Category / I Choose SA

by brandsa2018

Artificial intelligence a game-changer for future jobs

From complex software systems that sort through medical data, to drones that monitor crop health, South Australian industries are embracing the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and cutting edge technologies.

International AI expert Dr John Flackett says SA is well placed to adopt AI and machine learning in health care, defence and agriculture sectors, providing new job pathways for future generations.

According to Dr Flackett, an AI researcher and co-founder of start-ups koolth and AiLab, we’re ready for the transformation but need to ensure we have policy and regulation in place.

“We have a really forward thinking start-up economy in SA and we have people interested in innovation,” he says.

“There are some fine opportunities for using AI, if we look at space, agriculture, tourism and healthcare. Having doctors look at hundreds, even thousands of x-ray images to try and spot cancers or health issues, when we can train machines to do that work in a fraction of the time.

“But I think it’s really important that when we apply AI to sectors such as healthcare we don’t take the human out of the link totally. When we’re using AI tools and techniques we have to think carefully about the way we’re using the technology.”

Dr John Flackett’s Adelaide-based AiLab assists individuals, academia, industry, communities and governments worldwide on how to navigate the complex field of AI.

The gradual take-up of new-tech is slowly making its way into workplaces, with the demand for AI talent set to grow in the state as entrepreneurship and innovation become key career opportunities in the future.

A number of industries and businesses are already thriving with AI and machine learning technologies including Adelaide-based company Presagen which recently raised $4.5 million in seed funding to market its AI medical technology that improves fertility outcomes for IVF couples.

The product, Life Whisperer, uses a cloud-based analysis platform that improves the accuracy of healthy embryo selection in IVF treatments.

AI-driven technologies are also emerging in the agricultural industry, with drones carrying sensors and infrared mapping capabilities used to assess crop health and give a clearer picture of crop yield.

Dr Flackett, also a software engineer, has more than 20 years’ experience in AI, achieving a PhD in AI (machine learning and natural language processing) in 2005. Migrating to Australia from the UK around the same time, he co-founded smart web specialist company koolth before embarking on his second business venture, AiLab, with co-founder Emma Berry.

Dr Flackett regularly runs AI workshops and presents at events in the UK, Europe, the US and Australia to help demystify the world of AI and educate people on how it can empower businesses and transform how we live. The role of AiLab is to assist individuals, academia, industry, the community and government across the globe on how to navigate the complex field of AI and stay up to date with relevant progressions via education programs.

Dr Flackett says the field of AI – a term coined in the 1950s – is thriving “because humans have always wanted to automate tasks and build machines that can help”.

“AI as a field is really about that lofty goal of ‘can we build machines that are as intelligent as us?’ That’s called artificial general intelligence,” he says.

While Dr Flackett believes that the take-up of AI will be a huge disrupter to industry and workplaces, the key is to “not take the human out of it”.

AI is used in the ag-tech industry through drones that can assess crop health and give a clearer picture of crop yield.

“Personally, my approach is to embrace the advances and work with the technology. But you can’t take the human out of the process. You can’t get that personal customer experience with AI, so we need to be looking at AI to help inform our decisions, free up our time to interact with people and collaborate with others.

“The thing about automation and AI is that it drives a collaborative approach to jobs. For instance, the development of smart drones … in order to build such a system, many companies need to collaborate. If we’re producing AI-based image recognition technology we probably wouldn’t want to build the actual drone so we’d collaborate with a company that builds drones and then we’d supply the AI software skillset.

“I think that’s what we’ll start to see around future jobs, those skills sets of people being able to collaborate and communicate.”

Dr Flackett, who recently founded and organised Adelaide’s Artificial Intelligence meetup series, sponsored by AiLab and the Australian Institute for Machine Learning, says more work is to be done to encourage more investment into AI in Australia, and to develop policy and regulation.

He says SA is already ahead in nurturing talent for transforming industries as we have a highly skilled workforce that is ready to transfer its skills into emerging industries such as space and ag-tech.

Dr Flackett also explains that future employment pathways for today’s young people are likely to be varied and take more than one route.

“I refer to future jobs rather than future careers,” he says. “The career path that we’re used to is disappearing … according to the FYA (Foundation for Young Australians) people leaving school are going to have 17 different jobs, that whole career for life is virtually gone now.

“What we need to do is leverage the skills we already have, and transfer these skills to a rapidly changing workplace.”

Industry in focus: Careers of the Future

Throughout the months of May and June, future careers in South Australia will be explored as part of I Choose SA.

Embracing innovation, creativity and an understanding of building quality partnerships with technology is key to ensuring career opportunities in the future. SA is taking necessary steps to equip future generations with the skills for future careers and current workforces to transition to the future industries.

Read more Careers of the Future stories here.

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

[logooos_saved id=”13411″]

[logooos_saved id=”37805″]

Advertisement
by brandsa2018

SA’s chief entrepreneur helps new talent take flight

An early career as an elite air force fighter pilot led to the state’s Chief Entrepreneur building a global defence company with 700 employees, now he is helping the state’s next generation find their wings.

“If young people want to see themselves having a high-flying career they can go and work for a really large company,” Jim Whalley says. “Or they can create their own careers and their own companies from here that hopefully will go global.”

The chair and co-founder of defence company Nova Systems believes the state is the ideal training ground for young South Australians to choose the career path that involves building their own businesses. This, he says, is a state founded on a spirit of entrepreneurship along with social and religious freedom.

“Look at the Smith brothers for example, they flew from London to Australia (in 1919) but had to find their own finance, source their own aircraft, it was entrepreneurship to get the aircraft here but also to get support for the project,” Jim says.

“I think if you look at the number of Nobel Laureates per capita in SA, if we were a country we’d sit somewhere between Sweden and Switzerland, we’re somewhere in the top 10%. This is just the sort of spirit that we want, we’ve got the capability, the technical support.”

