A Mem­o­ran­dum of Under­stand­ing signed this week by Charles Dar­win Uni­ver­si­ty (CDU) and Desert Knowl­edge Aus­tralia (DKA) will gen­er­ate oppor­tu­ni­ties to work togeth­er on inno­va­tion projects that build a stronger desert and remote Aus­tralia.

CDU Vice-Chan­cel­lor Pro­fes­sor Simon Mad­docks said he was excit­ed by the cre­ation of a new work­ing rela­tion­ship with the poten­tial to impact the social and eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment of Australia’s desert and arid lands.

​“As a new-world uni­ver­si­ty, it is crit­i­cal that we explore oppor­tu­ni­ties to strength­en our engage­ment with entre­pre­neurs, inno­v­a­tive thinkers and strate­gic part­ners who share an expan­sive out­look on desert knowl­edge and research,” Pro­fes­sor Mad­docks said.

​“I am opti­mistic that we have put in place a frame­work for what will be a new moti­vat­ing stim­u­lus for build­ing good­will, devel­op­ing capac­i­ty and for explor­ing new fron­tiers in many fields, for exam­ple renew­able ener­gy and dig­i­tal inno­va­tion.”

Pro­fes­sor Mad­docks said that the ini­tial start­ing point for col­lab­o­ra­tion would focus on four themes: Cen­tral Aus­tralian Research Projects, Dig­i­tal Inno­va­tion, Desert Knowl­edge Precinct Projects and the Intyal­heme Cen­tre for Future Ener­gy.

DKA Chief Exec­u­tive Offi­cer Lau­ren Gan­ley said the MoU would con­nect peo­ple, knowl­edge and ideas, and pro­vide oppor­tu­ni­ties to inno­vate.

​“DKA and Charles Dar­win Uni­ver­si­ty share sim­i­lar val­ues and objec­tives, which have brought us togeth­er on a range of projects over the years,” Ms Gan­ley said. 

​“It’s great to be for­mal­is­ing our part­ner­ship and we look for­ward to work­ing more close­ly togeth­er to demon­strate the val­ue of desert and remote Aus­tralia.

​“This part­ner­ship will present us with new oppor­tu­ni­ties to devel­op, curate and share knowledge.”