These realisations of breakthrough ideas are delivering cleaner air, better wound healing, faster data transmission and so much more.
1. Air pollution solution with benefits
The invention: The award-winning Junglefy Breathing Wall is a modular green wall foliage system that can improve indoor and outdoor environments well beyond aesthetics. Thanks to the innate pollutant removal capabilities of the plants, the system boosts indoor air quality but also filters toxic particulate matter and volatile organic compounds. In addition, the Breathing Wall reduces ambient noise and lowers the surrounding air temperature. It’s a spectacular example of nature, technology and architecture coming together to make city life more liveable.
The team behind it: Junglefy commissioned Dr Fraser Torpy and Dr Peter Irga from the Plants and Environment Quality Research Group at the University of Technology to carry out research on the viability, efficiency and safety of the Breathing Wall.
Commercialisation: The collaborative research partnership has received three dollar-for-dollar government linkage grants that specifically target industry research projects. Breathing Walls have been installed around Australia in offices, schools, libraries, airports, carparks, train stations and along motorways.
2. A revolutionary treatment for burns
The innovation: Plastic and reconstructive surgeon Professor Fiona Wood and medical scientist Marie Stoner co-invented the technique of spraying skin cells that had been grown in a lab onto burn wounds in the 1990s. The continued development of ‘spray-on skin’ technology has slashed the time required to prepare the cells (from 21 days to 30 minutes) and the amount of healthy skin from the patient needed to treat wounds (30% less for third-degree burns and 97.5% less for second-degree burns compared to conventional grafting methods). Permanent scarring is also greatly reduced.
The team behind it: Professor Fiona Wood and Marie Stoner at the Royal Perth and Princess Margaret Hospitals.
Commercialisation: After patenting this technology in 1993, Professor Wood and Stoner co-founded a company, Clinical Cell Culture, which allowed for distribution worldwide. This company was then renamed Avita Medical and began distributing spray-on skin under the name ‘ReCell.’ It was granted FDA approval for use on adults in 2018 and children in 2021.
3. Spotlight on crime
The invention: There’s rarely a crime scene investigation in the world these days where the Polilight forensic light source isn’t brought out for gathering potential evidence. This landmark forensic tool, which was officially introduced to the world in 1989, grew out of research by forensic scientists at the Australian National University, with funding from the Australian Federal Police. It uses different wavelengths of light to detect, for example, fingerprints and stains from bodily fluids. In this way it can reveal evidence of human activity at a crime scene that wouldn’t otherwise be detected. The Polilight is also used to examine counterfeit artworks and forged documents.
The team behind it: Researchers at ANU led by Professor Ron Warrener and Milutin Stoilovic developed the earliest version of the device, known as the Unilite.
Commercialisation: The prototype of the invention was commercialised and sold to Rofin Australia, whose version of the Polilight is now employed in criminal investigations worldwide.
4. Fast data
The innovation: Existing telecommunications infrastructure is struggling to handle ever-increasing volumes of data. An innovative glass microchip developed by Australian researchers is responsible for increasing data transmission rates up to a thousand times when retrofitted to existing cabling. The devices can be installed within hours, enabling data rates of up to 40 gigabytes/second over a kilometre of cable for as little as a tenth of the cost of installing new cabling.
The team behind it: Professor Michael Withford and Dr Simon Gross at Macquarie University and Dr Nicolas Riesen and the late Emeritus Professor John Love at Australian National University.
Commercialisation: The technology was licensed to Modular Photonics, a spin-out from Macquarie University. Modular Photonics won the 2019 International SPIE and Photonics Media Prism Award for Photonics Innovation and the 2020 CIM Platinum Innovators Award. With offices in Sydney and Adelaide the company’s markets include data centres, multi-building campuses (schools, universities, hospitals, technology parks, etc), sports arenas, shopping malls and mining sites.
5. The leukaemia fighter
The invention: Venetoclax is a drug originally developed to treat chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), the most common form of leukaemia in adults. The development of venetoclax as a therapy for CLL stemmed from a landmark 1988 discovery by researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI), who recognised that a protein called BCL-2 assists cancer cells, including those implicated with CLL, to survive. Over decades, WEHI researchers designed a way to stop BCL-2 in its tracks and treat cancer in the process.
The team behind it: Researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI) in Melbourne collaborated with scientists at pharmaceutical companies AbbVie and Genentech (a subsidiary of Roche).
