Report: Blue Sky Queensland 2024

The 2024 Queensland Futures Institute’s Blue Sky Queensland – Bold Ideas for a Bright Future highlighted key opportunities and challenges for Queensland’s future, focusing on healthcare innovation, artificial intelligence (AI), space technology and storytelling.

In healthcare, the conversation emphasised the need for local investment, and the opportunity to leverage data-driven research to address systemic issues. The transformative potential of AI was discussed alongside the need for widespread AI literacy, to demystify its capabilities, accelerate innovation and integrate it responsibly into industry.

The discussion also explored Queensland’s potential to lead the trillion-dollar space economy, emphasising the importance of developing sovereign manufacturing capabilities for the industry. The state’s creative industries were also discussed as an opportunity to build ambition, economic opportunities and to promote education and combat misinformation.

The panel highlighted the importance of collaboration and innovation to support ongoing development across the Queensland economy into the future.

MARK MAUCERI
Chief of Staff
Gilmore Space

KRISTEN SOUVLIS
Co-Founder
Like a Photon Creative

Prof John Fraser

• A great example of a moon shot, transformative project is the bionic heart project, which
  was started with Daniel Timms, an engineer who joined us in 2005/6.
• Cardiovascular disease - the world’s biggest killer - drives the need for innovations like this.
• However, despite our early efforts, we struggled to secure funding in Australia. After
  several years, Daniel and the team moved to the U.S., and funding was secured within
  a week.
• Today, four people have had their hearts completely replaced by a titanium spinning
  disc - a breakthrough that started in Brisbane. We should soon see the first implant of
  this kind in Australia.
• A sadder example of a clear blue sky opportunity is rheumatic heart disease, a totally
  preventable disease caused by untreated Strep throat (which can be prevented by a 19-
  cent antibiotic tablet) and that disproportionately impacts Indigenous communities.
• Indigenous children in Queensland face a 72-fold higher risk compared to white
  children, leading to costly and recurring heart surgeries throughout their lives. This
  disparity is both a moral and financial issue, highlighting the need for better healthcare
  solutions for First Nations people.
• While Australia excels in research, it struggles with the development and
  commercialisation of health innovations. We often lose great ideas to other countries
  due to a lack of support.
• To take advantage of opportunities like this, we must foster talent and create smart jobs
  for future generations. This will require building industries in Queensland to keep
  projects like the bionic heart and other medical breakthroughs within our borders.
• To rework the U.S. slogan – Forget MAGA – Australians prefer MAMA - We must
  ‘Make Australia Make Again’ and turn ground breaking research into development – and
  enjoy the local jobs and tangible outcomes.
• Doing this would support Queensland’s blue sky future, addressing systemic inequities
  and building a sustainable local economy that fosters innovation.

Professor Marek Kowalkiewicz

• I’ve moved to Australia multiple times since 2001 and have worked globally in places
  like Beijing, Singapore and California. My career has spanned enterprise software
  development and artificial intelligence (AI), with a focus on pushing the boundaries of
  what technology can achieve.
• For the past nine years, I’ve been working in academia, leading initiatives like Research
  Innovation Sprints to help organisations transform through strategy and innovation.
• Over 20 years, I have witnessed dramatic growth and transformation of AI, which
  represents the next major revolution, comparable to the industrial revolution. But
  instead of replacing human muscle, it will amplify human intelligence.
• The algorithmic revolution will reshape industries, economies and society, creating
  tools that surpass human intelligence and capability. This poses unique challenges as
  humanity has never faced entities more intelligent than us.
• AI systems are already more precise, scalable and faster than humans in many areas.
  This highlights the opportunity the scale and economic opportunity of this technology.
• Australia, particularly Queensland, is well-positioned to benefit from the algorithmic
  revolution due to our educated workforce and high labour costs. As such, investing in AI
  skillsets and infrastructure will enable us to harness this transformation, creating long term
  opportunities for growth and leadership.

