Image credit: Smileyscope, breakthroughvictoria.com Every year, World Children's Day falls on 20 November. It’s a day dedicated to fostering global unity, raising awareness about children's issues and enhancing their welfare. With this global initiative in mind, we highlight some local innovations that Breakthrough Victoria has recently invested in: Image credit: Navi Medical Technologies Navi Medical Technologies is a Melbourne-based startup dedicated to revolutionising medic/al care for critically ill newborns and children. Currently, nearly half of life-saving procedures involving central venous catheters for these young patients result in misplacements, a potentially life-threatening outcome. Clinicians rely on post-procedure x-rays to confirm catheter locations, leading to delays and complications. Navi’s technology is non-invasive and goes onto the end of an existing catheter, showing in real-time whether its placement is correct. It is currently undergoing a second clinical trial at the Royal Women's Hospital in Melbourne and it promises to transform paediatric care. In addition to Breakthrough Victoria’s investment, Navi has received state government support via the Technology Adoption and Innovation Program, Victorian Medical Research Acceleration Fund,AMMC MedTech Manufacturing Capability Program) and through LaunchVic’s capability building programs. Image credit: Smileyscope Smileyscope is a Victorian company pioneering virtual reality technology designed to alleviate pain, stress, and anxiety during common medical procedures like blood tests, vaccinations and imaging. By transporting patients into soothing virtual environments, Smileyscope replaces the anxiety of medical settings with serene landscapes, including underwater worlds teeming with colourful fish. This virtual reality experience has proven to reduce a child's pain by up to 60% and decrease the need for restraint during needle procedures by 48%. Moreover, Smileyscope's lightweight headsets cater to children as young as four years old. Smileyscope’s technology is the first virtual reality device that has been approved for pain relief. It has also received awards (including a Good Design Award and the Victorian Premier’s Design Award), and investment through the Victorian Government’s Alice Anderson Fund, which is delivered by LaunchVic to increase investment in women-led startups. About Breakthrough Victoria Above: Grant Dooley, CEO, Breakthrough Victoria, and Evelyn Chan and Paul Leong, Co-founders, Smileyscope with Jerome Wielens, Breakthrough Victoria and the Smileyscope team. Breakthrough Victoria invests in innovation, ideas and entrepreneurs to bring breakthrough technologies to market that will help transform people’s lives. Breakthrough Victoria has five priority sectors for investment: health and life sciences, advanced manufacturing, digital technologies, agrifood and clean economy. Head to breakthroughvictoria.com to learn more. Why do we mark International Days and National Weeks? The United Nations has marked specific days and weeks of the year as advocacy tools to create awareness about issues, as well as achievements of humanity. The DIF team showcase events and stories of Victorian innovators and changemakers who use digital technologies to make a difference. These days or weeks provide an opportunity to build an inclusive and prosperous digital economy. Safer Internet Day falls on Tuesday, 6 February 2024. This global initiative raises awareness of online safety issues. Let us know if you are hosting an event or want to share a story on how you are creating safe online spaces as a tech company or volunteering your time to help your community.
Dr James Mullins (FLAIM Systems) and The Hon John Brumby AO (Breakthrough Victoria) Photo Breakthrough Victoria Investing in Virtual Reality Technology to Make Firefighting Safer Breakthrough Victoria is helping to make training safer for firefighters and the environment with its investment in a Victorian company behind the world’s first fully immersive virtual firefighting training system. Breakthrough Victoria, an investment company established by the Victorian Government to drive innovation in Victoria, today announced it will invest $5 million in FLAIM Systems. The company has developed an immersive virtual training system that replicates the stress and uncertainty of real-world firefighting situations. From bushfires in remote locations to fires on aircraft, industrial sites and residential properties, FLAIM Systems has created 80 different virtual reality (VR) training scenarios that allow firefighters to train across different situations with no risk to their health or the environment. VR training reduces firefighters’ exposure to potentially carcinogenic substances in training, like PFAS foam. It also benefits the environment by reducing water consumption, carbon emissions and PFAS foam usage. The FLAIM Trainer combines a VR headset with haptic technology, creating a kinaesthetic ‘feels-real’ experience by applying force feedback to the user. This includes simulating an operational fire hose and a thermal vest that reproduces the heat firefighters would experience from the direction of the fire. It also uses innovative real-time data to track performance against training outcomes. This includes task completion time, stress levels and air and water usage. It can also sense where the trainee is moving and looking within the scenario, as well as how they position themselves and interact with virtual objects such as gas meters, electrical boxes, or the fire itself. With more than 10 million professional and volunteer firefighters globally, this technology has the potential to make training safer for firefighters and the environment around the world. FLAIM Systems is