And Jim says there is strong financial support from the State Government.

SA’s Chief Entrepreneur Jim Whalley says the state has strong support for start-ups, entrepreneurs and innovation.

Budding entrepreneurs have access to funding for start-ups, space innovation, there is an export accelerator and venture capital fund along with precincts being created across Adelaide for start-ups that help accelerate them to commercialisation.

The new Lot Fourteen precinct on the former Royal Adelaide Hospital site in the city for example is leading the way as it is transformed into a neighbourhood entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Jim says the idea is to support innovative ideas and develop a state that is resilient.

“I’m a big believer in chaos creating an opportunity, the more change there is the more opportunity for companies that can think on their feet and enforce development and change.”

He believes jobs of the future “will be unpredictable” with a strong digital focus and the next generation is likely to change their employment paths more regularly.

“Coding for example will, I think, be something everyone will need to understand, it will be part of the curriculum like other languages,” he says. “Those who think and perform well in the future will need to be comfortable with high levels of uncertainty, to be able to think disruptively and think differently and think entrepreneurially.”

His own company Nova Systems started in SA as a defence company and now also has three offices in the United Kingdom, one in Singapore, Norway and Ireland. It has contracts working on Future Submarines, the Air Warfare Destroyers, and Joint Strike Fighter project but also in other industries including oil, gas and mining projects.

Jim Whalley is a former air force fighter pilot and test pilot.

Jim says he stepped down as CEO a few years ago after asking staff member Greg Hume “do you want to have a go at running the company?”

“It sent a very clear message to the middle management team that they could be CEO one day and whilst the company was a private company you didn’t have to be a member of the family to be a senior manager. We’ve got about 700 staff members now and I would like to reach the 1000 mark in the next two to three years.”

Jim was made the state’s first Chief Entrepreneur last year, and in his role is supporting a $6.3 million pilot program for the state’s public high schools that was created by the Entrepreneurship Commercialisation and Innovation Centre at the University of Adelaide.

It involves creating five specialist entrepreneurial high schools with State Government backing and “is about kids that have a little bit of entrepreneurial spirit getting a little bit of a leg up”.

“Basically it’s about giving them a bit of freedom to start businesses through courses, experimentation, to go and write a business plan and complete some leadership courses, to have a financial understanding about the things you need to know,” he says.

“It’s about coming up with an idea and knowing how to act on it.”

Jim thinks the environment is right for the state to continue building on its commitment to a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem that will support a dynamic economy.

“We live in one of the best countries and best states in the world. We want for very little and and we have people who are more than capable of operating on a world stage,” he adds.

Industry in focus: Careers of the Future

Throughout the months of May and June, future careers in South Australia will be explored as part of I Choose SA.

Embracing innovation, creativity and an understanding of building quality partnerships with technology is key to ensuring career opportunities in the future. SA is taking necessary steps to equip future generations with the skills for future careers and current workforces to transition to the future industries.

Read more Careers of the Future stories here.

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

[logooos_saved id=”13411″]

[logooos_saved id=”37805″]

by brandsa2018

Miranda sisters produce an ideal winery blend

An ideal blend of skills has placed three sisters at the helm of Lou Miranda Estate in the Barossa. Since 2005, Lisa and Victoria Miranda have steered business at the winery that carries their father’s name, but the recent arrival of their sibling Angela as winemaker, bringing more than a decade of international experience, makes the family business complete after a careful 14-year progression.

Angela, who was previously Pernod Ricard’s UK packaging operations manager, US packaging operations manager and technical operations manager in the Barossa, came back to her family’s winery at Rowland Flat in mid-February – after vintage had already started – and acted fast to ensure the family’s progression as a boutique wine brand continues.

“We’d always intended for Angela to join us, but she was reluctant to leave her previous position which saw her travelling most of the year to emerging wineries in China, India and New Zealand,” says Victoria. “Once she came back to work in the Barossa, the decision to join us just seemed like a natural fit.”

The Miranda sisters, Lisa, left, Miranda and Angela of Lou Miranda Estate in the Barossa Valley.

It’s the latest step in a long journey for Lou Miranda’s family, which moved to the Barossa from Griffith in 1991 so that the former Miranda wine brand (which was then among Australia’s larger family-owned wine companies) could access more high-quality fruit.

The big old winery building, erected in 1919, became a weekend playground for the young Miranda girls while their father and mother worked, and later became their own workplace, after they turned 18, as they each took turns serving at the cellar door.

It provided them with a useful skill set when big change came after McGuigan Wines bought the Miranda label in 2003, splitting the broader Miranda family’s wine connections.

For a while, Lou’s family continued to sell Miranda wines from the cellar door, but in 2005, they transformed the Barossa property into a separate identity as Lou Miranda Estate – and Lou’s daughters stepped to the forefront of the business, with Lisa drawing on her sales background and Victoria bringing graphic design skills.

“Dad wasn’t ready to retire, and he had no problem at all with his girls taking the reins,” says Lisa. “We had always been involved in everything along the way. We never thought of ourselves as girls facing any obstacles. We were simply this family’s next generation, moving the business forward.”

Lou Miranda handed the reigns of the boutique winery to his three daughters Lisa, Victoria and Angela.

It was daunting to start again – “We had zero customers, and now we are selling 25,000 cases per year” – but the daughters say they had Lou’s complete confidence to build the business on the back of his experience and their fresh ideas.

Their foundation was the winery at Rowland Flat – previously the Liebich family’s Rovalley winery, which had passed through several sets of hands, but still had the same infrastructure and – more importantly – large reserves of the fortified wines that Rovalley was famous for, stored in the original 7000-litre oak vats that the Liebichs had constructed in 1919.

