STC is further developing its incubator and laboratory space. From February next year incubator office space will be available for companies. STC is also introducing laboratory space which will be available for lease. This space is ideal for start-ups, spin-outs and companies wishing to establish a presence in the South-East of Melbourne.

Space is flexible and the facility offers a range of locations that can be easily adapted to suit small- scale industrial research or manufacturing purposes.

The space includes a Grade C GMP space for industrial or research purposes, upgradable to Grade B if required. There are also two separate wet chemistry / QC / QA laboratories with ample bench and fume hood space. The highbay clean space has 4m high ceilings for manufacture or research and development, fully air-conditioned.

STC is located in the heart of Melbourne's southeast, just 30 minutes from the CBD, at the Caribbean Business Park.

Take advantage of this rare opportunity to lease the perfect office, laboratory and manufacturing space at STC.

Wilkore Construction have completed work on the Bioscience Research Centre Project.

The research centre is the result of a joint venture between the Victorian Government and La Trobe University. The centre is located at the university's Bundoora campus and will be equipped to house cutting- edge research aimed at supporting and protecting Victoria's $11.8 billion agricultural sector.

Grocon was the principal builder on this $288M project. Wilkore were engaged as a specialist contractor to supply the materials and construct the PC2 and PC3 facilities on site, including the installation of the walls, ceilings, flooring and joinery, and finally to test them to ensure that they met pressure test standards.

One of the most exciting and challenging aspects of this build was the construction of PC2 and PC3 glass houses on level 4. Using glass to build what are effectively 'air tight' facilities is not simple.

Wilkore were responsible for ensuring that this project met the stringent AQIS and OGTR regulations for the containment facilities, as well as the 5 star Greenstar rating of the project.

"We're very proud of the fact that all of the PC3 laboratories at BRC passed the required tests on the first go," said Wilkore General Manager, Paul Spencer.

In case you haven't already met, STC would like to introduce you to Buzz Palmer, the STIUP Program Manager and STC Head of Business Development.

Buzz started at STC in July this year, managing the STIUP scheme which has him liaising with government, potential applicants and approved suppliers to increase business' absorption of small technology applications across Victoria.

"Learning about new aspects of technology is one of my biggest areas of enjoyment, so the ability to work on something new and innovative with the STIUP program is very exciting," said Buzz.

Having completed a microsurgical based PhD in orthopaedic tissue engineering; Buzz's background is in stem cell medicine.

"I was originally going to stay in research but I decided to take a new route and to go into the area of business development," he explained.

"Buzz's combination of both research and business development experience makes him an ideal person to manage the STIUP program," said STC CEO, Michael Wilkinson.

"We're also looking to use Buzz's knowledge in the Middle East, UK and biologics to develop the STC and broaden its capabilities," he said.

Auslndustry is calling for responses to their recently released R&D Tax incentive Implementation discussion paper which comments on realising effective compliance through guidance and education.

Auslndustry are seeking to engage with a wide range of audiences and industries, including companies from the innovation community, industry associations, universities, research organisations and government. Through this engagement it seeks to encourage an innovation culture and enable the development of strong guidance material for the R&D Incentive.

The discussion paper can be found on the Auslndustry website. Responses to the paper can be emailed to RDTaxIncentiveDiscussionPaper@innovation.gov.au by no later than 22 December 2011.

In May MiniFAB were named the 2011 Enabling Technology Company of the Year at the Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame.

"MiniFAB is an outstanding example of the type of inventiveness and entrepreneurship that makes Victoria a leading centre for innovation," said the Minister for Manufacturing, Exports and Trade, Richard Dalla¬Riva.

The Enabling Technology Company of the Year award is designed to recognize companies that have made significant contributions to Victoria's manufacturing industry by embracing enabling technologies (nanotechnology, microtechnology, biotechnology and ICT) in their products, processes and services.

"We are very excited to be recognized by this award in its inaugural year. We are very proud of our team whose expertise and dedication allows us to deliver for our clients," said MiniFAB Chairman, Michael Wilkinson.

"MiniFAB is now established as a leading developer and manufacturer of real world solutions and products that use micro and nano technologies," said Mr Dalla-Riva.

