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The University of Western Australia will showcase six top commercial opportunities arising from research at a university forum to be held next month.

The program includes specific opportunities, such as a new battery technology, the latest in mining exploration innovation, novel antibiotics and advanced laser technology.

UWA, together with Curtin University, Murdoch University and Edith Cowan University, will showcase opportunities in the broad categories of "green" technology, biotechnology, computer technologies and resource-related technologies.

Dr Andy Sierakowski, Director of UWA's Office of Industry and Innovation, said the event would bring together academia, industry and the investment community.

"The aim is to facilitate dialogue between these groups with the overall goal of unlocking the value in the significant public investment being made into research in WA," Dr Sierakowski said.

"The Office of Industry and Innovation is particularly pleased to help showcase the commercial potential of UWA's research."

UWA's innovations include:

• A revolutionary multi-target tracking system (already being used by defence forces) which won a 2010 Eureka Prize for presenter Professor Ba-Ngu Vo, his brother Assistant Professor Ba-Tuong Vo and Winthrop Professor Tony Cantoni;
• A multi-model nanoparticle platform for bio-imaging and drug delivery, presented by Dr Swaminathan Iyer and Cameron Evans ;
• Geothermal heating, cooling and desalination by eminent international scientist and Premier's Fellow Professor Klaus Regenauer-Lieb;
• Very fast finite element method simulation, widely used for simulation of mechanical engineering problems, by Assistant Professor Grand Joldes;
• A novel antibiotic that has been found to be antibacterial against a class of bacteria that includes the deadly but difficult to treat superbugs, by Professor Thomas Riley; and
• A joint geophysical inversion technology that results in more accurate images of underground resources, by Dr Luis Gallardo.

WA Minister for Commerce, Science and Innovation, Bill Marmion will open the event.  Other speakers include Sam Walsh, Rio Tinto's Executive Director and Chief Executive Iron Ore, while Radio National Science Show presenter Robyn Williams will MC the program.

There will be a discussion on effective university commercial collaborations with a panel of experts from industry and the investment community.  The WA Innovator of the Year Awards will be announced at a lunch on Thursday, November, 4.

Photo:  Eureka Prize winners Winthrop Professor Ba-Ngu Vo and his younger brother Assistant Professor Ba-Tuong Vo.

Media references

Dr Andy Sierakowski (UWA Office of Industry and Innovation)  (+61 8)  6488 7048
Janine MacDonald (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 5563  /  (+61 4) 32 637 716