• Adelaide sports technology company lays foundations in the United States
• Applications open for prestigious wine awards and bursaries
• First non-stop flights from Kuala Lumpur to Adelaide
• South Australian business confidence equal highest in the nation
• Have your say in South Australia’s most loved food and beverages
• QuantX Labs receives funding to send atomic clock to space

Adelaide sports technology company lays foundations in the United States

Adelaide-based sports technology company Lumin Sports is establishing a United States operation base in California as demand for the company grows internationally.

Lumin offers a software platform that acts as a digital HQ for athletic performance by measuring, monitoring and visualising athlete data to enable high-quality and timely decision-making by coaches, managers, and performance staff.

Chief Executive Officer of Lumin and InDaily 40 Under 40 alumnus Benjamin Tripodi said the new operation base is a significant step forward in the company’s goal to provide best-in-class technology to the US sporting sector.

“After our platform was welcomed into the market by our foundation clients, we’re proud to be putting our roots down and bolstering our presence in the US,’’ Tripodi said.

“We’re looking forward to meeting the demand from high schools, colleges and elite programs for a platform that makes coaches’ lives easier and elevates the athlete experience.

“Our commitment is to be where the action is and support our clients in pursuit of their performance goals.”

– Elisabeth Marie

South Australian vintners are encouraged to apply for the 2024 Best of Wine Tourism Awards. Photo: Pexels.

Applications open for prestigious wine awards and bursaries

South Australian vintners are being encouraged to apply for a global wine tourism award and a bursary program.

The 2024 Best of Wine Tourism Awards will celebrate the role wine tourism has in strengthening the regional economy while the Outbound Knowledge Exchange Bursaries return for the first time post-pandemic.

Last year’s Best of Wine Tourism Award, held in Argentina, saw ‘Grapes for Good’ started by Langhorne Creek-based Kimbolton Wines take out an award.

Categories for the 2024 Best of Wine Tourism Awards are: Winery Accommodation; Architecture and Landscape; Art and Culture; Innovative Wine Tourism Experiences; Wine Tourism Restaurant; Wine Tourism Services; and Sustainable Wine Tourism Practices. 

With a continuing emphasis on sustainability, each of the shortlisted award entries will be considered for the Sustainable Wine Tourism Practices Award.

Meanwhile, the bursary program enables local wine industry professionals, researchers and academics to travel to other wine capitals and learn from international experts.

Valued at $18,000, the bursaries will allow three SA wine industry representatives to travel to one of 11 ‘Great Wine Capitals’ including Bordeaux, Cape Town and San Francisco between September 2023 and February 2024.

Award entries and bursary applications close on Friday, August 11 2023.

For more information and to enter the 2024 Best of Wine Tourism Awards as well as the Great Wine Capital Outbound Exchange Bursary program visit the Adelaide Great Wine Capital website.

– David Simmons

The Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. Photo: Zukiman Mohamad.

First non-stop flights from Kuala Lumpur to Adelaide

Batik Air Malaysia has introduced the first non-stop, direct flight path from Kuala Lumpur to Adelaide.

The airline will operate three services each week from Kuala Lumpur to Adelaide on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, returning from Adelaide to Kuala Lumpur on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Adelaide Airport Managing Director Brenton Cox said the flight paths arrival will help grow the South Australian market with benefits to business, tourism and the international student sector.

“Malaysia is a strong, long-term market for travel to and from Adelaide. It’s fantastic news to welcome another airline flying between our great cities and it links Adelaide into Asia through Batik’s considerable network,” he said.

Group Strategy Director for Batik Air and Lion Air Group, Datuk Chandran Rama Muthy, said he is pleased to witness great demand for Adelaide as the company begins the flight service.

“Adelaide is a popular destination among Asians, not just for leisure and tourism, but also for studying and visiting family and friends. This is indeed a timely boost to tourism in Australia,” he said.

“On the other hand, the passengers from Adelaide will have options to fly to Kuala Lumpur with Batik Air and access a network connectivity such as to ASEAN destinations, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia, China, Japan, Korea and many more.”

