Australian Consulate-General
Chennai, India

Media release

11 January 2018                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             PA-CN/18/02

                                                                                                                 Innovative Australia Exhibition

The Australian Consulate-General in Chennai today (10 January) launched its Innovative Australia Exhibition that showcases Australia's excellence in science, technology and innovation. Curated by the Consulate-General, Chennai, this exhibition features world-leading scientific research and technological innovations that originate from Australia.  

Speaking at the launch and his last official function as Australian Consul-General for South India, Mr Sean Kelly said, “Few people realise how many important inventions that they depend on for their daily life are Australian, nor do they know that Australia is at the cutting edge in many fields of innovation.  This Exhibition is designed to raise awareness of the great contributions Australian innovators have made.”

The Exhibition explores Australian innovativeness through case studies in fields ranging from bio-medical science to aerospace to digital technologies.  “As the Exhibition shows, Australians were responsible for many important scientific advances, from the invention of Wifi and Google maps to the black box flight recorder and the ultrasound scanner,” Mr Kelly explained.   “And today we are still at the cutting edge in many fields of science, from hypersonics to quantum computing to cancer vaccines.”

Innovative Australia also highlights the twelve Australians that have been honoured with Nobel Prizes in science and medicine.  “Australia has won eight Nobel Prizes in Physiology and Medicine – that is more per capita than the United States,” Mr Kelly pointed out.

The Exhibition also features projects supported by the Australia-India Strategic Research Funds (AISRF) - Australia’s largest fund dedicated to bilateral research and one of India’s largest sources of support for international science. Since its establishment in 2006, AISRF has supported more than 250 joint projects, workshops and other collaborative activities.

The Exhibition will be toured across south India in support of the Consulate-General’s advocacy and economic diplomacy activities.  It is expected that it will be hosted by educational institutions, and used as part of Australia’s presence in science, technology and trade fairs.