AUKUS Critical Minerals Summit in Broken Hill

On 8 April 2024, UNSW SMaRT Centre Director, Professor Veena, will deliver a speech at the AUKUS Critical Minerals Summit at Broken Hill, NSW.

Other speakers include former Labor Defence Minister, the Hon Joel Fitzgibbon and former Liberal Minister and United States Ambassador, the Hon Arthur Sinodinos AO. They and Veena are Advisory Board Members of event host, the AUKUS Forum.

Veena will also share her vision for a sustainable future, highlight the importance of creating a circular economy and how using waste as a resource - including various UNSW SMaRT Centre innovations - must be at the centre of future manufacturing needs.

See event website and registration details

Event hosts say:

The AUKUS Forum, in collaboration with Broken Hill City Council, RDA Far West, Foundation Broken Hill, Department of Regional NSW and the Industry Capability Network - ICN, invites businesses - across all industries - to learn about new opportunities from AUKUS.

(Guests will arrive in Broken Hill over the weekend and on Sunday afternoon we can gather at the historic town of Silverton. Monday is the workshop and Tuesday will be various industry site visits being arranged.)

The nuclear powered submarine project with AUKUS thrusts Australia into a whole new world where innovation and technology rule.

AUKUS will be much more than nuclear submarines and the opportunities will expand into all industries - The Prime Minister has said that AUKUS will be the largest industrial endeavour in Australia's history and will require a whole of nation effort. "This whole of nation effort also presents a whole of nation opportunity; for new jobs, new industries, and new expertise in science, technology and cyber."

AUKUS is already expanding from nuclear with particular emphasis on cyber capabilities, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies and more.

Join us to hear from defence industry leaders, world leading researchers and industry experts as we build a whole new ecosystem to build the AUKUS Partnership.

Collaboration will help unleash the power of AUKUS - Join us.

AGENDA

Please Note - No media, no cameras, no mobile phone filming.

[9.30-10am] Registration

[10am-10.20am] Welcome and Acknowledgment of Country - Tom Kennedy, Mayor of Broken Hill City Council.

[10.20am-10.45am] Michael Sharpe - AUKUS Forum Director - introduction to the AUKUS Forum and updates on national events including AUKUS Pillar Two with the AI Taskforce, Advanced Cyber, the Nuclear Taskforce and Information Sharing.

The AUKUS Forum Advisory Board Co-Chairs are former Labor Defence Minister, the Hon Joel Fitzgibbon and former Liberal Minister and United States Ambassador, the Hon Arthur Sinodinos AO.

[10.45-11.15] Professor Veena Sahajwalla - Member of the AUKUS Forum Advisory Board and one of our nation's leading engineers. Australian Research Council (ARC) Laureate Professor Veena Sahajwalla is an internationally recognised materials scientist, engineer and inventor revolutionising recycling science. She is renowned for pioneering the high temperature transformation of waste in the production of a new generation of ‘green materials.’

[11.15-11.35] - Clare Larkin-Sykes - Member of the Nuclear Taskforce. Clare is Founder and Managing Director of LarkinSykes Advisory. She is Co-Lead of NewH2 the Hunter Hydrogen Technology Cluster, is a mining engineer (UNSW) and holds applied finance qualifications. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Newcastle Institute of Energy and Resources (NIER) and NSW Decarbonisation Innovation Hub and is a current Commissioner on the NSW Independent Planning Commission.

[11.35-11.55] We welcome Lt Col. Jasmin Diab, CSC to the AUKUS Forum Advisory Board and to talk about the nuclear industry and opportunities for Australia. Lt Col Diab is also a nuclear engineer and the current President of Women in Nuclear.

[11.55-12.15] Eartheye Space Technologies|Shankar Sivaprakasam - Founder. Fully automated, self service satellite tasking and insights platform. Direct tasking over 200 satellites. Multispectral (MSI), Hyperspectral (HSI), Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), Thermal Infrared (TIR), Full Motion Video (FMV), Greenhouse Gases (GHG), RF-communication and many more on one screen. Get data, information and insights from over 200 satellites whenever and wherever you need them.

[12.15-12.30pm] Questions/updates from the floor.

[12.30-2pm] Lunch and networking

Monday evening will be dinner (at own cost) with local industry, council, state government and community representatives.

Tuesday will be various industry site visits to be finalised.

Registration & Tickets

Tickets are free. In-person only.