Mark Mauceri

• There is a clear blue sky opportunity for Queensland to lead Australia in the space
  economy, a sector projected to be worth over $1 trillion within the next decade.
• Demand for space assets, such as satellites, is expected to grow exponentially by 2035
  - with only seven countries able to launch them reliably. Gilmour Space aims to make
  Australia the eighth.
• However, the lack of sovereign manufacturing capability in Australia is a key challenge
  for the industry. Outsourcing space technology to foreign companies means we lose
  critical skills, knowledge, and economic benefits. Locally building our own rockets,
  satellites and space infrastructure – rather than just parts - allows us to build this
  capability into the future.
• In terms of our own demand for these assets, we currently rely on rented space from
  foreign satellites, which poses geopolitical risk and limits our available bandwidth.
• By investing in sovereign space capabilities, we can secure our future and reduce
  this reliance on other nations - maintaining control over critical systems like telecommunications and banking. This ultimately strengthens our sovereign capability
  and defence, increasing resilience and business continuity.
• This will also require the development of ancillary industries to support these endeavours, such as law and insurance firms which specialise in space.
• As these technologies develop, there is a critical need to continue building ‘bandwidth’
  to meet growing demand. We expect this will be required by 2030, otherwise there will
  be a supply gap.
• This is why Gilmour Space has developed and manufactured Australia’s first orbital class
  rocket, ready for its maiden test flight in Bowen, North Queensland. This location is supported by the Whitsundays Council, which is enabling the region to become
  Australia’s space coast.
• We are also developing hypersonic technologies which can be used to test advanced
  materials. This allows ‘real-world’ testing during hypersonic flights rather than in a test
  facility which only provides limited data.
• We are manufacturing low-cost satellite buses that enable multiple clients to deploy their
  payloads for testing across a diverse range of applications - like GPS, banking and imaging.
• The first launch is scheduled in a few weeks and first hypersonic flight is expected in the
  first half of next year, with the first satellite launch expected by mid-year next year.
• We will be developing a number of launch vehicles and satellites every year.
  Additionally, we have just completed an advanced manufacturing facility on the Gold
  Coast, where we have invited collaboration and partnerships with universities like
  Griffith University and The University of Queensland.
• While we are the first company to have received an orbital launch site permit in Australia
  from the Australian Space Agency, we must do more as a country to support this industry.
• A key challenge is that existing regulations disproportionately benefit foreign companies,
  putting Australian firms at a disadvantage.
• This is why it is critical for greater government support and funding to match global
  competitors. This must be supported by regulatory reform to level the playing field for
  Australian companies.
• Additionally, this will require continued investment from venture capital and private
  partners to drive innovation and growth.

Kirsten Souvlis

•  Over the past five years, Like a Photon Creative has produced $5 2 million worth of
  content, exporting to over 174 territories, with clients like Disney, Universal, Sesame
  Street, and Amazon.
• Despite this success, the arts are often seen as an afterthought in government planning
  and funding.
• There is a clear blue sky opportunity to develop Queensland’s arts industry to achieve
  three key outcomes – aspiration, economic and political/democratic.
• Queensland has been a pioneer in children’s television for 30 years, producing iconic
  programs like Bluey, a billion-dollar property.
• The power of storytelling lies in showing children what is possible – in line with the idea
  that “If you can’t see it, you can’t be it.” This aspirational role is essential for shaping
  future scientists, doctors and innovators.
• The economic opportunities presented by the industry are also significant; the
  Queensland screen industry contributes half a billion dollars annually to the economy,
  supported by productions like Bluey and blockbuster films like Marvel movies.
• We employ over 200 people in Queensland, creating a ‘manufacturing’ base which
  outputs globally significant intellectual property.
• As such, there’s a critical need to invest in local IP and manufacturing capabilities
  across industries to strengthen Queensland’s economic base.
• The industry also supports political and democratic outcomes. Storytelling is critical
  for fostering media literacy and countering misinformation, which is a growing threat to
  democracies worldwide.
• Children’s ability to critically evaluate information is imperative, as discerning truth is
  becoming increasingly difficult - even for adults.
• Queensland’s arts and media sectors could play a pivotal role in communicating
  science, technology and public interest narratives effectively.
• As such, it is critical to cross-pollinate industries, invest in the arts and prioritise
  storytelling as a tool for education, democracy and economic growth.

Prof Marek Kowalkiewicz

• People talk about artificial intelligence as some kind of magic solution – but
  misunderstand that these systems are ultimately complex algorithms, often
  based on statistics.
• We must demystify AI to better understand its workings, stop seeing it as magic and
  start seeing it as a tool.
• I use the term “digital minions” to simplify AI concepts. This reflects the ability of these
  tools to be rapidly deployed, but also the potential to create chaos if left unsupervised.
• I’m working to spread AI knowledge, collaborating with organisations like UNICEF to
  scale AI education to billions globally.
• We’re at a massive turning point in how we use computing systems . However, this new
  capability is not fully understood yet, so we must be cautious about where and how we
  deploy such systems.
• AI literacy is essential for everyone. Without understanding AI, we risk misapplying it
  or integrating it into critical and trusted ‘single source of truth’ systems where it could
  cause harm if misunderstood.

How have you been able to leverage current technologies to improve responses to health risks such
as pandemics at a molecular level? What technology are you most excited about for future research?