Angela has revived her fortified winemaking skills, learned through such luminaries as David Morris (Morris of Rutherglen) and Philip Laffer (chief winemaker at Jacob’s Creek), because fortified wines still hold strong appeal for cellar door customers, and was the focus of fortified masterclasses held in the winery during the recent Barossa Vintage Festival.

Many more treasures have greeted Angela in the winery – including fruit from serious 90-plus-year-old shiraz vines (the best being reserved for the $150 Master Piero shiraz, named after Victoria’s first son), and recent plantings of pinot grigio and sagrantino grapes. “Lou was interested in adding Italian varieties but didn’t want to do the same as everyone else,” explains Lisa.

It’s a surprise for these wines to appear in the Barossa, especially a bright, crunchy pinot grigio built in the authentic Italian style around a firm acidic spine. Even more impressive is sagrantino made light and spicy with bright blueberry and liquorice flavours, rather than being heavy and overly tannic as many of these wines from Umbria in Italy are made.

Equally impressive is old vine grenache made in a lively style with juicy raspberry held in check by firm tannins; and a rich blend of old vine shiraz and mourvédre from the 110-year-old Angels vineyard at Lyndoch.

Many wine drinkers remain unaware of these changes, as the family’s popular Leone brand has primarily been noted for its value wines, and the elite Lou Miranda Estate wines are largely a mystery.

The challenge now is for the three sisters to promote these new wines through marketing initiatives that include in-home tasting parties, where a staff wine consultant presents the Lou Miranda Estate and Leone wine ranges for groups of up to eight guests in their homes.

“We have a lot to do,” says Angela, who adds that the full extent of the Miranda sisters’ work won’t be immediately evident, because the cruel 2019 vintage has produced scant volumes of fruit – including a paltry 300 litres (one barrel) of old vine shiraz. “Our best,” adds Angela with a grin, “is yet to come.”

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

[logooos_saved id=”13411″]

Got a good story idea? Nominate a story from your region.
Click here to nominate >>

These inspiring regional stories are made possible by:

Major Partner[logooos_saved id=”5491″]

Program Partners[logooos_saved id=”29687″]

by brandsa2018

From farm to fork: Kalettes, brussels sprouts a winter success

A third-generation vegetable producer’s decision to plant 80 mystery seeds in 2012 turned into a promising venture for the Adelaide Hills family farm which has become Australia’s only grower of Kalettes.

Seven years on, and despite an exceptionally dry start to the year, Scott Samwell of Eastbrook Farms in Mt Barker says he is expecting another successful crop as the trendy vegetable comes into season this winter.

Kalettes, which are a winter vegetable hybrid of red kale and brussels sprouts, are a creation from British company Tozer Seeds, 15 years in the making.

As the highly nutritious Kalettes are soon to arrive in shops, consumers are encouraged to choose SA by purchasing locally grown produce to support the state’s growers and producers.

The Samwell family has been growing vegetables in the Adelaide Hills for more than 60 years, with their first property in Summertown started by Scott’s grandfather.

Eastbrook Farms in the Adelaide Hills produces a number of winter vegetable crops including Kalettes and brussels sprouts.

With properties now at Mt Barker and Langhorne Creek, Scott says defined seasons and access to quality infrastructure are key benefits to farming in the state. Eastbrook has produced brussels sprouts since its foundation, but Kalettes are a recent addition.

“I just got told ‘here’s some seeds, they’re something new, give it a go,” says Scott. “In about 2012, I planted the first lot – about 80 seeds. Since then, we’ve upped our quantity to quite a few hundred thousand. It’s been a pretty exciting journey.”

Seven years on from that first planting, Scott’s farm is now producing approximately 50–60 tonnes of Kalettes annually. Alongside their green and Red Darling brussels sprouts, Eastbrook’s Kalettes are distributed to major supermarkets Australia-wide, as well as exported to South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and Thailand.

Scott puts the success of the Kalette down to its versatility, noting that the flavour is less intense than typical kale or brussels sprout varieties.

“They’re not as strong as kale, they’re not as peppery as brussels sprouts either. They’re quite a happy medium between the two,” he says.

“If people have a dislike of either of those, this is an alternative that is going to be just as nutritious without having as strong a taste.”

Scott Samwell of Eastbrook Farms in the middle of the brussel sprouts field.

Eastbrook Farms also grows both traditional green brussels sprouts and their uncharacteristically sweet Red Darling sprouts.

“I was blown away by how sweet they were,” Scott says. “Sometimes sprouts are quite strong tasting, and you wouldn’t traditionally use the word ‘sweet’ with sprouts, but the Red Darlings are beautiful.”

Major supermarket Coles has shown strong interest in Scott’s Red Darling sprouts, having launched a successful state-wide trial which developed into a national distribution last year.

Scott is quick to point out the role that local customer relationships have played for his business, particularly through social media and Eastbrook’s new Paddock Identifier Project, which allows customers to see where and how their produce is grown, right down to the paddock in which they’re sown.

“In the past, we’ve always been a step away from the consumer,” he says. “My sister-in-law Deb manages our social media now, and that is connecting us with our customers. People can identify who we are, and where we are.

“As soon as the new year ticked over, we had people enquiring about when our Kalettes were coming into season.”

The importance of local support goes both ways for Scott, who says he sees the benefits in choosing fellow SA producers and supporting the local economy himself.

“It’s great when there’s a connection with the people who buy your produce, wines or meats through,” he says. “You know who they are, and where it’s coming from. It’s a good story, that’s what I think.”

To draw a focus on the importance of choosing local seasonal produce, I Choose SA has partnered with Sprout Cooking School and Pick a Local, Pick SA! to dish up a gourmet SA lunch experience in Rundle Mall on May 24.

Diners can pre-book their restaurant-quality dish, catered by Sprout, at ichoosesa.com.au and collect from under the Gawler Place canopy from midday.

