CANBERRA, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- Australia's peak scientific body has announced a 35 million Australian dollar (25.6 million U.S. dollars) investment in artificial intelligence (AI) and space technology.
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) will spend 19 million AUD (13.9 million U.S. dollars) on advancing AI-driven solutions for food security, sustainable energy and regional security.
The remaining 16 million AUD (11.7 million U.S. dollars) will go towards developing technologies for Earth observation and improving resource utilization in space.
It brings the total number of areas of science the CSIRO has invested in via its Future Science Platforms (FSPs) portfolio to 10.
The organization has committed 205 million AUD (150 million U.S. dollars) to the FSP program, which aims to reinvent old and create new industries, since it was launched in 2016.
Larry Marshall, chief executive of the CSIRO, said that the program was vital to establish Australia as a global player in multiple scientific fields into the future.
"Innovation needs deep collaboration, so our FSPs bring together this nation's world-class expertise across all fields of science, technology, engineering and maths to deliver real solutions to real world problems," he said in a media release on Monday.
"CSIRO is here to solve Australia's greatest challenges through innovative science and technology and to do that we have to invest in the big thinking and breakthrough research that will keep us ahead of the curve."
The CSIRO has previously released its Space Roadmap for Australia, which said the domestic space sector could be worth 12 billion AUD (8.78 billion U.S. dollars) by 2030.
