Siemens and RMIT establish Industrial Digital Innovation Hub

The hub includes a significant high-tech industrial software grant from Siemens, as well as support by the Federal Government to participate in an innovative trial of a new Industry 4.0 teaching model in higher education. With these grants, RMIT joins a national network of universities driving change to help prepare students for the future of work.

On Thursday, the Federal Minister for Education, Dan Tehan, announced the Government will provide a grant of $1.2m to enable RMIT to join a multi-university trial of an advanced apprenticeship-style Associate Degree in Digital Technologies (Industry 4.0). RMIT will join five other universities across Australia participating in the pilot, which will provide an opportunity for employees of local industry partners to gain skills in software applications, design and engineering methodologies, and practical problem-solving approaches in advanced manufacturing.

The announcement reinforces a MoU commitment between Siemens, RMIT and Festo announced in June this year, to explore major areas of co-operation to help drive workforce transformation for Industry 4.0 in the Australasian region, including the establishment of an Industrial Digital Innovation Hub at RMIT.

Siemens Australia Chairman and CEO, Jeff Connolly was excited by the possibilities of this announcement: “Australian industries can compete with the best in the world, so long as they have people coming through the entire tertiary education continuum with fit-for-purpose skills who are ready to tackle the needs of the future.

“Digitalisation has no borders and we have to learn how our economy can participate and thrive and be resilient in global economy. This requires new ways of thinking, new ways to collaborate and new skills across the entire spectrum of the workforce. Digitalisation technologies and skills are critical to Australia’s prosperity in this new world.”

According to Professor Aleksandar Subic, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of RMIT’s College of Science, Engineering & Health, and Vice-President for Digital Innovation: “We need to think big with Industry 4.0. An industrial revolution doesn’t discriminate – it impacts every sector and therefore requires a multi-disciplinary approach with a holistic view across the entire continuum of education and training from TAFE through to Higher Education. We expect as many as 10,000 RMIT students across a range of disciplines in engineering, science, technology, health and design to access some of the most advanced industrial software available over the next three years.

“For successful industry transformation at scale we need our students, staff and industry partners to work collaboratively on same global digital platforms based on globally accepted industry standards and processes. We are pleased that our bold strategy has strong support from industry that is receptive to change and a government that helps stimulate that change.”

The Industrial Digital Innovation Hub will be managed out of the RMIT Advanced Manufacturing Precinct. Samantha Murray, CEO of Siemens Software in the region, explained that the industrial software grant involves a comprehensive suite of software tools integrated within an Industry 4.0 IIoT platform.

“RMIT students will be well equipped for the future as they have access to our Industry 4.0 IIoT platform MindSphere, as well as Teamcenter, a product lifecycle management system that digitally connects people and processes across functional silos,” said Murray. “Further, they will also gain skills in our leading design and simulation software, NX. It’s also significant to highlight the inclusion of Mendix as part of this grant because it’s the first time we’ve included the Mendix platform in an Australian university grant. And Mendix is about accelerating business innovation.”