RavensNest, a defence innovation team ideas accelerator, opens 2023; QuantX Labs host at Lot Fourteen, Adelaide city
The RavensNext defence innovation ideas accelerator centre, within Adelaide city's Lot Fourteen precinct, opened in 2023 with South Australia’s fastest-growing deep-tech startup company QuantX Labs being joined by staff from the federal government's DST (Defence Science and Technology) Group and Adelaide University researchers.
The cutting-edge RavensNest centre, aiming to supercharge South Australia’s defence innovation ecosystem by allowing defence companies to work closely with defence and university researchers and the Australian Defence Force, was opened at Adelaide city’s Lot Fourteen precinct on North Terrace in 2023.
The RavensNest centre, on first floor of Lot Fourteen’s Space Lab building, was part of expanded premises for South Australia’s fastest-growing deep-tech startup company QuantX Labs. QuantX Labs was set up to develop a suite of quantum sensor and precision timing products to enhance communications, navigation, surveillance and defence systems, led by its flagship cryogenic sapphire oscillator, the Cryoclock.
QuantX’s premises were expanded so it could partner in RavensNext that was designed to ensure transformative technologies would be fast-tracked from research through to capability, answering the most urgent problems for defence. RavensNest would allow defence companies to work closely with defence researchers, university researchers and the Australian Defence Force in an environment delivering focus, scale and a can-do culture.
The RavensNest name was inspired by the way the intelligent and quick Australian ravens worked cooperatively. The centre at Lot Fourteen opened with staff from the federal government's DST (Defence Science and Technology) Group, Australia’s premier defence science arm; Adelaide University researchers and QuantX Labs, with other like-minded partners and collaborators able to join them.
RavensNest was aligned with the vision of the national Defence Strategic Review and the new Australian Strategic Capability Accelerator, where industry and government shared the risk associated with innovating new technologies. Over the longer term, all partners in RavensNest had a commitment to see the cutting-edge technologies developed within the centre find their way into civilian products for wider benefits.