Tata Steel and Australia's Monash University Sign MoU to Set Up Sustainability-focused Centre for Innovation

Centre will focus on decarbonisation, resource recovery from sustainable sources, and technologies towards smart manufacturing

Will provide educational and professional opportunities for students and academia, and foster the exchange of knowledge and talent between India and Australia

Tata Steel and Australia’s Monash University have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to set up a Centre for Innovation on Environment and Intelligent Manufacturing to collaborate on contemporary global challenges such as decarbonisation, resource recovery from sustainable sources, and technologies for advanced, additive, and data-driven manufacturing. The MoU is a milestone that marks the beginning of the first major research and development collaboration of Tata Steel with an Australian institution.

The collaboration will provide educational and professional opportunities for students and academia, fostering the exchange of knowledge and talent between India and Australia. On a broader scale, this partnership will help the Australian innovation ecosystem build stronger ties with India.

T. V. Narendran, CEO & Managing Director, Tata Steel, said: “As the second largest steel-producing country in the world, India’s role in the global steel industry has gained considerable traction not only in terms of volume and quality but also how we manufacture the world’s favourite alloy. As the oldest steel maker in India, Tata Steel has taken upon itself the responsibility of leading the change towards more sustainable manufacturing practices. Today, we are building a comprehensive ecosystem that involves partners from academia and the world of startups. Our agreement with Monash University, an institute with an impressive reputation in material science and the ability to scale research into market-ready solutions, is an addition to this ecosystem. We look forward to a fruitful partnership that opens new business opportunities and drives technological advancements for the benefit of our people and the planet.”

Professor Doron Ben-Meir, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Enterprise and Engagement) and Senior Vice-President, Monash University, said: "We are pleased to collaborate with Tata Steel to advance material science and chemical process research. Working with a global industry partner of this stature is an important step to driving the development of vital materials and technologies. The collaboration will draw upon Monash University's world-renowned expertise in industry-facing research and scale-up.”

Professor Mainak Majumder of the Faculty of Engineering and Director of the ARC Research Hub for Advanced Manufacturing with 2D Materials (AM2D), said: “The Centre for Innovation is aligned strategically with our mission of thinking locally, but acting globally, as we strive to create impact for Australian-born science and technology.”

As part of its decarbonisation journey, Tata Steel is seeking innovative ways to achieve its sustainability goals through continuous experimentation, investments in research, technological innovations, and collaborations with various academia, startups, and other reputed organisations. The Company recently signed MoUs with Imperial College London and The Henry Royce Institute to set up Centres of Innovation in the UK focussing on sustainable design and manufacturing, and advanced materials.

With 5,255 GB/second, Australia Records World's Fastest Internet Speed Ever

Researchers in Australia from Monash University, Swinburne University and RMIT University claimed to have logged a data speed of 44.2 terabits per second (Tbps), that is about 5,255 Gigabytes per second, a speed with which you can download 1000 HD movies in less than a second.

[caption id="attachment_145785" align="alignleft" width="300"] Micro-Comb[/caption]

This incredible speed was achieved using a single-piece of tiny device called a "Micro-Comb", which claimed to have replace existing internet infrastructure sometime soon and could hit behemoth of download speeds, providing millions with ample data at the same time, even during the busiest periods.

Researchers said they achieved the new record speed by using micro-comb that replaces around 80 lasers found in some existing telecoms hardware. The micro-comb was planted into and tested - outside the laboratory - using existing infrastructure, similar to that used by Australia's National Broadband Network (NBN).

The result was the highest amount of data ever produced by a single optical chip, which are used in modern fibre-optic broadband systems around the world. The Australian team now hope their findings offer a glimpse into how internet connections could look in the future.

The study says during peak time, internet speed at this rate can be accessible for over 1.8 million houses in Melbourne. In addition to this, billions of people from across the world.

However, the reality might not be quite as shiny as downloading all of Netflix in a blink, but with other potential improvements to internet technology on the horizon, even moderate jumps of several terabits per second over short distances are improvements worth paying attention to.

"And it's not just Netflix we're talking about here – it's the broader scale of what we use our communication networks for," says Monash University computer systems engineer Bill Corcoran.

"This data can be used for self-driving cars and future transportation and it can help the medicine, education, finance and e-commerce industries, as well as enable us to read with our grandchildren from kilometres away."

~ The research was published in Nature Communications.