Enabling national marine science in Australia with engineering, prototyping and technology development – robotics, autonomy and automation

Technology Development, Engineering and Prototyping (TDEP) is a cornerstone for healthy economies and prosperous nations. Australia has not invested sufficiently in technology research and development over the last decade, leading to concerning trends in economic indicators such as economic complexity. While Australia is world-leading in research outputs, these are not translating to the commercialisation of new products and services at a rate commensurate with other developed economies. Australia is a marine nation with a world-leading marine science industry. Without focusing efforts on the underpinning technology and tools supporting this industry, our nation’s ability to keep pace with marine science needs will diminish. Australia will continue to be consumers of new technologies and tools rather than developers and exporters of such systems. Observations in Australian waters remain extremely sparse and increasingly lag behind global marine observing trends. As such, progressing the understanding and management of Australia’s marine environment and the science that underpins its management is increasingly dependent on the progress of technologies that enable marine observations. Investment in engineering, prototyping and technology development within Australia is an important step towards supporting and growing domestic and regional observations.