Learn about all things drones with drone experts Aaron & Dean from UAVISUALS.com

Drones are definitely here to stay & with the ever-changing landscape of new technology learn how it can not only take amazing photos but how you can use it as a tool for business.

We hope to inform, educate and clarify any questions around drones the attendees may have. The session is aimed to be informative, fun, relaxed and hands-on.

You will have the opportunity to look, touch & play with some common aircrafts (no flying) that are out in the market right now.

The Workshop presenters come from 4+ years of drone services in Australia & Beyond including being the first operator to fly over Antartica.

Session topics:
1 – Intro to drones
2 – Which one to get?
3 – How to get the most out of your drone for personal or business use
4 – Intro to Photography, Video, Monitoring & Inspections
5 – Rules & Regs.
6 – Q&A & hands on with the drones

Presenters

Aaron Rajamoney, Director of Aerial Imaging, UAVISUALS
Dean Chisholm, Director, Birds Eye Media

Purchase separately or add to your conference+workshops registration.

** Save $ if registering for 2 half day workshops –> all available workshops are online here: http://2018conf.asc.asn.au/workshops/ **

** Minimum numbers apply for this workshop to go ahead so please share with friends & register early! **

Drone workshops on Facebook:

Morning session: https://www.facebook.com/events/2217117711894090/

Afternoon session: https://www.facebook.com/events/1970419193256193/

President’s update

By Dr Craig Cormick

 

Science Communication in China

So how do you do science communication in a country with over a billion people, where there are several different languages, varying rates of general literacy and huge technological and educational gaps between those who live in cities and those who live in remote rural areas?

Having been lucky enough to be invited to the inaugural World Conference on Science Literacy in Beijing, I can share a few insights.

Run across three days with 30 different themed sessions the Conference attracted over 1,000 delegates from 38 countries – including senior figures from the Royal Society in the UK, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and similar organisations from many countries (yes, including the ASC!).  There were some big outcomes, like a declaration on collaboration and exchanges to actively promote public scientific literacy as one of the United Nations’ sustainable development issues.

And there were many, many smaller moments that may prove more achievable – such as swapping business cards, sci-comms war stories and best-practice ideas with people from so many different countries.

Having the title President of the ASC on my business card clearly carried a lot more weight than it does down at my local shops, as I not only found myself sitting in the comfy lounge chairs of the front two rows, but was stood up in a group photo with key international dignitaries and First-ranked Secretary of the Central Secretariat of the Communist Party of China, Wang Huning (yeah, I’m the one with the borrowed tie wearing black sneakers)

So what were the key learnings – beyond the standard government-approved media coverage of the success of the Conference?

Well first of all – China really, really knows how to do things on scale, and how to give government backing on scale to get an outcome. Their National Science Day is said to reach 1.3 billion participants. Not bad for a country of 1.42 billion.

Several of the international speakers gave really good talks on topics of interest to the West – but of much less relevance for China. For instance, the role of social media in a country that blocks access to Google, YouTube, Amazon, WhatsApp, Facebook etc. Or the role of the mainstream media and the challenges of meeting the media’s needs in a country with State-controlled media that does not lean to either sensationalism nor to investigative reporting.

China still has a generational gap like many countries with divides between Old School and New School – several elder Chinese speakers talked about the cause of science illiteracy being due to a lazy mindset and a reluctance to ready text books. But most younger Chinese speakers are more in line with contemporary thinking and discussed how to best align messages with audience interests and how to use multiple channels.

There was recognition given that succeed in raising science literacy (and yes, there were questions as to what exactly that meant), you needed four key things:

Political will

Government support

Public-centric view

Research into practice

And let’s be honest, it’s a rare year when in Australia when we can honestly claim to be ticking all four of those really well.

Of interest, a couple of things really stood out in a rather stark way too:

For instance, having a senior speaker from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) talk on the important work they do in protection patents seemed just a little bit out of place in China.

Also, First-ranked Secretary etc, Wang Huning, in opening the Conference, described one of the biggest negative impacts of technology being “disorder of morals”.  Pretty sure you won’t find that listed in most academic journals looking at the down-sides of new technologies in Western Countries.

