QUT will join a new research and development centre designed to deliver better transport systems for Australia, after today's announcement by the Federal Government of a $55 million grant to establish the iMOVE Collaborative Research Centre.
The iMOVE CRC funding and 10-year timeframe will enable the 46 partners, including leading government, industry and researchers, to develop technology outcomes that will benefit the whole of Australia.
The CRC has been established to deliver reduced congestion, fuel use, emissions and crashes, improved freight co-ordination, productivity and international competitiveness, and lifestyle and wellbeing.
iMOVE CRC bid leader Ian Christensen said: "Transport is the backbone of our economy. As a country we will fall behind if we cannot move our people and goods effectively and efficiently."
"Our roads are congested and our transport systems are not co-ordinated and it's getting worse in many cases. The establishment of the iMOVE CRC gives us an immediate opportunity to tackle this situation, by harnessing the power of 'big data', developing smarter solutions and engaging with the community to trial and deploy new technologies."
QUT Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research & Commercialisation Professor Arun Sharma said the university was well placed to take a lead research role in the CRC.
"QUT's real world research priorities focus on being a globally leading university that delivers solutions to the challenges of today and of the future," Professor Sharma said.
"We have a history of achieving this through high-impact research that spans discipline boundaries and is pursued in partnership with end-users, leveraging our deep technological strengths and responding to human capital and innovation needs of the global economy."
Professor Sharma said QUT's involvement would be cross disciplinary and include researchers from road safety, smart transport, regional and urban planning, digital media and design.
Deputy director of QUT's Centre for Accident Research & Road Safety – Queensland (CARRS-Q) and one of the lead researchers at the CRC, Professor Andry Rakotonirainy, said the CRC would deliver the technical infrastructure, data frameworks, models and tools to support Australia's adoption of increasingly sophisticated transport networks.
"It will pave the way for the smooth adoption of connected autonomous vehicles, development of the next generation of traffic models and support multi-modal transport services," he said.
"The centre will also investigate personal preferences and behaviours to support the development of new solutions for personal mobility and enhancement of public acceptance of new and emerging services."
Professor Edward Chung from, QUT Smart Transport Research Centre, will provide expertise in traffic management, Cooperative ITS and data mining.
"Harnessing the availability of data, will offer opportunities to optimise operations and increase transport efficiency and performance," he said.
"Together our researchers will help develop technologies and solutions to enable Australia to be at the forefront of the digital revolution."
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Story Source: Materials provided by Scienmag
