10:00 AM - 10:15 AM
[MGI27-09] Research and development in an era of Open Science and competing commercialisation opportunities
Keywords:cloud infrastructures, scalability, carbon capture and storage, hydrogen generation, lithology classification, exploratory data analysis
AuScope is Australia’s premier research infrastructure provider to the national geoscience community, with a foundational commitment to the Open Science paradigm. It is focused on addressing fundamental geoscience questions and grand challenges of tomorrow for the nation. The organisation is funded by the Australian Government via the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS).
The AuScope Virtual Research Environment (AVRE) program is an integral part of AuScope and provides a technological platform for data and analytics. It encourages research through outreach programs, such as the AVRE Build Program, which aims to help research teams create industry-ready solutions while balancing Open Science principles, intellectual property protection, and commercialisation potential.
Australia has been focusing on critical minerals exploration, hydrogen production, and carbon capture and storage in the context of the global transition towards clean energy. To tackle these challenges, we collaborated with CSIRO’s Energy business unit, Hydrogen Energy Systems Future Science Platform, and the Geological Survey of Western Australia to develop an innovative AI/ML-driven technique for lithology classification using optical images and complementary log data. Geological surveys collect massive amounts of imagery data on drill cores and cuttings using the HyLogger spectral scanner, a highly automated technology designed by CSIRO to determine drill core mineralogy through rapid reflectance spectroscopy. These data are stored in the publicly accessible AuScope National Virtual Core Library (NVCL).
The data on drill cuttings in NVCL, which holds valuable information on subsurface geology, critical minerals, and geomechanics, is an underutilised resource. Lithology classification at scale enables the mapping of critical minerals, improves basin characterisation for CO2 storage, optimises location selection for hydrogen storage and generation, and informs operational decisions at mine sites. By unlocking this data, Australia can accelerate its journey towards a competitive net-zero economy by 2050.
As a publicly funded organisation, AuScope focuses on enabling and delivering public good for the nation. However, innovation, research, and development require a high level of agility, cutting-edge technology adoption, and clear pathways to timely adoption by the industry that prioritises delivering commercial benefits to its stakeholders. Therefore, the AVRE Build team had to balance these competing aims to enable the translation of science.
We developed an approach that hinges around three main principles: (a) leveraging the benefits of Open Science and FAIR principles through the use of free and open-source software and public data; (b) collaborating with diverse research teams, protecting their intellectual property (IP) while enabling expedited access to markets; and (c) making solutions attractive for early adopters through realisation of commercialisation potential.
To gain a competitive advantage, we adopted a rapid application development methodology with a high level of reusable components. The use of containerisation and cloud technologies allows the protection of a researcher’s intellectual property and facilitates the deployment and provisioning of computing resources. The system architecture enables a modular approach, where certain components are open and widely reusable, while others that hold the core IP, such as ML inference models and analytical algorithms, are made available for use without exposing their implementation details, leaving room for commercialisation opportunities.
Collaboration between AuScope, CSIRO, and the Geological Survey of Western Australia leverages emerging AI/ML techniques to enable efficient image interpretation at scale. Balancing the Open Science and FAIR principles and the use of cutting-edge cloud technologies, the approach has proven to lower the barrier and facilitate technology adoption by the industry, advancing Australia's position in the quest for a cleaner energy future.
The AuScope Virtual Research Environment (AVRE) program is an integral part of AuScope and provides a technological platform for data and analytics. It encourages research through outreach programs, such as the AVRE Build Program, which aims to help research teams create industry-ready solutions while balancing Open Science principles, intellectual property protection, and commercialisation potential.
Australia has been focusing on critical minerals exploration, hydrogen production, and carbon capture and storage in the context of the global transition towards clean energy. To tackle these challenges, we collaborated with CSIRO’s Energy business unit, Hydrogen Energy Systems Future Science Platform, and the Geological Survey of Western Australia to develop an innovative AI/ML-driven technique for lithology classification using optical images and complementary log data. Geological surveys collect massive amounts of imagery data on drill cores and cuttings using the HyLogger spectral scanner, a highly automated technology designed by CSIRO to determine drill core mineralogy through rapid reflectance spectroscopy. These data are stored in the publicly accessible AuScope National Virtual Core Library (NVCL).
The data on drill cuttings in NVCL, which holds valuable information on subsurface geology, critical minerals, and geomechanics, is an underutilised resource. Lithology classification at scale enables the mapping of critical minerals, improves basin characterisation for CO2 storage, optimises location selection for hydrogen storage and generation, and informs operational decisions at mine sites. By unlocking this data, Australia can accelerate its journey towards a competitive net-zero economy by 2050.
As a publicly funded organisation, AuScope focuses on enabling and delivering public good for the nation. However, innovation, research, and development require a high level of agility, cutting-edge technology adoption, and clear pathways to timely adoption by the industry that prioritises delivering commercial benefits to its stakeholders. Therefore, the AVRE Build team had to balance these competing aims to enable the translation of science.
We developed an approach that hinges around three main principles: (a) leveraging the benefits of Open Science and FAIR principles through the use of free and open-source software and public data; (b) collaborating with diverse research teams, protecting their intellectual property (IP) while enabling expedited access to markets; and (c) making solutions attractive for early adopters through realisation of commercialisation potential.
To gain a competitive advantage, we adopted a rapid application development methodology with a high level of reusable components. The use of containerisation and cloud technologies allows the protection of a researcher’s intellectual property and facilitates the deployment and provisioning of computing resources. The system architecture enables a modular approach, where certain components are open and widely reusable, while others that hold the core IP, such as ML inference models and analytical algorithms, are made available for use without exposing their implementation details, leaving room for commercialisation opportunities.
Collaboration between AuScope, CSIRO, and the Geological Survey of Western Australia leverages emerging AI/ML techniques to enable efficient image interpretation at scale. Balancing the Open Science and FAIR principles and the use of cutting-edge cloud technologies, the approach has proven to lower the barrier and facilitate technology adoption by the industry, advancing Australia's position in the quest for a cleaner energy future.