One of Australia’s pioneering AI and machine learning companies, Melbourne-based Silverpond, is moving a team into Cohort to take advantage of Queensland opportunities for AI particularly in the utility industries, and the emerging health-AI ecosystem on offer in the Precinct.
Having a long-standing relationship with fellow industry innovators Datarwe, a data-driven technology company based out of a data-lab in Cohort, Silverpond will look to steady expansion through easy access to existing and new clients and a pool of local talent.
When Silverpond established 13 years ago, the AI world looked a whole lot smaller – the company evolved from software development and realised they’d need artificial intelligence and machine learning (ML) to make sense of an increasingly digitised physical world.
Being early adopters of AI and ML made them a big fish in a small Australian pond, and they understood that a platform on which to build applications for clients would make projects easier, so they came up with their own – HighLighter was built to intelligently enable ‘detection workflows’ through applying deep learning (advanced machine learning) to manage detections of interest from incoming sensor data.
It is now a subscription cloud or self-hosted service to enable technology and operations teams to gain more insight from their data, while Silverpond’s data scientists and software engineers work with energy utilities and other large asset managers such as mines, as well as the health and medical sector, to develop enterprise-level solutions.
Silverpond CEO Jonathan Chang explains that HighLighter detects, measures, predicts and automates.
“We’re working with utilities such as Powercor and Energy Queensland to help improve the inspection of the pole and wire assets, helping to reduce the risks that contribute to dangers such as bushfires. The AI works with human inspectors to help identify where field teams first need to pay attention.” Jonathan explains.
“Similarly, this approach of improving the way we work through AI, has been used to improve the detection of illegal poaching on wildlife reserves, and we’re now working with the Australian Institute for Marine Science to survey fish populations in our tropical waters.
From the macro (i.e. satellite image) to a micro image in a lab, whether it be using still or video imagery, radiology, 2D and 3D scans or heatmaps, we can apply the same approaches.”
With an existing Queensland energy client to service, consolidating staff into the Precinct makes good business sense, and for a company that has invested heavily in driving skills and growth in the AI/ML ecosystem, it’s a logical step to grow within our emerging AI in healthcare hub.
“We’ve partnered with Kelvin Ross, Chief Technology Officer for Datarwe over a number of years on programs like Women in AI,” says Jonathan.
“We’re still an emerging community within the broader IT industry and there is a lot of room for education of businesses and the general community about the opportunities and ethics of AI and ML, and a growing demand to skill up the next-generation of specialised professionals.”
Silverpond, a founding member of Responsible AI Australia, regularly runs events and workshops to build the AI/ML ecosystem, advocates to government on policy and industry capability, hosts a small co-working space in Melbourne; and undertakes an annual survey and analysis on the state of the growing sector.
“We’re going to fit right into the collaborative environment at Cohort and within the Precinct, and are looking forward to being involved in events, mentoring, potential research partnerships and also taking on local interns, as well as broader engagement with the Queensland AI Hub.”