On 12 October STC joined the 105,000 people taking part in the Bicycle Network's Ride to Work Day. Despite rain in the morning, 15 bikes were found in STC's bike sheds. The goal of the day was to encourage better bike facilities in the community.

The Victorian Government recently announced the Health Market Validation Program (Health MVP), a competitive grant program designed to encourage innovation in healthcare.

The program aims to find solutions to specific healthcare challenges, to achieve better health outcomes, improve healthcare service delivery and to result in economic benefits for Victoria.

The program supports development of healthcare-related products, processes and services by Victorian SMEs through linking companies to those in the public health sector with identified needs.

The first stage of the program invites public health sector agencies to submit specific problems that, if addressed, will result in significant improvement in healthcare delivery.

During the second stage, SMEs will be invited to submit proposals addressing the problems identified in Stage 1. Successful applicants from this stage will go on to complete feasibility studies valuing up to $100,000. A call for proposals for this stage is anticipated for early 2012.

Successful feasibility studies may then be eligible for a further $1.5 million, over two years, to take the product to market.

For more information, see.

STC talks to Founder and Managing Director of Arrayware, Paul Savage, about his love of FPGAs and growing from a sole trader into a company with almost 20 full time employees at STC

Visiting the Arrayware offices, it's hard to recall the time when, the then Digicom Answers, was a two-man enterprise located in the corner office on level two of 1 Dalmore Drive. What makes it even more incredible is that that time was only four years ago.

Arrayware is one of the rarities: a company that has grown as a result of the GFC. "Because of the GFC large multinationals retrenched a lot of people and put in place headcount freezes, but they still had to do the work, so they tended to outsource," said Arrayware Founder and Managing Director, Paul Savage.

"Usually our clients are specialists in their domain. They're familiar with FPGAs, but not necessarily experts in it, and they realize that they don't have to be," said Paul. That's where Arrayware and its expert team come in.

The company today includes 15 engineers and six support staff, and offers team-extending, out-sourcing and consulting services in the specialist area of field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA) from their offices at STC.

"We're like an architect's office but instead of designing buildings, we design the insides of FPGA chips. A customer will come to us and say want a chip that does this and can do that'; we'll design it for them. We provide the intellectual property and the designs that our customers then use inside the FPGAs," explained Paul.

A FPGA is a reprogrammable chip that can become whichever type of electronic chip that you want it to be.

"To get a chip manufactured normally costs millions of dollars, an FPGA is a way of getting your own custom chip without those millions of dollars of set-up costs," said Paul.

For a company like Samsung making flat-screen TVs, developing a circuit board using FPGA chips enables the one board to be used for multiple models and sizes, destined for different markets with different connectivity options.

Even once the product is in the market, they are not fixed. By sending what looks like a software update, the FPGA can be reconfigured, . changing the internals of the product and allowing a product to remain on the cutting-edge.

What's more is that they're fast. Using FPGAs, engineers have succeeded in getting super-computer performance on desktop-sized machines for particular algorithms such as DNA sequencing. This speed is a result of the parallelism of the chips, meaning that it is able to do things thousands of times faster than even the fastest microprocessors.

"The more we look, the more we find FPGAs are being used," said Arrayware's Business Development Manager, Chris Quint.

Two companies, Altera and Xilinx, have 80 per cent of the market share for manufacturing blank FPGA chips. Arrayware have alliances with both companies to provide them with direct connections into those companies for technical information and tools.

Paul likens the competition between these two companies to the epic Ford v Holden question. "[Altera and Xilinx] would prefer if we were just exclusive for one of them, but we're independent... They're both incredibly powerful chips," he said.

The seeds of Arrayware were sown when Paul "fell in love with FPGAs" on his first job as an electronics engineer. "I thought that it would be an incredible technology for the future and set about becoming a specialist," he said.

A milestone. in the evolution the business came in 2006 when, after 10 years working as a lone contractor and consultant in the field, Paul took the leap, moved into STC and started hiring.

"This change meant that we were able to build a team and share knowledge, increasing everyone's expertise quicker... it's actually quite hard to find FPGA engineers, we're creating FPGA engineers where there weren't any before," said Paul.

