Innovatia

complexity. The deep technology challeng- es associated with the clean technology movement to electrify everything are a lead- ing training ground for the development of global leadership skills. What barriers are preventing Australia from becoming a world clean energy powerhouse? Willingness to commit strong investment to our own technologies. We apply technology to mining. We think about enhanced refine- ment (but instead ship raw materials to O/S refineries). We publish leading research. But we are reluctant to use our highly developed leadership skills to commercialise value be- yond mining. We need strong, deliberate in- vestment in the extraction of value from both complex resource deposits and complex tech- nology challenges – where, academically, Aus- tralia has strong global relevance. Why should Australians be excited about the future of energy in this country? We are strong in terms of deposits of the re- sources and metals most needed to electri- fy everything. We are strong academically in key technological areas. We have strong capital availability and a talented workforce. We need to just be bold and confident in tak- ing on higher-value-add product develop- ment, production, and commercialisation. There’s risk with every major enterprise as well as reward. Tell us your view on the risk-reward balance dynamics of Australia’s energy transition. The energy transition entails a shift from an energy world in which the vast majority of the

INNOVATION THROUGH ADVERSITY: URBAN WATER REFORM In the past 30 years, the Australian water sector has been through the most significant water reforms in our history, driven by the need to mitigate and adapt to a shifting climate and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of water management. By Corinne Cheeseman W ater services are so essential to everyday life that it is easy to for- get the effort required to supply high-quality drinking water at the turn of a tap and reliable wastewater services at the flush of a toilet. The key feature of water re- sources in Australia is the variability of rainfall and runoff, both around the country and over time. Large investments in water and waste- water assets valued at over $100 billion and

value (price) of unit energy came from extrac- tion of the raw resource with a modest contri- bution from refinement to one where the raw resource is a minority component with tech- nology and materials refinement forming the bulk. The simple hard lesson in this for Aus- tralia is that we must invest in refinement and technology or face the fact that energy will shift from a constant huge positive contribu- tor of payments to a deep negative. How can we manage the sheer complexity of Australia’s energy transition implementation – particularly as clean energy luminaries like Prof Robin Batterham AO say the required ef- fort is comparable to the “Marshall Plan” re- construction of post-World War II Europe? Simple. A mixture of “one foot after the oth- er” thinking and audacious leadership. Most importantly, we must keep our eyes square- ly on the horizon to avoid dependencies and to ensure global relevance for our contri- bution, even as our resource production is globally relevant today. We must invest in adding value and leadership in technology through expanding the skills refined in our mining leadership of distilling clarity from complexity. “We need strong, deliberate investment in the extraction of value from both complex resource deposits and complex technology challenges.”

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