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

[logooos_saved id=”13411″]

by brandsa2018

SACE structure shaping our students for future jobs

Space, technology, creative industries, healthy ageing, all careers dominating the state’s future – but South Australia also wants its students learning to be first rate human beings.

It is a bold message from the chief executive of the hugely important SA Certificate of Education (SACE) Board, the group shaping more than 100 subjects available to Year 11 and Year 12 students.

Professor Martin Westwell says the board wants the state’s students to have access to important subjects but also to learn to be flexible, solve problems and importantly, apply their knowledge.

He quotes the esteemed director of education for the international Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Andre Schleicher, who was in Adelaide for a national conference for educational assessors in April.

“He warned that if we keep focusing on proficiency alone we will be developing second class robots and not first class humans,” the SACE Board CEO says. “We want to develop first class humans.”

Prof Westwell says there are high-profile industries developing in SA including world-class health research, the space industry, advanced manufacturing using high technology, and creative industries ranging from festivals to film.

More traditional industries like mining and resources, education and healthy ageing are also likely to remain strong employers, but Prof Westwell says students must be prepared for uncertainty.

“There was a Deloitte report that came out a few years ago showing the shelf life of skills is getting shorter and shorter,” he says.

That is why young people need skills to have careers rather than long-term jobs, Prof Westwell says.

“(For example) teams will become more important so we’ve got diversity, having proficiency in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) will be important. But you will also need skills to influence people, to support decision making to help people to imagine the imaginable so that it becomes (possible).”

Prof Westwell’s own career has followed unexpected paths; he was born into a long line of electricians in north-west England but turned out to be more academically suited.

SACE Board CEO Professor Martin Westwell says diversity in students education is important in preparing them for future careers. Photo by JKTP.

He studied at Wigan Mining College before winning a place at the esteemed Cambridge University to study chemistry including completing a PhD in biology chemistry before moving to Oxford University as a research fellow.

Work at a drug company spun out of the university followed, then Prof Westwell led a research project looking at how technology changes the way people think for the Research Institute for the Future of the Mind at Oxford University.

In 2007, he was lured to Flinders University after having visited SA with his wife who is a teacher, and the two deciding it was the right place for their careers and also bringing up their two sons now aged 17 and 21.

Prof Westwell was made director of the Flinders Centre for Science Education in the 21st Century, working on getting research to have maximum impact on the community. One project involved improving education results in schools.

“We worked with every public school in Port Augusta, pre, primary and high school, looking at young people’s cognitive learning to improve numeracy,” he says.

“In the high school when we started they were getting just over 60% of students reaching the national minimum for proficiency and that changed to more than 90%.”

Prof Westwell was a board member of SACE for five years before taking on the role as CEO in January 2018, tasked with overseeing $10.6 million in funding to transform the SA Certificate of Education.

In this time there has been renewal on the SACE Board, the first of Year 12 electronic exams and work on subject renewal for more than 60 subjects with one major focus.

“We’ll be asking students to put their knowledge into practice,” Prof Westwell says.

“We now quote Tony Wagner from Harvard University, ‘the world no longer cares what our students know, it cares about what they can do with what they know’.”

There are also plans to involve industry in developing new future jobs subjects including cyber security. Prof Westwell wants to build a system where employers and investors can know students who study the SACE know more than the basics, “I want them to be able to really infer something about young South Australians”.

“When we have a complex and uncertain job future we need expertise, we need flexibility, diversity,” he says.

“I think professionally, SA education is world leading in many ways and the way in which we go about it in this state is unusual, it is done by partnership, there’s a real feeling that we are all in this together for the success of our students.

“I think personally, one of the key drivers for us to coming to SA is we wanted our kids to have their childhood here, it’s a fantastic place to grow up, there’s a great education system here.”

Industry in focus: Careers of the Future

Throughout the months of May and June, future careers in South Australia will be explored as part of I Choose SA.

Embracing innovation, creativity and an understanding of building quality partnerships with technology is key to ensuring career opportunities in the future. SA is taking necessary steps to equip future generations with the skills for future careers and current workforces to transition to the future industries.

Read more Careers of the Future stories here.

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

[logooos_saved id=”13411″]

[logooos_saved id=”37805″]

by brandsa2018

Doors open for opportunities in future careers

From the defence sector and cyber security to artificial intelligence and robotics – South Australia’s future industries are the great engines of change.

It’s a serious but exciting transition away from the once-thriving auto-manufacturing sector and towards these prosperous future industries that will lead to an increase in demand for skilled workers.

SA businesses to have already found solutions and strengths in our growing future industries include Axiom Precision Manufacturing, which once specialised in automotive parts manufacturing but has now transitioned into design and manufacturing for the aerospace, defence, rail, mining and health industries.

Two former car making factories – the Mitsubishi plant (now Tonsley) in Adelaide’s south and the Holden site in Adelaide’s north – have been reawakened into innovation districts and business parks home to thriving start-ups and global giants taking their products to the world.

But as our state continues its trajectory towards a new and brighter future, we must equip our children and students with the necessary skills and tools to navigate future workplaces.

Axiom Precision Manufacturing’s operations supervisor Shannon Wride started as an apprentice in 2006 with the company that focused on work for the automotive industry. Now Axiom works for defence, aerospace, mining, rail and medical companies.

The future success of our state rests in the hands of young people and we – both now and in the future – must embrace change, innovation and entrepreneurship to allow the next generation’s workforce to thrive.

Throughout the months of May and June, Brand South Australia is exploring Careers of the Future as part of the successful I Choose SA campaign.

We’ll be exploring what SA industries could look like in 20 years’ time, what steps businesses, industry and government are taking to prepare us for the future, and what skill requirements our children need for future workplaces.

Here at Brand SA News we’ll bring you a series of news articles on Careers of the Future and share the stories of people who are leading in fields of artificial intelligence, defence, health and ageing, entrepreneurialism, STEM education, advanced manufacturing and the space industry.

