The Office of the Chief Scientist & Engineer’s Bushfire R&D Mission team made waves last week at AFAC23, Australasia’s largest and most comprehensive emergency management conference and exhibition.
From 22-25 August, the team presented and exhibited at the event, which was held in Brisbane this year, with over 3,000 attendees and 200 exhibiting organisations. The exhibition also attracted 290 Asia-Pacific Earthquake Response Exercise Delegates. This year’s event focused on the challenges and opportunities to create a sustainable future.
The AFAC conference provided the perfect platform for the team to showcase the work they are doing through the Mission to actively support innovative bushfire technology companies to solve the challenges in preparing for and responding to bushfires.
Investment NSW had a significant stand presence to showcase the 18 NSW companies with innovative bushfire technologies which have been supported under the Mission’s four initiatives: ADOPT, GROW, INSPIRE and CONNECT.
The team also supported the NSW Bushfire and Natural Hazards Research Centre and the NSW Smart Sensing Network to promote collaboration between researchers and industry to address knowledge gaps and research needs.
As part of AFAC’s Research and Innovation Day, team member Caroline Residovic shared key learnings, early outcomes and details of the 18 innovative NSW companies supported, sparking great discussions and interest with other jurisdictions.
Supported companies presented their innovative solutions as part of AFACs first-ever Pitchfest – with Dan Winson, CEO of Zetifi, winning his session where he demonstrated how their long-range Wi-Fi technology can improve connectivity and communication during fire events.
During the conference, the team made over 100 connections with bushfire management and emergency response professionals and researchers.
The AFAC24 will be held at ICC Sydney from the 3-6 September 2024 and will present an opportunity to further showcase NSW as a global centre of bushfire-related research, innovation and technology.
Further information on the Bushfire Response R&D Mission can be found at the Mission webpage.