UQ receives $500m software grant from Siemens

The University of Queensland has received a software grant from Siemens valued at $500 million to give local students and researchers access to industry-standard technology to help prepare them for a data-powered workforce.

Jeff Connolly, Annastacia Palaszczuk and Peter Høj. Credit: UQ

The big ticket industry partnership was announced in Brisbane on Monday by UQ vice-chancellor professor Peter Høj and Siemens Australia CEO Jeff Connolly, along with Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.

The grant will include licences for Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software platform, which can digitally track the full lifecycle of a product from inception through to disposal.

“With PLM software, a ‘product’ can be quite broadly defined, which means this software will benefit students across many disciplines,” Høj said.

“A civil engineering project team will be able to test city traffic flows and use artificial intelligence to adjust the model in response to new scenarios, while physiotherapy students could use design and simulation tools to develop rehabilitation programs to optimise patient recovery.”

Høj added that grant will help familiarise students with technology used across the automotive, aerospace, shipbuilding and electronics sectors.

UQ has previously collaborated with the German tech giant on medical imaging and health projects.

This is the latest university tie-up from Siemens following the launch of the MindSphere IoT centre and extension of PLM software grants at Swinburne University, and a $450 million grant to the University of South Australia.

The total value of the university grants in Australia from Siemens now reaches over $1 billion.