Commercialisation: Venetoclax is now marketed as Venclexta, an oral therapy for CLL and acute myeloid leukaemia. The CLL market alone could be valued at more than US$12 billion by 2027. Ongoing research is investigating the use of the drug to treat other types of cancer.
6. Spotting parasites in drinking water
The innovation: Bringing together expertise in microbiology and optoelectronics, researchers at Macquarie University in the 1990s established a technique for detecting the presence of microorganisms in large volumes of water, working in collaboration with Sydney Water. They developed antibodies and nucleic acid probes that targeted parasites such as cryptosporidium, giardia and legionella, which were then labelled with fluorescent markers. When combined with an adapted flow cytometer (which counts and measures cells), the method allows for quick and easy detection of these dangerous water parasites.
The team behind it: Professor Duncan Veal, Professor Graham Vesey, Professor Jim Piper, Professor Keith Williams, Mark Gauci and team from Macquarie University.
Commercialisation: This technology has been in use for more than two decades to protect Sydney’s drinking water supply and is also used throughout the world.
7. Seamless computing
The innovation: Without Samba networking software, personal computing wouldn’t be as widespread, straightforward and influential in the world as it is. Samba allows two of the most widely used operating systems – Windows and Unix – to communicate and interact seamlessly with each other: it helps Windows and Unix, and now even the latest Macintosh operating system, exist and work together in the same network.
Inventor: Samba grew out of a PhD project begun in 1991 by ANU computer programmer Andrew Tridgell, who was looking for a way to connect computers made by different companies. It continues to be developed by a team of around 40 programmers distributed globally.
Commercialisation: Dr Tridgell is an advocate of open-source software and Samba has always been available free of charge. In the early days, a joke request for payment in pizza triggered a stream of gifts including vouchers, cans of pizza ingredients and even an origami pizza. Today Samba accepts monetary donations to fund its operations. The software is used around the world.
8. Breathing back-up for at-risk sleepers
The innovation: The continuous positive airflow pressure (CPAP) mask has become the most common treatment for breathing difficulties during sleeping, such as obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). OSA is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, increased excessive daytime sleepiness, increased mortality, and reduced quality of life. Rather than the drastic surgery that was the previous treatment for severe OSA, CPAP is a vented mask patients wear as they sleep, which provides continuous air pressure, keeping the airways open.
The team behind it: In 1981, Professor Colin Sullivan and his colleagues at Sydney University developed the first CPAP device.
Commercialisation: Commercialised in 1989 and having become the gold standard for sleep apnoea treatment, CPAP helped build the Australian medical company ResMed into a world leader. The world CPAP market is now estimated to be worth around $US5 billion.
9. More precise and efficient surgery
The innovation: In laparoscopic surgery, sometimes called ‘keyhole surgery’, a variety of surgical instruments may need to be inserted through a small port. Two colorectal surgeons at Macquarie University Hospital have invented a funnel-shaped laparoscopic instrument guide prototype that facilitates easier instrument exchange during surgery, increases accuracy of instrument placement and reduces surgeon fatigue.
The team behind it: Professor John Cartmill and Associate Professor Andrew Gilmore invented the device. Professor Cartmill is also Macquarie University’s Associate Dean, Clinical, in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and Professor of Surgery in the Department of Clinical Medicine. Associate Professor Gilmore is a Visiting Medical Officer at the Orange Health Service and Dudley Private Hospital.
Commercialisation: A licence has been signed with Multigate Medical Products, which designs, manufactures and supplies more than 2000 medical consumables.
10. Protection for some of the world’s poorest workers
The innovation: In 2015, the Indian government was considering implementing a new regulatory system for small factories. The United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO) was concerned the changes could lead to poor outcomes for workers. The advice they provided to the Indian Government relied on University of Melbourne research on workplace rights compliance and enforcement, carried out with the Australian Fair Work Ombudsman. These findings offered a new, strategic approach to enforcing labour law compliance, which in India gives protection to more than 487 million workers.
The team behind it: Professors John Howe and Sean Cooney, and Associate Professor Tess Hardy from the University of Melbourne’s Centre for Employment and Labour Relations Law.
Commercialisation: The ILO engages workers, employers and governments from more than 187 member states globally to safeguard work standards. New workplace health and safety laws were passed in India in 2019.
Written by Amanda Burdon, Rory Crofts, Ken Eastwood, Karen McGhee and Tania Simanowsky.