Frontier Technologies theme area:

Activities within the Frontier Technologies theme area are carried out by most schools in the faculties of Science, Engineering and Technology, and Health Sciences as well as across the faculties of Arts and Law and with institute's such as Menzies, TIAR, TAFI and CODES. This theme area is enhanced with major initiatives in separation science at the Australian Centre for Research on Separation Science (ACROSS), in IT at the Smart Internet Technology Cooperative Research Centre, with the national facilities of the Central Science Laboratory (CSL), and the building of the new Human Interface Technology Laboratory (HITLab), and as other possible Government partnerships are being explored.

Developments in breakthrough science and emerging technologies will facilitate innovation and an understanding of fundamental science. Of significance here are biotechnology, IT (particularly health and bioinformatics), molecular sciences, including genomics, proteomics and nanotechnology, separation science, engineering, exploration of the stars, and the technologies underpinning effective data management and digital media use in the generation of creative works.

This theme area also addresses the broader impacts of such innovations and considers the factors that affect their uptake as seen, for example, with the use of digital technologies in business practice and the commercialisation of ideas and inventions. Industry linkages are therefore important for research here. Both research into Frontier Technologies and these related issues are incorporated into undergraduate and graduate teaching programs in the faculties involved.