Australia’s innovation challenge is often described as a failure to turn research into industry. But at Bradfield City, on the doorstep of Sydney’s new 24-hour international airport, that problem is being tackled as a city-building exercise.
Bradfield Development Authority (BDA) chief executive Ken Morrison told The Commercial Disco podcast that the new city, located within the Western Sydney Aerotropolis, is being designed to help form the industries Australia will need for its next phase of economic growth.
“It’s what we like to call showtime,” Mr Morrison said.
“The airport is opening, investment is flowing in, and we’re moving ahead with our plans.”
The scale is unusual for Australia. The Western Sydney Aerotropolis covers 11,200 hectares, supported by around $29 billion in government infrastructure investment across the new airport, metro rail, roads and related enabling works.
Private investment is also accelerating. Mr Morrison said approximately $31 billion worth of projects are now either approved or in the planning system, up from less than $10 billion only 18 months ago.
At the centre of that shift is Bradfield City, which the NSW government is positioning as Australia’s first new city in 100 years and a future hub for higher-order jobs in Western Sydney.
“The strategy is for Bradfield to grow into something like the next Parramatta within Greater Sydney,” Mr Morrison said.
However, he stressed the goal is not to copy Parramatta, Sydney CBD, Macquarie Park or any other existing employment centre.
Instead, Bradfield City is being shaped around sectors that either already have a strong base in Western Sydney, gain a direct advantage from proximity to a curfew-free international airport, or align with the industrial capabilities being built into the precinct.
That includes advanced manufacturing, defence, aerospace, education, circular economy, freight and logistics.
“What we’re creating at Bradfield is an ecosystem,” Mr Morrison said.
That word – ecosystem – is central to why Dr Cathy Foley, former Australian Chief Scientist and a BDA board member, sees the precinct as an opportunity to address one of Australia’s longstanding weaknesses.
Australia, she said, has world-class research capability. Its universities, CSIRO and other publicly funded research agencies have produced globally significant science and technology. The challenge has been capturing more of the value from that work onshore.
“We’re only 0.3 per cent of the world’s population, yet we have extraordinary capability,” Dr Foley said.
“The challenge is turning that capability into future industries.”
She pointed to solar technology and Wi-Fi as familiar examples. Australia played a major role in the research and invention of these, but much of the industry formation and commercial value occurred elsewhere.
“Industry is not just one company,” Dr Foley said. “It’s an ecosystem. It’s a whole precinct and network that develops around it.”
Bradfield City, she said, offers a rare chance to approach that problem differently.
“It’s almost like having a clean sheet of paper,” she said.
That clean sheet is being anchored by the Advanced Manufacturing Readiness Facility (AMRF), a common-use industrial capability designed to help companies prototype, test, improve and scale products without needing to purchase expensive equipment before they are ready.
For Dr Foley, that matters because Australia has become better at creating startups, but still struggles to scale them.
Deep-tech companies in particular often face a ‘valley of death’ when they need access to specialised infrastructure, industry-scale equipment and technical expertise before they can reach commercial production or attract larger investment.
“The AMRF provides industry-scale manufacturing systems that businesses can access to solve problems, develop products and even undertake small production runs,” Dr Foley said.
“That capability can help businesses get products into market and attract further investment.”
Mr Morrison said the first AMRF facility is already working with companies that need exactly that kind of bridge.
One example is Space Machines Company, a business that emerged from UTS Tech Lab and is developing technology to service satellites in orbit. Mr Morrison described the company’s model as “a bit like the NRMA in space”.
The company has raised capital and developed a product it is confident in. It is now working with the AMRF to ensure the product can be manufactured at scale and to the exacting standards required for space.
“Their intention is ultimately to manufacture those products in Bradfield,” Mr Morrison said.
“It’s a great example of a company using capabilities that are available under one roof at the AMRF and, to our knowledge, nowhere else in Australia.”
The next phase of Bradfield City’s industrial capability is expected to be even more strategically significant.
The second AMRF facility will include an advanced semiconductor packaging capability – a critical step in turning semiconductor devices into commercial products ready for deployment at scale.
Dr Foley said Australia already has recognised strengths in parts of the semiconductor value chain, including design, RF technologies, compound semiconductors, photonics, quantum technologies and packaging.
But much of the infrastructure needed to move from research capability to commercial scale is currently offshore.
The Bradfield City facility is expected to help close that gap.
“When people hear the word packaging, they often think of cardboard boxes,” Dr Foley said. “But semiconductor packaging is a critical step in turning a device into a commercial product.”
The facility is expected to be operational by the end of 2028 and will help companies move beyond research-oriented capability into commercialisation and scale.
Mr Morrison said many Australian companies working in quantum and other advanced technologies are excited by the prospect of having access to this infrastructure locally.
“At the moment, many of these businesses rely on packaging facilities overseas,” he said.
“Having that capability available here in Australia will make a significant difference. Importantly, it helps those companies stay and grow in Australia.”
Bradfield City’s next phase will also be guided by a newly appointed AMRF board, with Dr Foley to serve as chair while continuing as a Bradfield Development Authority board member.
She will be joined by Dr David Skellern AO, one of the inventors of Wi-Fi and Chair of the Semiconductor Sector Service Bureau; Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin AC (Retd), former Chief of the Defence Force; Elizabeth Mannes, who brings more than 35 years of advanced manufacturing experience; Sam Matandos, Managing Director of Moxon Industries; Distinguished Professor Brian Falzon, Executive Dean of Engineering, Computing and Science at Western Sydney University; and Ken Morrison.
Mr Morrison said the board brings the breadth of expertise needed to steer the AMRF’s next stage of development, as construction prepares to commence on the second facility and development activity across Bradfield City continues to accelerate.
For Dr Foley, the test over the next 12 months will be whether companies begin to see Bradfield City not as a future promise, but as a real place to scale.
“This isn’t an aspiration or a wish,” she said.
“It’s something that’s being built, funded and delivered.”
Her ambition is that Australian startups, emerging companies and multinational organisations recognise that they do not need to go to Silicon Valley or elsewhere overseas to access the infrastructure, expertise and support required to scale.
They can come to Bradfield City.
“If, in 12 months’ time, we have Australian startups that are confident they can build, scale and manufacture here, then I would consider that a major success,” Dr Foley said.
This article was produced by InnovationAus.com in partnership with Bradfield Development Authority.
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