French conglomerate invests in Australian R&D centre 21 October 2010 The French manufacturing and IT conglomerate, Thales, will construct a new Research & Development Centre in Australia which looks at Air Traffic Management (ATM). The new facility will pioneer solutions and explore new technologies that will directly contribute to making air travel safer, more efficient and greener, while delivering a number of other benefits to local and international air navigation service providers. The Centre for Advanced Studies in Air Traffic Management (CASIA) will be located within Thales Australia’s existing premises at Melbourne’s World Trade Centre, and will begin operations in early 2011. Thales Australia’s CEO, Chris Jenkins, said that CASIA represented the next chapter of ATM in Australia. “CASIA is the result of long term investment in our ATM business, which has grown from just a few employees 15 years ago to a global centre of excellence employing 400 people in highly skilled jobs.” Excellent location Nicola Watkinson, Austrade’s Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner for Western Europe, said this new investment by a leading French company is a further indication that Australia is considered an excellent location for top level R&D. “The Australian government has made a strong commitment to innovation,” she said. “And there is no question that Australia offers international businesses a first class research capability, with skilled workers and the necessary infrastructure.” She added that a number of other world class R&D labs have just been announced or opened in Australia by leading international companies, including IBM and SAP Research. World Leader Thales has operations in fifty countries and 68,000 employees around the world, including 22,500 engineers and researchers. The company is considered a world leader in mission-critical information systems for defence and security, aerospace and transportation. In Australia, Thales works with the Australian Defence Force and is also present in commercial sectors ranging from air traffic management to security systems and services. In 2009, Thales generated revenues of €12.9 billion (the equivalent of A$22.7 billion), while Thales Australia recorded revenues of more than A$1 billion. More information |