Golden Age: Drone company to kick off Gold Coast tech jobs
A LEADING Australian drone manufacturing company is in talks to move its manufacturing arm from overseas — and is looking to set up right here on the Gold Coast.
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A LEADING Australian drone manufacturing company is looking to set up production on the Gold Coast.
Autonomous Technology Group has confirmed they are in talks to open a centre that will see Ashmore Tafe students and graduates building the high tech hardware.
The company, which produces custom drones costing $90,000-$120,000, said they are looking to move their manufacturing arm from China to Australia.
ATG director Nigel Brown said the development of 3D printing and advancements in education make TAFE on the Gold Coast a great place to start.
“I think Australia has really become a tech incubation hub of bright ideas,” Mr Brown said.
“Manufacturing has always been one of the country’s downfalls, which means companies have been moving it offshore, but 3D manufacturing is bringing it back.
“We are really interested in new tech, Queensland is one of the standout states for initiatives and new tech facilities, especially in aviation.”
Mr Brown said the Gold Coast Tafe’s two Australian first industry certificates, concentrated on the maintenance, service and repair of autonomous vehicles, gives future workers a solid skills base.
“The things we can do with autonomous technology compared to 10 years ago is amazing – Australia is leading the way, especially in autonomous mining exploration,” Mr Brown said.
The company hopes to finalise the location of their new base within the next two months.
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Rob Jones, the Director of Industry Trade Skills Faculty for TAFE Queensland Gold Coast, said the close relationship with industry is the driving force behind the futuristic courses.
“We are talking education directed towards the future, so we cover normal engineering pathways and then look into employment in the future,” Mr Jones said.
“The Certificate three offers things like soldering of wiring boards, mechanical drawings, part printing and for commercial drones it covers data acquisition.”
Mr Jones said employment opportunities in the area of commercial drones on the Gold Coast are on the rise.
“They are being used widely, surveyors are using them, farms, marine safety and exploration, mining,” Mr Jones said.
“Some of the fancy drones out there are being used in the defence force, or in civil construction to fly underwater to X-Ray pipes.
“There is even facial recognition drones, or pizza delivery – so much more to come,” he said.
TAFE is also launching another training first for Queenslanders by offering a cyber security course.
TAFE Queensland Gold Coast Region General Manager, Karen Dickinson, said the course was created to cater for growing demand in the industry.
“Demand for Australian cyber security solutions is expected to increase dramatically in coming years as cyber criminals become more astute at stealing and manipulating information and systems online and we will need a skilled workforce to tackle the challenges,” Ms Dickinson said.
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Australia’s Cyber Security Sector Competitiveness Plan, released by AustCyber last year,
estimates that Australian employers will need at least 11,000 additional cyber security
workers over the next decade.
Enrolment for the courses will begin next month with the first cohort of Queensland cyber security students set to graduate this time next year.
TAFE is not alone in digital education firsts on the Gold Coast.
In 2015 Bond University introduced the only degree in Actuarial Science in Queensland, and saw the whole cohort graduate with jobs just last year.
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“Actuarial science is one of the fastest growing careers and employers are crying out for our graduates,” said Professor Tim Brailsford, Vice Chancellor and President of the university
“The entire first cohort of Actuarial Science students secured jobs or further study opportunities before they graduated.”
Professor Brailsford said the University was developing a name for itself in the field of “big data”.
“The future of artificial intelligence will rely heavily on big data,” he said.
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