It is no secret that China is pushing for science supremacy in several areas and has a goal of achieving a Nobel prize in science (any field will do). The fact that nearly all of the overseas delegates had their conference travel and accommodation costs met – which alone must have been more than most organisations in Australia have to spend on science communication in a year – demonstrated the effort China is putting into being a pre-eminent player in the sci-comms field too.

They may have a few hurdles to jump, including some old school mindsets, but over the course of the three-day conference clear changes in the way things were being discussed were evident.

And with the resources and the scale that China is willing to put behind initiatives that they prioritise, I expect we will see a lot more of China in the sci-comms space in the years ahead.

 

– – –

 

 

By Dr Astha Singh

Australia’s largest festival for startups, innovators and entrepreneurs kicks-off this month from 19^th Oct – 4^th Nov. Spark Festival 2018 has brought along a line-up of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) inspired events with a flair for business and entrepreneurship.

Along with learning about communicating STEM concepts to the wider society, learning about entrepreneurship in STEM is also vital. It will better prepare the next generation of the STEM workforce with a stable channel for discovery, innovation and enterprising talent. It will also continue to impact society and to inspire the younger generation to pursue STEM disciplines. We want to help them pursue the 21st century STEM careers and not just the jobs. These prospects that are already thriving successfully may include intellectual property protection, technology commercialisation, technology transfer, data science, cyber security, synthetic biology, biotech, ag-tech or simply being entrepreneurs to commercialize their ideas with building products or technical services.

Whether you are getting started in a science related career or have a strong inkling to work on an idea. Are you an innovator, student or executive? Or do you just have flair to learn? With more than 140 events (mostly free) this festival is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to connect and find your place in the world of entrepreneurship. The selection of events across NSW in STEM will set the platform up for learning, networking, professional development and discussions.

Below is a list of STEM inspired events during the 16 days of #SparkFest 2018

1. Create innovative apps to help regional NSW flourish
   27-28 October 2018, all day event, University of Technology Sydney
2. Innovation and Commercialisation of Sustainable Technology
   24 October 2018, 7pm-8pm, Stanton Library, North Sydney
3. Nandin at ANSTO
   26 October 2018, 9.30am-12.30pm, ANSTO, Lucas Heights
4. Robotics WorkShop
   20 and 27 October 2018, 1.30pm-3.30pm, Manly
5. Spin on Spin outs
   29 Oct 2018, 2pm-5pm, Sydney Startup Hub
6. Tales from the Hardware startup World
   25 October 2018, 5.30pm-8pm, CSIRO Lindfield
7. The Future of Energy
   22 October 2018, 6pm-8pm, University of Sydney
8. The role of Women Entrepreneurs in tackling Climate Change
   30 Oct October, 5.30pm-8pm, Energy Lab Chippendale
9. Transport for NSW: Co-Developing New Technology
   23 October 2018, 10am-11.30am, Sydney Startup Hub
10. Women In STEAM
    1 November, 12.30pm-4pm, Sydney Startup Hub
11. How to build physical products
    25 October, 6:30pm — 9:00pm, University of Technology Sydney
12. IP housekeeping before you scale in Ag-Tech
    25 October 2018, 7:30 am – 9:00 am, Norton Rose Fulbright Australia
13. Sydney Climathon
    26 October — 27 October, 5:30pm — 8:00pm, Energylab Chippendale
14. Turning Trash Into Cash: Innovation in up-cycling
    26 October, 10:00am — 3:00pm, Funhouse Studio
15. 3D Printing for Humanitarian Needs
    27 October, 2:00pm — 4:00pm, The Learning Space, Rhodes
16. CannaTech Sydney
    28 October — 30 October, 10:00am — 4:00pm, Doltone House, Sydney
17. The Save On Meats case study
    29 October, 8:30am — 11:00am, Sydney Startup Hub
18. Driving the Red Meat Industry to Carbon Neutrality
    1 November, 5:30pm — 7:30pm, Cicada Innovations
19. Minimum Viable Security | practical tips
    2 November, 12:30pm — 2:30pm, Sydney Startup Hub
20. Design Thinking & Coding for Kids
    27 October, 10:30am — 4:00pm, Blacktown

You can follow #SparkFest on Twitter and Facebook on @SparkFestivalAu and LinkedIn on @spark-festival. For more information and to register for events please log on to www.sparkfestival.co