"We are always looking for like-minded, professional quality people, who either have the skills in our specialist domain, or who we believe are receptive to mentoring and training," said Paul.

Rather than looking to hire only when there's new work knocking on the door, by 'marketing for the staff' Arrayware have built a very strong core team.

"When you're in a rush to hire people to complete work, you can't be as selective and you can end up lowering the bar," said Paul.

Placing the emphasis on hiring the right staff rather means playing a tricky balancing act, trying to make sure that there is enough work, but in 4.5 years, the company has not had to let anyone go, and no one has chosen to leave.

"Integrity before profit and everything flows from there," said Paul, "at the top of the list is creating a workplace where everyone wants to be and people want to come to work".

Arrayware's clients, who include CSIRO, Hewlett Packard and Agilent Technologies, have directly benefited from this attitude, not only in the quality of work that they receive, but the stability of the staff.

"[Arrayware] worked seamlessly with our own FPGA development team with minimal management overhead, added their skill and insight to ours and delivered well documented results of the highest quality," said Director of R&D at Agilent Technologies, Cary Wright.

According to Paul, the biggest roadblock to transforming the company in 2006 was the three-year lease required by most office spaces.

"We were trying to start something new, but we wanted to be pretty conservative," he said. Having heard about STC through Bill Wood at Daintree Networks, Paul spoke with STC and was able to negotiate a space to rent on a monthly basis.

"The flexibility that STC and Wilkore gave us, of a month-to-month office space with the possibility to get more space, was key to getting us going, all the way to where we are now," said Paul.

Recent signing of three key agreements signals the progress of the bluechiip® tracking solution towards market-readiness

In the past month Bluechiip Limited [ASX: BCT] has signed three significant agreements with key American companies to further the development of the bluechiip® tracking solution.

The product is the bluechiip® tracking solution, a groundbreaking wireless tracking solution for healthcare, security, defence and manufacturing industries.

On 11 November 2011 Bluechiip announced that it had signed an evaluation agreement with Corning Incorporated (NYSE: GLW), a world leader in specialty glass and ceramics. The agreement provides Corning, through its Corning Life Sciences division, the opportunity to evaluate the bluechiip® tracking solution.

The evaluation will be in collaboration with ATCC (historically known as the American Type Culture Collection). Corning creates and makes keystone components that enable high-technology systems for consumer electronics, mobile emissions control, telecommunications and life sciences.

"Our objective with Corning is to explore opportunities to bring our innovative bluechiip® tracking solution to market as a premium product within Corning's wide range of product lines. We believe this represents a lucrative opportunity for both Bluechiip and Corning," said Mr Schwarz.

On 8 November 2011 Bluechiip announced it had signed a Collaborative Evaluation and Trial Agreement with ATCC, a recognized leader in biological materials management and processes for cell provisioning based in the USA. The agreement allows ATCC to evaluate Bluechiip's tracking solution and conduct a pilot using the bluechiip® technology over the next few months.

Following completion of the evaluation and trial period, ATCC may option to deploy the bluechiip® technology in its cold-storage logistics workflow. ATCC currently stores approximately 10 million biological samples of different forms. The repository portion of its facility contains 200 freezers to store biomaterials, including vapor-phase liquid nitrogen freezers, mechanical freezers and cold rooms. Users of these products and services come from many countries worldwide, and include researchers in academia and government, as well as private industry. ATCC's collections include a wide range of biological materials for research, including cell lines, molecular genomics tools, microorganisms and bioproducts.

Earlier, Bluechiip signed a similar agreement with a leading biorepository and biobanking services provider, which could not be named for confidentiality reasons.

Bluechiip's wireless tracking solution represents a generational change from current methods such as labels (hand-written and pre-printed), barcodes (linear and 2D) and microelectronic integrated circuit (IC)- based RFID (Radio Frequency Identification).

STC talks with Genera Biosystem's Founder and CSO, Karl Poetter, about PapTypen4 and using ArripaSand-rm for diagnostics

Using its AmpaSand technology, Genera Biosystems has developed multiple diagnostic tests, including PapType" which tests for Human Papillomavirus (HPV).

