machine Learning

A taller poppy solution: why this VC believes $5 billion could turn Australia into a global AI powerhouse

- May 29, 2025 6 MIN READ

James Alexander from Galileo Ventures proposes a ‘Tall Poppy’ national strategy for an AI revolution in Australia. We are witnessing the dawn of a new computing revolution 66 years after the invention of the silicon chip. This time it’s an intelligence revolution that goes beyond hardware. For the first time, we can talk to computers… Read more »

Brian Schmidt
Business

Why Nobel laureate Brian Schmidt is worried about Australia’s lack of investment in R&D – and what it means for startups

- May 29, 2025 3 MIN READ

On Wednesday, Nobel laureate Brian Schmidt and economics professor Richard Holden gave a joint address to the National Press Club in Canberra. Their key message? Australia isn’t spending enough money on university research. Schmidt wants to ensure Australia can undertake research vital to our national interests. “I look around and I am scared,” Schmidt said.… Read more »

Twitter, X, rebrand, Elon Musk
Cyber security

Elon Musk is back with X in court trying to get around Australia’s online child sexual exploitation and anti-terrorism laws. Here’s what’s happening

- May 26, 2025 3 MIN READ

In its most recent battle with authorities in Australia, X (formerly Twitter) has launched legal action in the Federal Court, seeking an exemption from a new safety standard aimed at preventing the spread of harmful material online. The standard in question is known as the Relevant Electronic Services Standard. It came into effect in December… Read more »

AI/Machine Learning

Scientists say tech is not causing ‘digital dementia’ in older people

- May 19, 2025 4 MIN READ

In the 21st century, digital technology has changed many aspects of our lives. Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is the latest newcomer, with chatbots and other AI tools changing how we learn and creating considerable philosophical and legal challenges regarding what it means to “outsource thinking”. But the emergence of technology that changes the way we… Read more »

Tim Ayres giving a speech at the the Hunter Business Forum in Newcastle in March 2025
Politics

Tim Ayres is the new Industry Minister after post-election cabinet announcement

- May 12, 2025 2 MIN READ

Senator Tim Ayres has taken over the Industry and Science portfolios in Anthony Albanese’s second-term government after the Prime Minister announced his new-look ministry on Monday. “Last Saturday the Australian people voted for Labor and for Labor to keep building Australia’s future. And that is certainly what we intend to do in this, our second… Read more »

Climate Tech

3 things Australian universities need from the Albanese government to commercialise research and help startups succeed

- May 9, 2025 5 MIN READ

The recent call for submissions into the Strategic Examination of Australia’s R&D system has revealed ideas and frustrations that have long been articulated on numerous discussion panels. However, through this recent consultation, it has felt like more practical solutions have surfaced across the ecosystem, and many of the ideas align.  So if we could request… Read more »

Ed Husic
Opinion

Science and industry minister Ed Husic’s been dumped from cabinet as Labor’s factions assert their power

- May 9, 2025 3 MIN READ

Industry and science minister Ed Husic has been dropped from the new federal government’s cabinet as Labor’s factions jostle for position amid a swathe of new MPs heading to Canberra. Husic was widely admired in the startup and tech sector, implementing a series of reviews into the sector during his three years in the role,… Read more »

Jim Chalmers
Other tech

Labor will ‘do more to embrace technology’ in its second term

- May 7, 2025 3 MIN READ

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says embracing technology will be a core tenet of Anthony Albanese’s re-elected Labor majority government following Saturday’s landslide victory against a Liberal-National coalition led by Peter Dutton. The prime minister’s victory guaranteed Labor a second consecutive three-year term and saw Dutton lose both his Brisbane seat of Dickson and his leadership of… Read more »

Parent, baby
Business

New research reveals important financial reasons for work from home policies

- May 2, 2025 4 MIN READ

In the pre-industrial era, people often lived and worked in the same building. This removed the need to travel to work. The separation of home and work occurred much later, during the Industrial Revolution. Factories and offices were grouped in designated areas and residential zoning was invented. Even then, people typically spent about 60 to… Read more »