A $140 million advanced manufacturing teaching and research facility has been launched at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne will be a major boost to Australia's manufacturing and materials industry.

 

The new Advanced Technologies Centre,  which received over $11 million in Commonwealth support, mostly through the Education Investment Fund (EIF), will strengthen Swinburne's focus on advanced materials and manufacturing.

 

Swinburne University of Technology also received an additional $40 million in funding through Round 3 of the EIF in 2010 for the Advanced Manufacturing Centre, to be built alongside the Advanced Technologies Centre. The new centre will be completed in 2013.

 

The ATC will facilitate leading research into manufacturing, high temperature processing, neurosciences, nano- and micro-fabrication, nanophotonics, product design engineering, robotics and mechatronics, microscopy and biotechnology.

 

The building’s street frontage is dominated by a massive Smart Structures Laboratory that houses equipment that can apply extreme loads to buildings, allowing scientists and engineers to test construction materials.

 

Swinburne Vice-Chancellor Professor Linda Kristjanson ATC is the first stage of the university’s $250 million investment in new research infrastructure.