First up, we’ll bring you an interview with the South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE) Board CEO Professor Martin Westwell, who will share his thoughts on the importance of growing and fostering future jobs through the curriculum and early STEM education.

We’ll also engage with Dr John Flackett, an expert in artificial intelligence (AI) who runs AiLab, a business assisting other businesses as well as academia, industry, community and government to navigate the complex field of AI and where it will take us in the future.

Throughout our exploration of Careers of the Future, it will become apparent how SA is preparing for the changing tides in industry and setting itself up to take on such projects as the $90 billion Naval Shipbuilding Program and the Australian Space Agency’s establishment at Lot Fourteen.

An artist’s impression of innovation hub Lot Fourteen, once fully redeveloped. Photo: Renewal SA.

Our entrepreneurial ecosystem is set to strengthen, with SA the first in the nation to trial a new entrepreneur’s visa that aims to attract foreign entrepreneurs and investors to the state.

Lot Fourteen innovation district, the site of the former Royal Adelaide Hospital, will be a hotspot for future jobs and home to growing industries such as AI, cyber security, smart sensor networks, robotics, big data, defence, and the creative industries. The Australian Space Agency will also be established there, including the new co-operative research centre for smart satellite technologies.

Our future businesses are likely to be smaller and more nimble, with technologies such as blockchain, augmented reality, virtual reality and machine learning changing how they operate by making them more efficient.

A report released in 2017 by the Foundation for Young Australians revealed that a teenager today is more likely to have 17 different jobs and more than five careers in their lifetime. So how do we prepare them for this shift and for future work?

Keen to learn more? Come along to Brand South Australia’s Careers of the Future Industry Briefing on Monday May 13, 4–5.30pm, at Lot Fourteen. Guests will hear from Minister for Innovation and Skills David Pisoni, The NeuroTech Institute founder Dr Fiona Kerr, cyber security specialist for Naval Group Nathan Morelli and Renewal SA (Lot Fourteen) director of place and marketing, Rachel Walsh. For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.

Industry in focus: Careers of the Future

Throughout the months of May and June, future careers in South Australia will be explored as part of I Choose SA.

Embracing innovation, creativity and an understanding of building quality partnerships with technology is key to ensuring career opportunities in the future. SA is taking necessary steps to equip future generations with the skills for future careers and current workforces to transition to the future industries.

Read more Careers of the Future stories here.

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

[logooos_saved id=”13411″]

[logooos_saved id=”37805″]

by brandsa2018

Instant smoothies look to become export success

The desire to create an instant smoothie at home with the healthiest ingredients sparked an idea to invent a disposable smoothie in a cup – and this South Australian innovation is now set to become an export success.

Brett Gresham quickly devised an instant fruit and nutrition-enriched smoothie recipe in a receptacle that only requires the addition of water and a 30-second blitz, but it took much longer before he had the right commercial product to take to market.

His Naked Blendz smoothie cups are now making big inroads in the hospitality industry, but only after a prolonged three-year journey.

Naked Blendz founder Brett Gresham had a smoothie stall at this year’s Tasting Australia eating and drinking festival.

“The whole business hinged on perfecting a simple innovation that enables unblended smoothies containing snap-frozen real food to be sold, blended, served and consumed all from the same disposable cup,” says Brett. “There is no preparation required, almost no clean-up or bench space needed, and the drink contains no added sugar.”

The unique aspect of this product is an adaptor that connects cups to Nutribullet blenders, but while the intellectual property for the Naked Blendz Design Registered Cup Lock was developed in 2016, it took two years to work through seven prototypes before arriving at the current efficient design.

Brett’s next great challenge was having this product manufactured in SA, and this also took time. He approached several established manufacturing firms but was turned away because they “preferred not to take a risk with an untested product”.

Instead, Brett was able to have the adaptors made at Orana Australia, whose workshop supports people in SA with disabilities. Brett says he’s delighted by what the Orana workers have been able to produce.

“It all ties together now as a very strong and cohesive SA success story,” he says.

The spinach, pear and hemp seed smoothie before being blended.

The Naked Blendz mix of frozen fruit pieces and powders comes in five different flavour combinations – cinnamon with fruit and walnut, super green (with spinach and hemp seed), banana choc (with maca root), berrylicious (with acai), mixed tropical fruits and true protein (a vegan blend with prebiotic multi fibre).

The key to ensuring the freshness of Naked Blendz’s fruit components is using ingredients that have undergone individual quick freezing, a popular method used in the food processing industry that ensures smaller ice crystals to prevent the molecular construction of ingredients from being destroyed.

To facilitate this, Brett is buying a large amount of fresh SA produce – especially pears, apples and spinach – but also needs to buy many tropical fruits from interstate, and a few imported goods – maca root, coconut and, strangely, banana.

“Australia doesn’t produce any individual quick frozen banana, and that’s an essential need for several of our products. Perhaps that’s an opportunity we’ve identified for another Australian company.”

The Naked Blendz factory.

With its technology and manufacturing logistics in place, Naked Blendz has taken flight. Members of the public got to taste the smoothies when Brett presented a Naked Blendz stand at Town Square throughout Tasting Australia, and sold through available stock on several days.

This month, the branded smoothie cups reached into Queensland, making the product available to hospitality businesses across all Australian states, resulting in about 500 cafés using Naked Blendz – and many hotel chains here and abroad are currently investigating this fast and convenient smoothie solution.

“The product has been making a significant transition beyond cafés since it was initially released,” says Brett. “It’s now being used in hospitals and aged care facilities. It’s in hotel kitchens, being used for breakfast menus, in the bars, and at poolside cocktail bars in resorts.”

Naked Blendz smoothies will hit retail stores within the next month, while plans for exports are on the horizon.

Brett anticipates that the product will take another significant leap in the next month, when Naked Blendz becomes available in retail stores. Trials are currently underway on a series of biodegradable cups that Brett wants to have in place for the launch of the retail range, which is slated for late August.