already working with emergency services agencies, defence and private enterprise in Australia, the USA and UK. Breakthrough Victoria’s investment will support the company to expand its operations internationally and further develop its technology, creating 25 new jobs by 2026. FLAIM Systems was born out of Deakin University in 2019. Chief Technical Officer and Founding Researcher, Dr James Mullins, was able to apply his knowledge as a third-generation rural Victorian firefighter to his research into robotics engineering and virtual training capabilities. “Firefighters put their lives on the line to keep our community safe. This innovation in virtual reality training will help keep them safe during training and provide the experience they need on the frontline. We see a real potential for this world-first Victorian technology to be adopted by emergency services agencies around the world, which is exactly what we look for in our investments – innovation that can be commercialised to deliver sustainable returns and make a difference in people’s lives.” Breakthrough Victoria Chair, the Hon. John Brumby AO About FLAIM Systems Pty Ltd FLAIM Systems has developed the world’s first multi-sensory immersive learning solution for firefighters to replicate the stress and uncertainty of real-world emergency situations safely and cost-effectively in safe virtual environments. The company’s FLAIM Trainer is the world’s first immersive technology enabled firefighter training solution. FLAIM Trainer combines high fidelity virtual hazardous fire environments, audio, and industry standard equipment to deliver a fully immersive, multi-sensory, physical experience that enables firefighters to train more, learn more and be better prepared for the risks they face when delivering their service to the community. Workplace Safety: FIRE is the world-leading end-to-end solution for fire safety training. It immerses trainees in a multi-sensory, kinaesthetic experience, using the FLAIM Extinguisher prop, Vive Focus VR headset, a comprehensive library of immersive fire safety scenarios and FLAIM’s world-leading fire behaviour to enhance learner competency, improve organisational compliance and deliver certified training outcomes. Founded in 2019 and based in Victoria, Australia, today FLAIM Systems continues to pioneer solutions to improve the safety and performance of all those who respond to fire, rescue, and emergency situations. About Breakthrough Victoria Breakthrough Victoria is an investment company established in 2021 to manage the Victorian Government’s $2 billion Breakthrough Victoria Fund. It invests in innovation for impact – supporting companies to commercialise new technologies that will create jobs and investment in Victoria and have a positive impact on people’s lives. Originally published by Breakthrough Victoria on 29 March 2023
Breakthrough Victoria recently announced a second major investment in quantum technologies as part of its push to establish Victoria as a global player in this rapidly evolving sector. Breakthrough Victoria, an investment company established by the Victorian Government to drive innovation in Victoria, will invest $8 million in Australian company Quantum Brilliance. The announcement was made while inspecting the quantum materials laboratory at La Trobe University, where Quantum Brilliance has a joint research collaboration with La Trobe and RMIT universities. “By investing in companies like Quantum Brilliance and Infleqtion, we are building the framework for Victoria to be a global player in the revolution of quantum technologies.” “Our investments will accelerate research, development and commercialisation of quantum technologies, which will attract global companies and increase investment and jobs in Victoria.” Breakthrough Victoria CEO Grant Dooley Quantum computing is a rapidly emerging technology that harnesses the laws of quantum mechanics to solve problems too complex for classical computers. It has the potential to disrupt established business models and industries and enable significant breakthroughs on global problems. Founded by diamond quantum scientists at Australian National University (ANU) in 2019, Quantum Brilliance has developed the first portable quantum computer that operates at room temperature. Quantum computing typically requires temperatures below zero degrees Celsius and expensive full stack computer systems, making it difficult to rollout the technology into smaller and more portable technology. Quantum Brilliance has addressed this challenge by using the crystalline structure of diamonds as an insulator against noise and temperature. This allows their smaller quantum computer to sit alongside classical computing systems as an accelerator for faster and more advanced computing, or as an edge computing device to connect and control the flow of data between networks. This innovation means the company’s diamond quantum computing technology is better suited for use in real world situations like medical imaging, satellite technology and robotics than other technology solutions. Breakthrough Victoria’s investment in Quantum Brilliance will support the company to expand its Melbourne operations and its extensive research partnerships with several Victorian universities. Other investors include Main Sequence, Investible, Ultratech Capital, MA Financial, Jelix Ventures, Rampersand, and CM Equity. The investment in Quantum Brilliance follows Breakthrough Victoria’s $29 million investment in US-based global quantum leader Infleqtion (formerly ColdQuanta) in 2022, with the company to establish an Asia-Pacific quantum computing and technology centre at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne. Originally published by Breakthrough Victoria on 15 February 2023