News on the AI scene in WA. Joondalup, which is about 30km north of Perth, is pushing to build the first Australian centre for AI and robots. This move is supported by most of the top WA Universities. Interesting given the ties of these universities to Brainchip (eg. members of the Brainchip SAB include Adam Osseiran (ECU), Barry Marshall (UWA), Alan Harvey (UWA), plus Curtin has had links to Brainchip in the past, e.g. https://brainchipinc.com/brainchip-and-cisco-internet-of-everything-innovation-center-sign-agreement-to-demonstrate-the-capabilities-of-brainchips-spiking-neural-adaptive-processor-snap-technology/).
https://www.perthnow.com.au/local-news/perthnow-joondalup/pn-council-joon-robotics-c-3759113Joondalup supports push to become centre for artificial intelligence and robotics
Tyler BrownPerthNow - JoondalupAugust 26, 2021 2:00AMThe City of Joondalup wants to become Australia’s first urban centre for artificial intelligence and robotics by 2032, with the potential to add billions to the local economy.
The council unanimously voted last week to provide in-principle support for initiatives to attract national and global businesses to invest in robotics, automation and artificial intelligence in the region, and to develop a dedicated precinct in Joondalup for the testing and development of these technologies.
The project is being led by RoboWest, which incorporates ECU, Curtin University, UWA, RCT, Minera, Chironix, Nexxis, the i-Move Cooperative Research Centre and lead consultant Project 412.
A $120,000 feasibility study is currently being undertaken, which the City contributed $50,000 towards, with preliminary modelling suggesting the project has the potential to add $1.5 billion to $7.5 billion and 3600 to 20,000 jobs to the Joondalup economy over the next 10 years.
“This potential impact on the local economy and jobs is eye watering,” Cr Tom McLean said.
However, it would require changes to State Government policy to allow for level 4 semi-autonomous vehicles to be tested on public roads.
Level 4 vehicles can operate in self-driving mode but must have a human driver who can take control at any time.
Therefore, the council also voted to support advocating to the State and Federal governments to enable the required regulatory and policy reform.
“It’s the support State and Federal governments want to see to ensure any investment will be welcomed and supported by the local community,” Joondalup chief executive James Pearson said.
“When the feasibility study is completed, it will be brought back to the council to see what further involvement or support is needed from the City.”
Cr Christine Hamilton-Prime said the “transformational project”, named Project Joondalup, was a “game-changing opportunity that has endless possibilities”.
“We can help offset the City’s dependence on residential rates, which is realistically achievable if we support initiatives like this,” she said. “If we don’t, it would be a huge loss of an opportunity that will move elsewhere.”
However, Cr Russell Poliwka said it was “scary” to use “the fear of missing out”.
“We’re not going to miss out; the digital world is still going to go ahead and we’ll be part of it,” he said.
While Cr Poliwka said he did not have a problem with giving in-principle support, he said the City needed to be careful.
“I don’t want to see any more money spent unless it’s before the council for approval,” he said.
“We sometimes overshoot out capacity. Our capacity has to be to allow planning to be appropriate and the location to be provided, but I don’t see us as financial players.”
Cr John Raftis also questioned what City resources would be needed, requesting officers keep a record of how much effort and salaries were going into the project, while Cr Suzanne Thompson questioned where the figures of $1.5b to $7.5b came from.
“They have been thrown around but no substantiation of how they were come to,” she said.
Mayor Albert Jacob said he was “mystified” by the criticisms.
He said the council’s “competitive edge” was that it had always been prepared to advocate for the City’s future.
“The Ocean Reef Marina is a perfect example; we put $5-6 million in over 15 years and if not for that investment, we wouldn’t have a billion-dollar marina project under construction right now.
“We also just made a decision that no other council in WA has done that I’m aware of. We went and recruited the head of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry to come and be our CEO.
“Why else did we do this if not to use his expertise in exactly these sorts of things and leverage off it to grow to our strengths for future industries and jobs.”
At the council briefing, ECU digital technology researcher Anthony Marceddo said it was an opportunity to “attract rare talent around the world”, with would lead to education institutions creating new courses to also provide talent locally.
North Metropolitan TAFE strategy, marketing and performance director Daniel Devellerez also said it would complement the TAFE’s current activities in automation and robotics.
“It will encourage local residents to obtain skills in emerging areas with good job prospects,” he said.
“They will gain skills demanded from industry that will then be put back into the local community. That’s what these hubs do.
“It will position Joondalup as a place to live, learn and work.”
Minera owner Martin Boulton, who has been specialising in autonomous vehicles for 12 years, said a robotics precinct would be “very new and innovative for WA” and would put a “spotlight on Joondalup from a national and global perspective”.
Mr Jacob said he had a great affinity for robotics.
“I grew up in a family that ran an industrial robotics business,” he said. That’s what Dad did ... and they mainly worked on machines they brought in from Japan and the US.
“My sister and her husband also run a manufacturing business, increasingly using robotics and automation. Again, bringing in machines from Japan, Germany and other places.
“Wouldn’t it be an amazing thing if we could see at some point down the road that we have machinery where the tech has been designed here?
“That’s our vision: the CBD of the north. Built around a university campus with tech know-how, which is already the cyber security centre for Australia.”
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