The federal government has appointed three new members to the committee overseeing the Research & Development Tax Incentive, with the changes coming just ahead of sweeping reforms to the scheme in last week’s budget.
Industry minister Tim Ayres earlier this month appointed Matthew Young, Sergio Duchini and Clint Collins to the R&D Incentives Committee for three-year terms. Ellen Gorissen and Rachelle Doyle were also appointed to the committee in March.
The appointments add expertise in research commercialisation, mining innovation, aerospace engineering and consulting to the committee, with the new members drawn from organisations including CSIRO, Rio Tinto, Boeing Australia and Deloitte.
The Albanese government announced it would lift the cap on the amount companies could claim the RDTI to $200 million in May’s budget, following recommendations from the Strategic Examination of R&D.
The change is expected to unlock an extra $400 million in investments by startups and scaleups annually, but some deep techs and R&D tax advisers warn they could disadvantage businesses that take more than decade to generate revenue.
One of Australia’s most seasoned AI experts Professor Mary-Anne Williams will be the Commonwealth Bank’s first chief AI scientist.
The ‘big four’ bank this week said Professor Williams’ would be given charge of CommBank’s team of distinguished AI scientists, and would play a central role developing its future AI agenda.
Professor Williams has spent the last six years at the University of New South Wales, as director of its AI Institute and founder and lead of its AI Business Lab, and 17 at California’s Stanford University as a fellow.
Beginning her career as head of information systems at the University of Newcastle in 1997, Professor Williams’ storied career has seen her chair panels of the Australian Research Council, co-found the AI Policy Hub, edit two scholarly tech journals and lecture at four major universities.
“I’m incredibly excited to join forces with CommBank’s visionary chief AI officer Ranil Boteju and our extraordinarily talented AI team… to drive responsible AI innovation using AI,” Professor Williams said in a LinkedIn post.
Former Telstra chief executive Andy Penn has been named chair of Sharon AI ahead of a long-expected ASX listing later this year.
The artificial intelligence and cloud provider floated on the NASDAQ in February.
Mr Penn was Telstra’s CEO for seven years through 2022, previously serving as the telco’s chief financial officer.
He is presently on the board of Coles Group, and is a senior adviser to McKinsey, QuintessenceLabs and Glow Services Corp.
Sharon AI has contracts with data centre hyperscaler NEXTDC to kit out their data centres in Sydney and Melbourne with Nvidia chips.
Microsoft has lost its chief technology officer ANZ Sarah Carney to a superannuation fund, opening a new chapter in the financial sector’s hunt for executive talent in the AI era.
Ms Carney will be AustralianSuper’s inaugural head of AI and automation, exiting Microsoft’s Australian arm after ten years.
The Western Australian government has announced the inaugural members of its Privacy and Responsible Information Sharing Advisory Committee.
New members include Peter Worthington-Eyre (who will be committee chair), Ashley Councillor, Rebecca Glauert, Ming Ding, Annelies Moens, and WA’s chief data officer Natalia Kacperek.
The committee was established as part of a new privacy and data sharing regimen legislated by the Cook government in 2024 and will advise on policy.
Aerospace sector leader Mark Ramsey has departed Space Machines Company for Southern Launch, where he is to be chief growth officer.
Mr Ramsey recently also departed as a director at the Space Industry Association of Australia after nine years in the organisation.
An organisation hoping to run Australia’s long-promised AI Cooperative Research Centre has amassed a lineup of impressive science and industry figures, following an official pitch submitted to the federal government in March.
The AI CRC this week announced it had added MaxMine’s Tom Cawley as its mining sector lead.
Kylie Walker, who this week announced she would depart as CEO of the Australian Academy of Technologies, Sciences and Engineering in July, is also listed by the organisation as an interim board member.
University of Adelaide’s Professor Anton van den Hengel is leading the Centre’s bid to the federal government for CRC status.
The AI CRC is expected to set up shop in 2028.
Air Vice-Marshal Glen Braz has been appointed Australia’s new chief of joint capabilities, succeeding incoming chief of army, Lieutenant General Susan Coyle.
An Australian Defence Force Academy physics graduate, Air Vice-Marshall Braz was appointed commanding officer of RAAF’s No.1 Squadron in 2008, and became Air Commander Australia in 2023.
Tasmania’s government has appointed former Australian Army commander and NATO advisor Michelle Campbell to be the state’s defence industry advocate.
Tasmania’s Minister for Business, Industry and Resources Felix Ellis thanked outgoing DI advocate Rear Admiral (Rtd) Steve Gilmore, saying his work had “directly contributed to a $600 million boost to the state’s economy over the past six years”.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority has reappointed its CEO and director of aviation safety Pip Spence for a further two-year term, set to run through May 2028.
Sydney-based next-gen computer developer Emergence Quantum has welcomed Dr Nadia Court as its new principal program manager, and Dr Anand Mohan as senior engineer.
WA’s public health organisation Health Support Services has named Anthony Lenzarini as its chief information officer.
Corry Neale has been appointed as a governor of the New South Wales branch of the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia (AmCham).
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