PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Diversified miner Rio Tinto will invest a further A$1.7-million in the Australia-Japan Innovation Fund (AJIF), to promote research and academic projects between Australia and Japan, and to further collaboration between industry, educational institutions and governments in the two nations.
The commitment was signed at the sixtieth Australia-Japan Annual Joint Business Conference, currently underway in Melbourne.
AJIF was until recently the Foundation for Australia-Japan Studies (FAJS) and was established in 2015 to promote industry-academia-government collaboration between Australia and Japan. Its mission is to elevate the profile of Australia-Japan collaboration in science, technology and innovation and support those transforming the bilateral relationship through these partnerships.
Rio has been the sole funder of the initiative since its establishment, and this latest commitment will bring its total pledges, since its initial support in 2018, to about A$5-million in operating costs and research grants.
With this latest funding, the AJIF will allocate grants to research areas with close links to business between Australia and Japan, such as green steel, renewable energy systems and automated infrastructure. The grants will also play a key role in supporting research between the two countries in science and technology areas relevant to the resources industry as a whole, helping generate the innovations the world needs to decarbonise.
“Science and technology are paramount in tackling today’s global challenges. We are pleased to make a second commitment to the AJIF to support research projects that can help tackle these challenges and build relationships between Australia and Japan,” Rio Tinto Australia CEO Kellie Parker said.