The Australian government has allocated nearly A$40m ($26m) to support new technologies and AI, aiming to enhance the Australian Defence Force’s (ADF) decisions making amid complex information conditions.
The funding comes through the Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator’s (ASCA) Emerging and Disruptive Technologies (EDT) programme.
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ASCA signed 14 contracts intended to advance Decision Advantage across air, land, space, maritime and cyber operations.
According to the government, Decision Advantage refers to making faster and more effective decisions than potential adversaries. It is identified as one of six main capability effects in the 2024 National Defence Strategy.
Funding recipients include a mix of universities and private companies based in states including New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, and the Australian Capital Territory.
Recipients of the contracts include the Australian National University, which received A$1.02m, Curtin University with A$3.17m, Macquarie University and Western Sydney University jointly receiving A$3.29m, and the University of New South Wales with A$3.22m.
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By GlobalDataTechnology companies such as Cortisonic and Swordfish Computing were also awarded funding of A$3.23m and A$3.09m, respectively.
Chief defence scientist, professor Tanya Monro AC said: “These investments build long-term partnerships with industry, research institutions and our world-leading universities so we can develop the technology we need faster.”
“While the information environment in our region and around the world continues to change, we’re backing Australian researchers, innovators and engineers to deliver home-grown solutions to emerging challenges.”
ASCA received 123 individual submissions following its call for EDT proposals.
Each of the selected contracts will support proposals focused on areas such as machine reasoning, automated data integration and AI, all aimed at expanding Decision Advantage capabilities across various Defence domains.
ASCA head major general Hugh Meggitt said: “The investment of $40m in the EDT Decision Advantage Program is an important activity to develop future capability and inform potential future ASCA Missions to provide an asymmetric advantage to the ADF.”
