The Australian Research Council (ARC) Industrial Transformation Training Centre in Optimisation Technologies, Integrated Methodologies, and Applications (OPTIMA), has received Australian Government funding of $4.86 million through the Australian Research Council Industrial Transformation Research Program. The University of Melbourne, Monash University, and an inaugural group of ten industry partners have invested a further $3 million and made significant in-kind contributions. OPTIMA has 18 chief investigators across the University of Melbourne and Monash University, and a further 13 partner investigators across our industry organisations and three international partner universities.

OPTIMA works with industry to conduct world-class research and provides training for research students working in industrial optimisation. OPTIMA addresses industry’s urgent need for decision-making tools to support global competitiveness: reducing lead times and financial and environmental costs while improving efficiency, quality, and agility. Despite strong expertise in academia, industry is yet to fully benefit from optimisation technology due to its high barrier to entry. Connecting industry partners with world-leading interdisciplinary researchers and talented students, OPTIMA will advance an industry-ready optimisation toolkit while training a new generation of industry practitioners and over 120 young researchers, vanguarding a highly skilled workforce of change agents for the transformation of priority sectors including advanced manufacturing, energy resources, and critical infrastructure.