City to get smart at $55m factory

A new smart-fibre factory and an engineering training facility will enhance Geelong’s credibility for innovative manufacturing, according to proponents.
The twin facilities, both at Deakin University’s Waurn Ponds campus, would also enhance the prospect of partnerships between researchers and industry, they said.
A joint venture between Geelong-based biotechnology company Cytomatrix and Swiss high-tech textiles company HeiQ Materials has received a $1.2 million government grant to establish the industrial-scale manufacturing facility.
HeiQ Australia will manufacture short polymer fibre (SPF) materials for the global performance additives market, including textiles, coatings, electronics, cosmetics and medical devices.
The award-winning process to develop the short-fibre materials was pioneered at Deakin University’s Institute for Frontier Materials (IFM).
HeiQ Australia chief executive officer Dr Murray Height said the venture aimed to build a manufacturing capability for the industrial production of high-value short-fibre materials for the domestic and export markets.
“HeiQ Australia will scale up and industrialise the process developed by Cytomatrix and the Institute of Frontier Materials and School of Engineering team, and will actively position novel short fibre materials in the global market for high-performance additive materials,” Dr Height said.
Deakin’s $55 million Centre for Advanced Design in Engineering Training (CADET) was launched this week to give regional and rural students greater opportunities to develop a career in engineering.
Corangamite MP Sarah Henderson said the co-location of CADET with Carbon Revolution and HeiQ would create further partnerships between researchers and industry.
“With our government’s announcement of a $14m Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre, also based at Deakin University, the CADET facility represents another wonderful investment in developing engineering and manufacturing excellence in our region,” Ms Henderson said.
Federal Minister for Education and Training Simon Birmingham said the Australian Government had committed $21.5 million to the centre.
“Modern facilities that provide students with the skills they need, in areas where we know there are jobs, are vital both in meeting, in this case, local engineering demands but also to attract students from outside of the Geelong region.”