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Ambassador’s Farewell Dinner, September 2020, Frankfurt

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On Tuesday, 15 September 2020, the German Australian Business Council hosted our first in-person event since the lockdown in honour of Ambassador H.E. Lynette Wood who will be returning to Australia later this year.

In splendid weather conditions, the outdoor networking reception with lively conversation set the stage for a wonderful evening at MainNizza in Frankfurt. Dinner started officially with a welcome by Business Council Chair, Dr Sabine Pittrof, introducing the evening’s “Future-Focused” theme.

Ender Tanar, ANZ Germany Managing Director, and Evangelos Kotsopoulos, Sonic Healthcare CEO Germany, then shared their views on German-Australian relations. While Mr. Tanar focused on the digitalization brought by the pandemic, Mr. Kotsopoulus focused on the work in the testing labs, thanking his employees who have been working 24/7 continuously for the past few months.

Engrossing discussions at the tables over the main course were followed by the Ambassador’s keynote address. H. E. Lynette Wood looked back on four years of successful partnership to then give a positive outlook into the future, reflecting on the shared values between Australia and Germany.

Dr. Toralf Haag, VOITH CEO and Chairman of the Corporate Board of Management rounded off the evening by sharing his and VOITH’s view on future developments and reporting on VOITH’s role in achieving Australia’s renewables target.

The evening concluded with a vote of thanks by Dr Pittrof and an official farewell to the Ambassador by the board of the Business Council.

The German Australian Business Council would like to warmly thank our sponsors Sonic Healthcare, ANZ and VOITH as well as our members and friends for their support, without which the event would have not been such a success.

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AHK Webinar: COVID-19- Effects on travel to and from Australia, 13th of October 2020

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German Australian Business Council Members are invited to take part in a webinar organised by the AHK in Sydney.

COVID-19: Effects on travel to and from Australia

13th of October, 2020

9am (German Time)

The webinar is in German.

For more information and registration: https://australien.ahk.de/veranstaltungen/event-details/covid-19-auswirkungen-auf-die-ein-und-ausreise-nach-von-australien

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AHK Webinar: Recycling and Waste Management in Australia, 6th of October 2020

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German Australian Business Council Members are invited to take part in a webinar organised by the AHK in Sydney.

Recycling and Waste Management in Australia

6th of October, 2020

8am (German Time)

The webinar is in English.

For more information and registration: https://australien.ahk.de/en/events/event-details/webinar-series-industry-focus-recycling-waste-management

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Future-Focused: how 3D avatars are helping to (re)shape the New Normal & Digital Economy- a virtual tour with Dr Tania Peitzker and her AI bot hologram, September 2020, Online

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On Tuesday September, 29 2020, we had the pleasure of hosting an online event with our member Dr. Tania Peitzker and her AI Bot hologram “Birgit am Bodensee / Kylie from Sydney” who were attending live from Lindau.

Tania gave us exceptional insights into the world of artificial intelligence, specifically bots and holograms and their different application areas ranging from governments and public services to retailers, manufacturers, city wayfinding, touchless banking and vending services.

Tania touched on the technology and guiding principles behind the holograms’ development and learning. She also highlighted the importance of engaging the community and educating users on how best to interact with the holograms.

Tania predicts that voice-driven and touchless interfaces will become the norm in our new digital economies and cities of the future as we will see more of these cognitive interfaces and avatars being ever-present in our daily lives.

As a special feature on the lively Q&A session, participants also got a chance to see Birgit and Kylie interacting live with Tania.

For those who missed the session, the full video recording can be accessed here and a link to Tania’s presentation is available here.

For those interested in interacting with her (2D) bots live, please visit her website.

Thank you to all participants for joining us!

 

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AusCham’s Farewell Apéro for Australian Ambassador, Zurich, 23rd of September 2020

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The Australian Swiss Chamber of Commerce is pleased to invite German Australian Business Council Members and Friends to a farewell reception for Australian Ambassador to Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, Lynette Wood, in Zurich on Wednesday, the 23rd of September, 2020.

For more information and bookings: click HERE

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Battery Value Chain Webinar, September 2020

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On 3 September 2020, we were pleased to present an online event with the Government of Western Australia European Office and the Australian Future Battery Industries Cooperative Research Centre (FBICRC) on the battery value chain from Australia to Germany.

