Queensland Premier Anna Bligh and Industry Minister Desley Boyle have announced more than $27 million in funding for a range of research and development projects in the state.

The majority of the funding is allocated for a new $15 million manufacturing research facility, with almost $6 million going towards climate change-related research projects.

Ms Bligh said the facility would be a research hub for the manufacturing industry. It will be the headquarters of the Queensland Centre for Advanced Materials Processing and Manufacturing, which will be developed by the University of Queensland, the Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) and the Australian Research Council (ARC).

Ms Boyle said these partners would be able to work on a range of current and emerging issues in manufacturing using metals, polymers and/or composites.

“It’s expected to dramatically improve the ability of the Queensland manufacturing industry to compete at a global level,” she said.

The grants are sourced from the Queensland Government’s $300 million Smart State Innovation Funding program, which aims to build world-class research facilities, attract scientists to the state and stimulate innovate research projects.

Among the major recipients of the grants are a CSIRO team that will investigate the state’s current ability to adapt to forecast climate change conditions and the Queensland-China Alliance in Nanomaterials for Clean Energy Technologies, which will develop new materials to underpin emerging technologies in clean coal, hydrogen production and fuel cell efficiency.

A further $1.9 million from the funding will go to the Smart Forest Alliance Queensland, which will explore ways to grow hardwood plantation trees faster.

The other recipients include the Advanced Manufacturing Centre for Queensland Defence Industry Capability Development at CAST CRC ($1.8 million), the University of Queensland for a Korea-Australia Bio-Product Alliance research project ($1.4 million) and Smart Environmental Monitoring and Analysis Technologies programs ($1.1 million).

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