Rux Energy co-leads successful SoMAC CRC bid for $70 million grant funding to advance next-gen materials
The Sovereign Manufacturing Automation for Composites Cooperative Research Centre (SoMAC CRC) was announced as a winning recipient under Round 23 of the CRC Program in March 2022. Rux Energy is a core partner in the SoMAC CRC, and Dr Jehan Kanga has since been appointed as the Chair of the SoMAC CRC Hydrogen Committee, leading the development of projects relating to hydrogen across Australia.
The vision of the SoMAC CRC is to transform Australia’s established composite technologies capability into sovereign leadership, creating a world-class, highly automated, digitally enabled network of designers, manufacturers, and service providers.
Minister for Science and Technology, the Hon Melissa Price MP, and Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction, the Hon Angus Taylor MP, announced that the SoMAC CRC would receive $69.9 million in Australian Government funding which will leverage more than $189.3 million in cash and in-kind from 36 partners. This will strengthen Australia’s composite manufacturing industry, solving its major challenges while generating thousands of new jobs.
“The SoMAC CRC provides opportunities for Rux Energy to partner with Australian companies manufacturing storage tanks using composite materials to facilitate integrated hydrogen storage solutions for the mobility sector”, said Rux CEO and Founder, Dr Jehan Kanga.
“We look forward to working with trailblazing Australian advanced manufacturers and researchers at the UNSW and partner universities, to develop world-leading solutions for hydrogen storage, especially for trucks, buses, aerospace, and marine applications”, Dr Kanga added.
SoMAC CRC is also taking a lead on improving gender equity and inclusion transformation across Australian engineering and manufacturing sectors, with Rux Energy taking a lead on providing data and gender transformation frameworks to the CRC to increase the pace of change.
What is SoMAC CRC?
SoMAC CRC is a cooperative research centre, co-funding research and development in manufacturing innovation in partnership with SME manufacturers across Australia. The investment will lift Australia’s competitiveness in manufacturing critical sovereign advanced materials technologies used across the energy transition, automotive, defence, aerospace and for critical energy infrastructure. Australia has a comparative advantage in composite technology IP, and with market coordination and focus, has the potential to grow value-added exports of these technologies at enormous scale, ensuring the value of this IP is captured for the benefit of all Australians.
Recognising the critical role of engineering excellence, intelligent automation and advanced technology implementation in accessing an international industry valued at $100 billion, SoMAC CRC will underpin a next generation of sovereign manufacturing industry supporting a forward-looking Australia, including:
- Hydrogen economy
- EV cars and buses
- Space and low-earth-orbit vehicles
- Onshore and offshore infrastructure
- Aircraft and future defence industry
- Consumer goods including sporting and solar
- Recycling industry
The CRC brings together an enviable consortium of partners and teams under the leadership of Chair Dr Abby Bloom, CEO Dr Steve Gower and Research Director Professor Gangadhara Prusty (formerly Director of ARC Training Centre for Automated Manufacture of Advanced Composites (AMAC) at UNSW).