The recent State Energy Minister meeting in Perth focused attention on the power generation sector as will Power Generation World 2004, which is a key platform and showcase for equipment manufacturers and service providers to the industry.

The Australian Marine Complex at Jervoise Bay, 25 km south of Perth, is set to become the largest marine engineering and fabrication complex in Australia following the investment of some $200 million by the state and federal governments.

For the automation sector, the signs are looking good, six months ahead of the first Automatica International Trade Fair for Robotics + Automation to be held at the New Munich Trade Fair Centre — from Tuesday 15 to Friday 18 June 2004.

A team of mechanical engineering students from the University of Newcastle has been awarded a 'highly commended' third place at the Australasian 'Warman Student Design and Build Competition' held at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.

A leading search service for out-of-print, collectable and hard-to-find books has announced the launch of a service tailored to the engineering industry.

Beeline Technologies is the first company to commercialise hands-free steering for tractors and the third generation of this technological revolution, the Beeline Steering Assist Controller, was recently honoured with the prestigious AE50 Award from the American Society of Agricultural Engineers.

Australian companies, institutions and individuals are being invited to express their interest in collaborating with their counterparts across the globe in developing manufacturing processes for the revolutionary 21st century field of nanotechnology.

Forklift technology developer and manufacturer Crown Equipment finished in a high position in this year's prestigious ranking (2002-2003) made by a German awards body, thereby highlighting the amount of design intensity put behind developing these industrial vehicles.

Citect has announced the award of an AU$4 million contract for three major gas projects with Hong Kong-listed company, China Gas Holdings Limited.

Sydney-based Armacel Technology Group has won the 2003 Innovator of Year Award at the North American Association of Independent Corrugated Converters meeting in San Francisco.

SYDNEY, New South Wales, Australia - 12th January 2004 - the continuing climb of the Australian dollar and the subsequent positive impact on the US-Australian exchange rate, has enabled National Instruments Oceania to reduce prices on all product lines by 10-15% in Australia and New Zealand.

Sun Microsystems has scored a deal with a Chinese technology consortium to distribute its Java Desktop System to citizens of China, according to the company.

ATS International BV, an implementation partner for VisualPlant in Europe, has announced that Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America (TMMNA) has licensed VisualPlant Manufacturing Intelligence Software, from EMT, for its largest North American production facility in Georgetown, Kentucky.

A raft of exciting new technologies in the field of Bulk Materials Handling will be exhibited at Bulkex 2004, being held from March 2-4, at the Darling Harbour Convention Centre in Sydney.

Citect and Mitsubishi Electric have joined forces to deliver a powerful new suite of tightly integrated control software, which lowers customers' costs and makes deployment quick and easy.