PapType" is an in vitro diagnostic that genotypes HPV, a condition proven to cause cancer. The test, which has received TGA and CE Mark certification, indicates both the presence of the virus and its severity.

"It's a survey of the viral population in a sample," said Genera's Founder and Chief Science Officer, Dr Karl Poetter.

It tests for, and identifies, 14 high-risk types of HPV, two of which are more dangerous than others. PapType" will also indicate the presence of two low-risk HPV types that are associated with genital warts.

Genera began work on the product in 2004 in response to a request from a pathology lab, Healthscope, for a molecular diagnostic that could quickly and easily genotype viral types.

The device is designed for central pathology laboratories with relatively high-throughput applications. Genera also has plans for further development of the product, moving towards point-of-care applications.

PapType" is based on Genera's AmpaSandTM technology. As the name suggests, AmpaSandTM uses multiple batches of spherical and uniform silica microspheres, most commonly found in sand, each with different sized particles. Batches can be differentiated by size and, after surface modifications with fluorescent tass, colour as well. This means that multiple tests can be performed simultaneously and read rapidly by a flow cytometer, a standard tool in biological applications.

Genera imports the silica particles from a manufacturer in Indiana; they then modify the surface for the relevant test. For example, Genera manufactures 17 different beads for the PapType product.

"We design the surfaces of each of those beads so that we can make them different and specific for a particular reagent," explained Karl.

Working in partnerships, Genera has also developed tests for a large number of upper-respiratory tract viruses and bacteria and detection of sexually transmitted diseases.

Genera's technology has also been used for standard human, horse and cattle genotyping projects, looking for polymorphisms in genes indicating important, known mutations.

Genera is developing all of these tests and is moving towards regulatory approval. "The creation and design of the test is probably the easy part; the hard part is getting it through the regulatory requirements," said Karl.

Applications for the second round of STIUP Trial vouchers are currently being accepted. Applications are to be submitted using the online form available at the Business Victoria website here.

Note that completed applications (including the required financial information) must be received by 3pm 18th November 2011.

The Trial vouchers will be run by DBI, further information may be obtained by contacting Dr Ken Van Langenberg, Small Technologies Program Manager on 9651 9820 or ken.van_langenberg@dbi.vic.gov.au.

This competition is designed to recognize innovations that could make a difference and inspire Australia.

There are seven categories including health, environment, manufacturing and high-tech design and environment each with a $5,000 as well as an overall winner with a prize of $25,000. As well as the monetary prize, the best entries will also be featured in The Weekend Australian.

The competition is supported by The Australian newspaper and Shell, with support from the Australian Government’s Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research.

Entries close 28 September 2011.

For more information, visit http://www.theaustralian.com.au/innovationchallenge.

Work funded through the Victorian Government’s Small Technology Industry Uptake Program (STIUP) has produced critical results for the future of the Liquitab device, a unit designed to help people who struggle to swallow tablets.

Liquitab’s CFO, Darren Scotti, called the Small Technologies Industry Uptake Program (STIUP) a godsend.

“A pill that we were previously crushing in six minutes is now being done in 70 seconds,” said Darren.

For the full article click here.

The Small Technologies Cluster (STC) is excited to announce the appointment of Buzz Palmer to manage the Small Technologies Industry Uptake Program (STIUP).

In his role as STIUP Program Manager Buzz will liaise with government, potential applicants and approved suppliers to increase business’ absorption of small technology applications across Victoria.

“I’ll also be providing general knowledge of the program to the wider audience within regional Victoria as well as Melbourne,” said Buzz.

For more information click here.

The Small Technology Industry Uptake Program (STIUP) encourages product development and is helping to de-risk the process, according to voucher recipient Bluechiip.

“The vouchers are very useful for companies looking to expand their product range,” said Bluechiip’s Chief Technology Office, Dr Jason Chaffey.

Bluechiip have used the STIUP voucher program to advance the development of three separate products.

To read the full article click here.

Futurists, scientists and designers will share their expertise with Melbourne business owners at the inaugural Innovation Showcase on 16 June 2011.