Elisabeth Opie, Deputy Board Chair, German Australian Business Council welcomed all participants and Mike Deeks, Western Australian Agent General UK, Europe and Israel set the context with an overview of the Western Australian critical raw minerals ecosystem and the government’s strategy and support for businesses looking to invest and trade with Western Australia. This was followed by four leading Australian and European speakers across research and industry providing different perspectives across the battery value chain.

Dr Jacques Eksteen, FBICRC Chief Operating Officer and Research Director kicked off with an overview of Western Australia’s battery minerals industry which has been rapidly transitioning from an exporter of mineral concentrates to a producer of battery chemicals such as lithium hydroxide and nickel sulphate. The FBICRC has also been establishing research relationships with German research institutes such as the Fraunhofer and Helmholtz.

Dr Jeffrey Wilson, Perth USAsia Centre Research Director then spoke about the governance of the extremely complex battery value chain, which is insecure and faces major challenges for social and environmental sustainability. Australia is well placed as a secure and sustainable battery partner though it needs to move along the value chain towards mid-stream activities and build greater resilience by focusing on processing technologies and connecting with broader energy transition plans and international partners.

Our first industry speaker, Samantha McGahan, Australian Vanadium (AVL)/VSUN Energy Business Development Manager shared about AVL’s Gabanintha project, which has been awarded Major Project Status by the Australian Federal Government and Lead Agency Status by the Western Australian State Government and its proven capability to produce high-purity V2O5 for vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFB) and production of electrolytes. Its dedicated subsidiary VSUN Energy was set up in 2016 to grow the VRFB market in Australia.

Benoit Lemaignan, Verkor Co-Founder and CEO then introduced Verkor’s first Gigafactory, supported by EIT InnoEnergy, Schneider Electric, and GROUPE IDEC, which is scheduled to begin in 2023 with a capacity of 16GWh of battery cells and set to increase to 50GWh.

Thank you to all partners, speakers and participants for joining us.

For those who missed the session, the full video recording can be accessed Here

Recording access code: P6CVB=$q

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Australian Embassy and Australian Mission to EU event: Toward a Global Hydrogen Market Webinar, 14th of September, 2020

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The Australian Embassy Berlin together with the Australian Mission to the EU are pleased to extend an invitation to Business Council Members and Friends to the following event:

 

Toward a Global Hydrogen Market

14th of September, 2020 at 9:30 am CEST/ 5.30pm AEST

Webinar

 The panel of experts will discuss hydrogen’s role in the global energy transition, and opportunities for growth and energy cooperation between Australia, Germany and the EU.

The panelist discussion will be followed by an audience Q&A.
The expert panel includes:
– Dr Alan Finkel, Australia’s Chief Scientist
– Prof Dr Veronika Grimm, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
– EU speaker to be confirmed
The webinar will be moderated by Frédéric Simon, News Editor, Euractiv; with an introduction from HE Lynette Wood, Australian Ambassador to Germany.

Bookings can be made via the following link  https://bit.ly/34weGzW

 

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AHK Webinar: Industry Focus: Energy Efficiency, 18th of August 2020

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German Australian Business Council Members are invited to take part in a webinar organised by the AHK in Sydney.

Industry Focus: Energy Efficiency

18th of August, 2020

8am (German Time)

For more information and registration: https://australien.ahk.de/en/events/event-details/webinar-series-industry-focus-energy-efficiency-1

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KAS and Uni of Melbourne Law School: Reforming Tax Sharing in the Federation, Online, 11th of August, 2020

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GABC Members and Friends are invited to a webinar presented by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and the University of Melbourne Law School on the topic of “Reforming Tax Sharing in the Federation”

Guest Speaker will be Prof. Dr. Rudolph Mellinghoff, President of the Federal Supreme Finance Court of Germany since 1 November 2011. Prior to this appointment, Prof. Mellinghoff was a Judge of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany between 2001 and 2011.

The webinar will take place on Tuesday, the 11th of August between 9am and 10.30am CEST (5pm and 6.30pm AEST). Registrations and further information can be found HERE

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Australia- UK Chamber of Commerce Leaders in Conversation Event with Ita Buttrose, Online, 22nd of July 2020

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German Australian Business Council Members are invited to attend the Leaders in Conversation Online event featuring Ita Buttrose AC OBE on the 22nd of July. This event is being held by the Australia- United Kingdom Chamber of Commerce, a member of the ABIE Network.

To register, please click  HERE