He also hopes these cups will have lids with sip-able spouts rather than having straws – “we’re hoping to lead the culture change with this in the smoothie market,” enthuses Brett – but looks like having to create lids of his own design.

“We’ve provided a quick and easy healthy alternative to sugar-laden beverages, and we’ve seen that this is exactly what consumers want,” he says. “Even though it took quite a while for us to perfect such a simple idea, it’s that simplicity which has made all the difference.”

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

[logooos_saved id=”13411″]

by brandsa2018

6 ways to spend a weekend in the Barossa Valley

South Australia’s Barossa Valley is the heart of the big, bold shiraz, quaint bed and breakfasts and more restaurant experiences than your trouser waistline can handle.

It’s a region that prides itself on producing some of the world’s best wines, and is scattered with cellar doors, cafés, restaurants, gourmet trails and visitor experiences showcasing gastronomic delights.

The Barossa Valley attracts a high proportion of interstate overnight visitors (35% of all visitors) and generates $190 million in visitor expenditure (Tourism Research Australia, 2017).

But with many towns, including Angaston, Lyndoch, Nurioopta, Tanunda and Williamstown, to explore it can be hard to decide which places to hit first.

Here’s a guide for the best wine tasting, gin sipping and cheese grazing activities to indulge in, plus something a little spooky and out of the ordinary. Hint: Ghosts in Kapunda!

The grand Yalumba just outside of Angaston.

1. Venture along Seppeltsfield Road
A must see for first-time Barossa visitors, Seppeltsfield Road is one of the most renowned stretches of road in the region and is lined with tall palm trees dating back to the 1930s.

The tourist hotspot Seppeltsfield is a must-visit, featuring a winery and cellar door, Fino restaurant, café, art gallery, craft workshops and studios and the Vasse Virgin skin care factory all in one.

Give yourself a couple of hours to explore the entire Seppeltsfield estate, including a complementary wine tasting or premium wine flight at the cellar door, and a wander around the European-style gardens.

Those wanting to indulge in something a little fancy can venture over to Fino Restaurant for a long-lunch experience while those after more relaxed, casual vibes will enjoy regional cheese platters, toasted paninis, and snacks at Benno’s Kiosk and picnic grounds.

Also, explore JamFactory shop for beautiful SA and Australian-made artworks, sculptures, vases, jewellery and homewares, and the contemporary craft and design studios. Make sure you stop by Barry Gardner the knife maker’s (mesmerising to watch) workshop.

Of course Seppeltsfield Road is home to a number of other top destinations including Whistler Wines, Seppeltsfield Road Distillers and many more cellar doors.

The Seppeltsfield estate is an all-in-one visitor experience. Photo: Seppeltsfield.

2. Explore Angaston’s main street
Angaston is a charming and well-kept country town with a small main street that will occupy you for hours.

Start by fueling up on coffee and Italian pastries at Casa Carboni in the morning (or enrol in a cooking class!) before cheese tasting and stocking up on haloumi, brie, camembert, feta and other cheesy delights at Barossa Valley Cheese Company next door.

Sit back and relax with a bowl of pasta at the cosy Wanera Wine Bar nearby and walk it off by wandering past the quaint cottages and old buildings including the magnificent grey marble town hall on Washington Street.

Finish off the afternoon by enjoying a glass of shiraz at Saltram Wines, a 160-year-old estate with old charm at the entrance to Angaston on the Angaston to Nuriootpa Road.

Matteo and Fiona Carboni are behind Casa Carboni Italian Cooking School and Enoteca. Read our story on them here.

3. Stock up on the sweet stuff at Barossa Valley Chocolate Company.
One of the Barossa’s newest and exciting destinations, Barossa Valley Chocolate Company opened just before Easter and is an all-in-one chocolate factory, cellar door, café and ice creamery.

At the centre of the facility is a mesmerising chocolate wall, inspired by the Venchi Cioccolato e Gelato in Florence, while visitors can also take wonder in watching the chocolatiers at work through a glass viewing area into the factory itself.

The range of sweet treats is extensive and includes the classics milk, dark, white and the newer Ruby chocolate, while unique additions include a salted caramel and cider truffle, as well as a signature truffle infused with sparkling wine.

The chocolate company is also home to Benni’s Café, which has a menu heavy on local produce, a cellar door showcasing Vineyard Road wines and a serene outdoor deck.

Wine lovers can take part in a specially-curated chocolate and wine pairing, while chocolate making classes will be introduced in the near future. A great visitor experience for families and people of all ages.

The Barossa Valley Chocolate Company in Tanunda is a great spot for families, chocolate lovers, wine drinkers and those just wanting to take time out for a while.

4. Spend an afternoon at Provenance Barossa
A food and wine lover’s delight, Provenance is best explored with a couple of hours to spare. The blend of Barossa businesses includes Penfolds wine sales and cellar door where visitors can taste what the region is famous for – the world-renowned Grange – as well as other premium drops.

Pop into Ember Pizza and get stuck into one of their pizzas, and finish it off with a gin and tonic around the corner at Barossa Distilling Company.

There is also artisan coffee roaster Bean Addiction to explore and Steiny’s Traditional Mettwurst’s new tasting room to check out. Stein’s Taphouse will satisfy beer drinkers with 14 craft beverages to choose from on tap, and over 80 more in cans or bottles.

Last but not least there’s Home of the Brave wine and tapas room at The Provenance where you can fill up on delicious tapas matched with drops of your choice from First Drop Wines.

There’s a lot to explore at The Provenance, you might need more than one occasion to experience it all!

Barossa Distilling Company is located at Barossa Provenance a hub of food, beverage and tourism businesses.