– Elisabeth Marie

South Australia recorded the highest business confidence in the nation. Photo: Pexels.

South Australian business confidence equal highest in the nation

An ANZ and Property Council survey for the June quarter revealed South Australia recorded the equal highest business confidence in the nation, tied with Western Australia.

SA also recorded the largest increase in property industry confidence of all the states and the highest expectations for state economic growth.

It comes after Business SA’s survey of business expectations showed SA business confidence rose in the March quarter for 2023, despite falling nationally.

State Treasurer Stephen Mullighan said the results were encouraging in the face of national downturns.

“But this is not the time for complacency. The full impact of the RBA’s rate rises is yet to flow through, and our record employment figures are unlikely to hold,” Mullighan said.

“It’s important we continue to support businesses and invest in opportunities to grow jobs and our economy to ensure we enter this period of economic uncertainty from the strongest position possible.”

– David Simmons

Haigh’s and Mike’s Beef Jerky won the Consumer Awards in 2022. Photo: supplied.

Have your say in South Australia’s most loved food and beverages

To recognise South Australia’s favourite products, consumers are being urged to vote in the South Australian Premier’s Food and Beverage Industry Awards program for the Consumer Award.

Attracting thousands of votes each year, the winners of the Consumer Award are determined by the number of votes received in a single round of online voting.

Food South Australia CEO Marni Cook said all other categories in the awards are chosen by independent judging panels, so the Consumer Award offers a chance for all South Australians to have their say.

“Each year, the South Australian Premier’s Food and Beverage Industry Awards provide the opportunity for our most outstanding food and beverage manufacturers, producers and industry service providers to be recognised,” she said.

“The Consumer Award is an incredibly important part of this because it gives each and every South Australian a chance to recognise their favourite products and brands, big or small, metro or regional, and ensure they get the recognition they deserve.”

Voting for the Consumer Award is open now until 5pm on Monday, September 11 via the SA Food Awards website.

Finalists will be announced on Wednesday, September 20 and the winner will be crowned at an awards ceremony on Friday, November 10.

– Elisabeth Marie

The Rubidium Clock designed by QuantX Labs. Photo: supplied.

QuantX Labs receives funding to send atomic clock to space

Lot Fourteen-based QuantX Labs has received nearly $4 million in funding from the Australian Space Agency (ASA) to build an atomic clock and shoot it into orbit.

The company, co-founded by Professor Andrew Luiten and Professor Martin O’Connor, hopes it will give Australia sovereign GPS navigation and timing capabilities should the project be successful.

QuantX was one of two South Australian companies to share in more than $40 million in funding from the ASA’s ‘Moon to Mars: Demonstrator’ initiative, alongside Fleet Space Technologies which is creating a device tailored for Lunar and Martian exploration.

“There are these very valuable clocks floating around the world – GPS is the best known of these – and there’s $1 billion per day of global commerce dependent on access to these signals. Getting your pizza delivered on time; the whole gig economy depends on access to GPS,” Luiten said.

“That’s quite a vulnerable system, and it’s one that’s controlled by the US defence forces. So it’s certainly worthwhile thinking about ways to build more reliability into that system.”

The atomic clock built by QuantX was originally demonstrated at the Institute of Photonics and Advanced Sensing at the University of Adelaide and received initial funding through SmartSat CRC.

With the ASA funding, QuantX will convert the clock into a space-ready payload.

“Having these things in space is critical because in that environment timing turns out to be critical for synchronising different satellite platforms and making sure you’re taking data at the same time,” Luiten said.

QuantX hopes to have the project space-ready by 2025 – an ambitious milestone but one sure to be achieved with the help of fellow space technologists at Lot Fourteen according to Luiten.

“One of the advantages is that we’re at Lot Fourteen alongside a bunch of space companies that are in our building, and we’ve got all of this experience around us – so we’ll be talking to these people who have actually gone through this process of launching things into space before,” he said.

“One of the really key outcomes for us is that it’s going to develop what’s called ‘space heritage’ in our company – the ability for us to understand all of the steps that are required to put what will actually be one of the world’s most advanced pieces of technology into space.”

– David Simmons