Prof John Fraser

• A quote from my father - “Medicine keeps you alive, but the arts make life worth living.”
• COVID changed everything. Early on, there was little guidance on the response globally,
  and clinicians were sharing anecdotal treatments via WhatsApp. There was a lack of
  structure and coordination of data around the treatments and responses being used
  across intensive care units. This meant that it wasn’t clear what was and wasn’t working.
• With IBM, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Twiggy Forrest’s Minderoo
  Foundation, Drs Gian Luigi Li Bassi, Jacky Suen and myself created the world’s largest
  ICU database for COVID - spanning 67 countries and 55 million data points.
• Brisbane became a leader in guiding all aspects of management of the critically ill and
  ECMO protocols, - so even though we could not travel – our data could. And it improved
  outcomes globally.
• We leveraged spatial biology to examine cellular interactions, to understand the domino
  effects caused by COVID - such as why it was leading to heart disease. Using cardiac
  tissue samples from six countries, we discovered that COVID alters DNA patterns in cells.
• This was undertaken from Seattle as Australia lacked the advanced equipment for this
  research. We subsequently secured the funding to bring the necessary technology to
  Wesley Research Institute here in Brisbane, enabling ground-breaking work locally.
• This work now extends to samples from flu epidemics of the 1950s and 1960s,
  and we aim to identify a common ‘fingerprint’ that distinguishes pandemics from routine
  viral outbreaks.
• By looking back over 105 years of data, we hope to find targets to stop future pandemics before they start. The next pandemic is inevitable, but leveraging lessons from the past will allow us to prepare and respond more effectively in the future.

Kirsten Souvlis

• We view our role in storytelling as being good faith actors - embedding kindness,
  empathy, problem-solving and critical thinking into our globally entertaining stories.
• However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to discern who produces ethical and
  trustworthy content. Platforms like YouTube exemplify this risk - with content ranging
  from harmless unboxing videos to harmful radicalisation.
• Traditionally, broadcasters provided a gate-keeping function to ensure ethical
  programming. However, since we have seen the democratisation of storytelling, we
  have lost this safeguard.
• This gatekeeping is also seen when content is distributed globally. For example, content
  is often heavily edited or even banned in some regions, showing the complexities of
  meeting ethical integrity standards across different markets.
• In today’s environment, the absence of robust, independent journalism and well resourced
  broadcasters has exacerbated the challenge of ensuring ethical storytelling.
• To address this, although systemic issues require systemic solutions, fostering critical
  thinking and media literacy at the individual level is critical.
• There is a clear need to better educate individuals to discern truth from fiction by
  teaching them to evaluate sources, look for corroboration and recognise the ‘fingerprint’
  or ‘DNA’ of truth.

Mark Mauceri

• Innovation often requires unconventional approaches which challenge conventional thinking.
• A simple technique I use is splitting meeting participants into two groups: one half talks
  while the other listens. The change in perspective when roles switch fosters fresh ideas
  and insights.
• Additionally, innovation thrives on diverse perspectives. There is significant value in
  including people from different backgrounds – for example, including accountants or
  supply chain experts in engineering meetings – to spark unique ideas and solutions.
• A well-designed organisation can also enhance innovation. Accountability across the
  layers of an organisation and creating a manageable span of control for leaders is key
  to streamlining processes and enabling rapid iteration.
• This is critical in aerospace and space technology. Rapid cycles of design, testing,
  failure and iteration are essential for learning and improvement.
• Encouraging diverse thinking further accelerates this innovation cycle.

Professor Marek Kowalkiewicz

• My approach to innovation revolves around one fundamental question: “Why?”
• By repeatedly asking “why,” we uncover root causes and refine our understanding of
  problems and solutions.
• In my team, our role is to answer questions. But through the process, we often realise
  the original question was not the one we truly needed to solve. The iterative process of
  asking ‘why’ leads us to deeper insights and more effective solutions.
• While this approach might sound unsophisticated, it’s incredibly effective.

Prof John Fraser

• To engage government effectively, keep communication concise - using simple dot points and one-page documents to ensure the message highlights tangible benefits.
• Government decision-making is often hindered by short-term corporate memory, typically
  spanning only three to four years.
• For every dollar invested in medical research, the return to the community is around $25,
  making it one of the most impactful areas for public funding.
• Investments like vaccines have had transformative global effects, demonstrating the importance of funding this area.

When will artificial intelligence have gut feel or instinct to it?

Professor Marek Kowalkiewicz

• This question is difficult to answer given that we don’t fully understand gut feelings or instincts in humans.
• Current AI systems operate on probabilities, which can be seen as a form of ‘gut feeling’
  - in some ways, this mimics human instincts, but this comparison is limited by our lack of
  understanding our own instincts.
• Ultimately, most systems today are incapable of meaningful or harmful actions. Their limitations are significant, and they rely on human oversight and clear instructions. They lack true instinct or situational awareness. For example, a robotic vacuum cleaner doesn’t know what’s happening in the next room – or might even spread a mess rather than clean it.