PRIME is looking to establish the Innovation Hub for Affordable Heating and Cooling as a way of facilitating the HVAC&R industry’s move to a low-emissions future.

The transition is expected to improve job growth and put on show the innovations that the HVAC&R industry has to offer.

“The Innovation Hub for Affordable Heating and Cooling will provide virtual and physical spaces where a community of industry innovators, designers and educators can easily access knowledge and research infrastructure,” says AIRAH chief executive Tony Gleeson.

“This will make it easier to incubate ideas and reshape industry practice to the needs of the 21st century. The Innovation Hub will enable Australian small to medium enterprises to accelerate product development, including through access to cutting-edge intellectual property, independent technology validation, and interfaces with venture capital investment.”

The Innovation Hub is directly aimed at supporting the industry – like manufacturers, product entrepreneurs, designers and consultants – so that low-carbon buildings can be plausible in the future.

CSIRO representative Stephen White says that the Innovation Hub will create a connected community within Australia that will also have a shared IP platform, a flexible research environment, ‘Living Laboratories’ and design studios.

“‘Collaborate to innovate’ is the key theme, with low-emission heating cooling solutions for buildings the primary focus,” says Stephen.

“In a Living Laboratory all interested stakeholders – owner, suppliers, users, and researchers – can participate, collaborate, co-create and reflect on improvements and alternative solutions.”

The Innovation Hub is aiming to create more than 200 jobs through new products and services as well as having new low-energy designs applied in at least 10 major construction projects. They are also trying to establish a dedicated undergraduate major in Building Services.

“The Innovation Hub will support the broader HVAC&R industry with knowledge dissemination, skills development and capacity building. We want to help Australian SMEs compete on the world stage. We encourage companies to join up as members to gain access to all these resources and free testing infrastructure,” Stephen says.

For more information about the Innovation Hub for Affordable Heating and Cooling, go to www.airah.org.au/ihub.