5. Choose SA at the Barossa Farmers Market
Chat to local producers about how their food is grown and made, stock up on fresh produce and treat yourself to something special, such as a bottle of olive oil, a pack of freshly roasted coffee or blended tea, a tub of honey, or a selection of smallgoods.

The Barossa Farmers Market is a community produce market running every Saturday (7.30–11.30am) undercover in the Vintners Sheds, Angaston. Check the website on Friday afternoons for an update on stallholders who will be present.

Head for the Breakfast Bar for a coffee by Bean Addiction and munch on a breakfast burger before browsing the stalls, many of which offer samples to try before you buy. The market is a good way of getting a taste for many local food producers and beverages in the one spot.

Sample local produce, treat yourself to a morning coffee and pastry and stock up on fresh produce and goodies at the Barossa Farmers Market. Photo by SATC/Sven Kovac.

6. Get spooked on the Kapunda Ghost Crime Tour
Kapunda is an old mining town just outside of the Barossa and is regarded as the most haunted town in Australia. It’s also home to the most haunted pub in the country, the North Kapunda Hotel.

History buffs and those into a bit of paranormal activity will be in their element, while those who are easily spooked may not!

The Kapunda Ghost Crime Tour will take you on a three-hour tour around Kapunda and into some of the town’s most haunted buildings including the North Kapunda Hotel and the Chapel Street Theatre which was once a church.

Your tour guide will recount stories from Kapunda’s famous haunted past, share tales of locals who met unfortunate endings and notorious cases that will send chills down your spine.

Held every Friday and Saturday night, the ghost tour departs from the North Kapunda Hotel and will take you into dark, gloomy places (which is all part of the fun!) including the pub’s basement which was once a morgue.

You’re not guaranteed to see a real ghost or feel a ‘presence’, but you are encouraged to record on your mobile phone and to take pictures, as technology may pick up things your eyes won’t! Spooky.

Editor’s note: highly recommend fuelling up on a chicken schnitzel at the Kapunda North Hotel beforehand!

Header image by Drea Chong.

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

[logooos_saved id=”13411″]

by brandsa2018

UniSA’s sleep lab uncovering impacts of night work, poor quality ZZZs

Sleep – it’s as essential as breathing and as crucial as eating. But are we getting enough shut-eye?

“No,” says Professor Siobhan Banks from the University of South Australia’s Centre for Sleep Research.

“We’re seeing quite a significant number of the population getting less than six hours of sleep a night and this is leading to all sorts of issues with productivity at work, significant sleepiness leading to accidents on the road and costing businesses a lot of money.”

Prof Banks is Associate Professor in the Centre for Sleep Research at UniSA’s Magill campus, one of the premier sleep research facilities in Australia featuring a sleep laboratory led by experts in human sleep, biological rhythms, sleep disorders, cognitive neuroscience, shift work and patient safety.

Prof Banks has dedicated much of her research career to exploring the impacts of sleep deprivation and shift work on psychological and physiological functioning and what can be done to prevent the detrimental effects of disturbed sleep.

“It’s really about thinking how we can improve sleep for everybody. We can’t stop shift work and new parents can’t suddenly sleep walk,” she says. “So how can we help everybody within their lifestyle manage their fatigue and sleep better?”

Prof Siobhan Banks’s research examines the impact of sleep deprivation and shift work on psychological and physiological functioning. Photo: Defence Innovation Partnership.

Prof Banks is a board member of the Sleep Health Foundation which in 2017 released a report, prepared by Deloitte Access Economics, that investigated the economic consequences of poor sleep.

The report, Asleep on the Job: Counting the Cost of Poor Sleep, estimated that inadequate sleep was believed to cost the Australian economy $66.3 billion in 2016/17 including productivity losses of $17.9 billion.

It also estimated that almost 40% of Australian adults experience some form of inadequate sleep – something which can have fatal consequences while driving on the road or contribute to work-related accidents. Chronic inadequate sleep can also cause heart disease, obesity, depression and a range of other serious health issues.

With sleep being an integral part of our lives (the average human spends one third of their life sleeping) long periods of sleep enables us to survive, allowing our bodies to restore and rejuvenate, grow muscle, repair tissue and synthesise hormones.

Prof Banks says there two basic types of sleep – rapid eye movement (REM) sleep which is quite active and non-REM sleep which is non-active.

“The sleep that’s not (active) is the deep stage where it takes a lot for you to wake up. It’s that stage you’re very relaxed, your breathing slows, your temperature stays low, your body stops metabolising, stops producing urine, it’s where your brain really shuts down and enables a period of rest and recovery,” she says.

Prof Banks says the whole process of sleep is important meaning that if a person isn’t getting enough sleep or is disrupting the structure of sleep – they miss out on not entering these deep stages of sleep, as well as dreaming sleep.

“A lot of people only get by on 5-6 hours of sleep which isn’t really enough, and we know that that’s related to a whole bunch of other health-related conditions. Shift workers are trying to sleep at times when our body is really prime for wake.”

Poor sleep quality is something affecting shift workers or those working outside of the usual nine-to-five day. Prof Banks says much of our physiology and how we metabolise food is linked to daytime hours, when our bodies are used to getting food and can metabolise it properly.

Shift workers on the other hand are awake and eating through the night, even though their bodies aren’t prepared for receiving food. Prof Banks says the disruption of these internal body clocks is putting shift workers at increased risk of obesity and Type 2 Diabetes.

UniSA is currently working on a study, with funding from the University of Adelaide and the National Health and Medical Research Council, to investigate altering meals times to reverse metabolic consequences of shift work.

Preliminary research undertaken on rodents found that rats that fasted during a simulated night shift environment suffered fewer ill effects than the rats that ate during the night.

This study led to a small-scale pilot study on five human male volunteers at the Centre of Sleep Research before the much larger, both male and female study commenced. Data is currently being accumulated, in aim of the results helping form industry recommendations and policy guidance, leading to a reduction in metabolic disease in shift workers.

