Perth is an important base of operations for the global energy and resources sector, with international companies taking advantage of the critical mass of research and technology expertise contributing to advances in the energy and mining sectors, and their respective equipment, technology and services industries.
Expertise developed over decades of successful mining and energy resource projects has attracted significant private and public sector investment in research and development delivering future advances in these industries.
The flagship public sector venture, the
Australian Resource Research Centre (ARRC), is led by the nation’s premier scientific body, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industry Research Organisation (CSIRO), in partnership with the Western Australian Government and Curtin University. With more than 300 staff, this is the largest concentration of resources research expertise in the country.
The Western Australian Energy Research Alliance - a partnership between the CSIRO, University of Western Australia, Curtin University, Woodside, Shell and Chevron which is located at the ARRC – fosters collaboration on petroleum and geo-sequestration research for better developed research and development outcomes.
Infrastructure at this research facility includes the
Pawsey Supercomputing Centre, one of the world’s largest supercomputers, which enables scientists to store, process, transfer and manipulate vast amounts of data.
These research facilities are focused on working with industry to address challenges in the minerals domain and have contributed to Australia becoming a world leader in mining automation research and development.
The national system of Cooperative Research Centres and privately funded and university based research centres work to progress mining equipment, technology and services and their commercial application.
Information on the breadth of research and development in these sectors is contained in the brochures on this page.
The State is also a leader in agricultural technology aimed at increasing the competitiveness of its agricultural exports. The
Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre, based in Perth, is the nation’s premier research, development and market intelligence organisation serving the needs of the grain industry.