The event at Hemisphere Conference Centre in Moorabbin will feature a Q&A panel led by the ABC’s Virginia Trioli to discuss industry innovation in today’s world of limited resources.

The South East Melbourne Innovation Precinct (SEMIP) is presenting the showcase, which aims to assist small to medium organisations in identifying business opportunities, as well as providing access to government representatives and the leaders of major research facilities.

To read the full article click here.

The Small Technologies Industry Uptake Program (STIUP) has helped to keep the development of nanomaterials in Australia, winning praise and gratitude from Dr Terry Turney, CTO of Micronisers Australasia Pty Ltd.

In November last year Micronisers, a nanomaterials development and manufacturing company, was awarded a STIUP feasibility voucher for $10,000 to access specialist equipment and expertise from the CRC for Polymers.

Terry said the STIUP voucher enabled Micronisers to continue their product development in Australia.

To read the full article click here.

Shaun Holthouse, CEO of Catapult Innovations Pty. Ltd., has praised STC for the opportunities it gives to its tenants.

“It’s just a great place to be,” he said.

Shaun said that the chance to collaborate with other tenants and to share resources were key reasons why Catapult chose to locate itself at STC for over four years.

“I would definitely recommend that any start-up technology company, especially if their technology is related to electronics, wireless or biotech, should consider basing themselves at STC.”

To read the full article click here.

Rising interest in biotech is filtering through to the float market. Two biotechs have listed since December and a third, Bluechiip, will soon join them.

The ability to raise capital again through initial public offerings is an important development for capital-hungry biotechs. The IPO window has been mostly shut for biotech.

Click here to download the media release.

Visiting one of the global leaders in rail manufacturing today, Minister for Manufacturing, Exports and Trade Richard Dalla-Riva encouraged industry associations and companies to nominate locally-based manufacturers for the Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame 2011.

At Bombardier Transportation Australia in Dandenong, Australia’s only manufacturing minister Richard Dalla-Riva said that nominations were now being sought for Victorian manufacturers whose innovative and sophisticated solutions to manufacturing are world-class.

“Victoria’s manufacturers are innovative, quality-driven and committed to their industries, and these awards highlight true excellence,” Mr Dalla-Riva said.

The 2011 awards include two new categories, one for entrepreneurial excellence by a company and the second for a young manufacturer working with enabling technologies for manufacturing such as information and communication technology, nano and microtechnology, and biotechnology.

A $1 million Brumby Labor Government program to help Victoria’s biotech and small technology companies develop international partnerships was announced today by Innovation Minister Gavin Jennings at the AusBiotech conference in Melbourne.

Mr Jennings said the Science and Technology International Partnering Program (STIPP) would provide grants to companies to attend recognised overseas conferences, trade events and meetings with regulatory authorities.

To download the factsheet on the STIPP program click here

Victorian businesses will have the opportunity to increase their competitiveness by using small technologies in their products, processes or services, thanks to a $6.5 million Brumby Labor Government program.

Innovation Minister Gavin Jennings today launched the first round of the Small Technologies Industry Uptake Program (STIUP) which was a key part of the $10.5 million Victorian Action Plan for Small Technologies.

The Small Technologies Cluster (STC) is delighted to be partnering with the Victorian Government to deliver the Small Technologies Industry Uptake Program. The STC will administer the STFeas and STTech voucher applications which open today, and remain open for the entire duration of the program (through to June 2013). For further information and to download application forms visit www.stc-melbourne.com

The Victorian Government will manage and administer the STTrial vouchers and set dates for each of the three funding rounds. The first round of applications opens today and closes on Thursday 11 November 2010. For further information, eligibility criteria, and to download application forms and visit www.innovation.vic.gov.au

Click here to download the media release by the State Government.

The Victorian Government today launched the Small Technologies Action Plan, investing $10.5 million to delivery new initiatives aim at increasing the adoption of small technologies by Victorian companies.

Included in the program to be released in mid 2010, is the allocation of $6.5 million towards a voucher program. These vouchers may be exchanged for a variety of services which assist in the uptake of small technologies ranging from patent searches to accessing small technologies facilities

To download the action plan, please visit www.business.vic.gov.au