As for other sleep disrupters in 21st century life, the impact of smart phones on sleep is a cause of debate for sleep experts, Prof Banks says.

“There is quite a bit of debate in our field whether these items of technology are affecting our sleep because of the light emitted from the screen or whether it’s more to do with the psychological effect of having emails, playing games or texting late into the night,” she says.

“But I think the amount of technology that we have in our lives and the amount of technology that we rely on if definitely meaning that sleep is becoming less of a priority.”

So how much sleep does the average human actually need and can we survive on as little as four or five hours a night?

“You’re probably looking at 7-8 hours as the optimal amount of sleep … but some people are just naturally able to get away with a shorter amount, and some people need a much longer amount. Generally, people know themselves how much they need,” Prof Banks says.

“We know there are a lot more people living on 4-5 hours a night than there actually should be. While there are some people who can do it, the majority of adults need more like seven, but those numbers are different for children, teenagers and older people as well.”

Industry in focus: Health

Throughout the month of April, the state’s health industry will be explored as part of I Choose SA.

South Australia’s health sector is among the best in the world, renowned for developing new and advanced technologies and research outcomes. Our health industry infrastructure is world-class, providing new pathways and job opportunities, as well as a growing potential for health tourism.

Read more health stories here.

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

[logooos_saved id=”13411″]

[logooos_saved id=”37805″]

by brandsa2018

Why a Dutch cardiologist calls Adelaide’s health research hub home

During the first week Dr Johan Verjans arrived in Adelaide to start a new job as a cardiologist he picked up the phone to search for more work opportunities.

“I had noticed one of the best computer vision groups in the world is actually based in Adelaide,” the cardiologist says.

He rang its chief to talk through opportunities in the health space and found the group receptive to his ideas – so receptive that he has now been named its deputy director Medical Machine Learning.

“Research is exploding in the artificial intelligence space, in Adelaide we have a clear advantage, with leading groups,” Dr Verjans says.

Dr Verjans believes the new job at the Australian Institute of Machine Learning complements his existing work list. This includes being a member of the heart research team at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) and a practising cardiologist at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

The latest task is about building a bridge between clinicians and engineers in a bid to make groundbreaking discoveries to improve health. Dr Verjans believes this interest in using artificial intelligence to advance health care could have worldwide ramifications.

Cardiologist Dr Johan Verjans is also deputy director of the Australian Institute of Machine Learning, and is on the heart research team at SAHMRI. Photo by JKTP.

“I think my best achievement will be in staying optimistic and working hard to facilitate this for the whole research family,” he says with a laugh.

It has already been a busy morning when the Dutch doctor answers the phone to talk about his move to Adelaide. He has already met with a potential project collaborator for the Australian Institute of Machine Learning and held a clinic for heart patients in the morning.

Dr Verjans says the hospital’s cardiac department has a wealth of information that can be fed into projects where machine learning can then improve the care for heart patients.

He is already involved in one project to use existing data from ECG (electrocardiogram), biomarkers and artificial intelligence to see if computers can help give better feedback in deciding when a patient can be safely sent home.

The talented cardiologist says Adelaide has a lot to offer in the health research field and that he and his wife, Yvette van Eenennaam chose to move from The Netherlands for both job opportunities and the state’s lifestyle.

Yvette has also won a key role in promoting health research in the city after she was appointed as the first general manager of Adelaide BioMed City after it was launched last year.

BioMed City is a partnership between SAHMRI with its more than 600 medical researchers, the Royal Adelaide Hospital and the state’s three universities.

“It’s hard to find that whole package like it is in Adelaide in other places, with liveability, ambition and world-class research,” Dr Verjans says.

The Australian Institute of Machine Learning is one of six research units at Adelaide University and Dr Verjans is among more than 100 researchers involved.

It’s a highly specialised field, but in simple terms, machine learning is a form of artificial intelligence that enables computers and machines to autonomously learn how to do complex tasks without being overtly programmed.

Computers are fed examples of data and information so they can look for patterns and help make better future decisions.

Yvette Eenennaam and Johan Verjans chose to pursue their medical careers in Adelaide over other leading health research cities.

Adelaide’s research unit is already recognised as a frontrunner in defence, creating algorithms for driverless cars, robotics and has helped push a medical device from SA-based LBT technologies to FDA approval.

“I’m thinking it will be a job growth area in Adelaide,” Dr Verjans says. “We’re really looking for solutions and at the moment we are only scratching the surface.”

Having Dr Verjans’ input is a coup for the state. His varied career also includes being chairman of the Dutch medical students and being a member of the federal board of the Royal Dutch Medical Doctors Federation.

A few of his Dutch students have actually followed him to Adelaide to pursue new opportunities “one worked with me as a student in Utrecht and now is here in Adelaide working”, he says.

Before he left for Australia Johan was also Chairman of Young@Heart, representing Dutch Early and Mid-career Cardiovascular Researchers on behalf of the Netherlands Heart Institute and Dutch Heart Foundation.

Both Dr Verjans and Yvette believe they have made a sound decision moving to Adelaide in 2017 with their two daughters aged seven and five.

“There’s so much more potential in this city and it’s relatively unknown what the city has to offer,” he says.

“Some people choose cities and jobs for wrong reasons, when I had job offers in Amsterdam and Sydney, we chose the liveable city.”

Dr Johan Verjans is Brand South Australia’s latest I Choose SA ambassador.

Industry in focus: Health

Throughout the month of April, the state’s health industry will be explored as part of I Choose SA.

South Australia’s health sector is among the best in the world, renowned for developing new and advanced technologies and research outcomes. Our health industry infrastructure is world-class, providing new pathways and job opportunities, as well as a growing potential for health tourism.

Read more health stories here.

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

[logooos_saved id=”13411″]

[logooos_saved id=”37805″]