NQ SPARK conducts first experiment at interim facility

The much-anticipated North Queensland Simulation Park (NQ SPARK) has begun operating from an interim facility, staging its first experiment in conjunction with James Cook University.

Chair of NQ SPARK Lieutenant General John Caligari AO DSC (Retired) said it was an exciting time for the fledgling organisation.

“We’re very fortunate because the Townsville City Council has provided a facility to use at Condon as we get established and start planning for the construction of our permanent centre,” LTGEN Caligari said.

“We’re full steam ahead. The Board has met several times now. We’ll have a Program Executive in place by early next year and we’ve conducted our first experiment.”

He said NQ SPARK had also signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate and partner with Cubic Defence Australia.

“The MOU with Cubic is essential. As a new company, we have to get ourselves off the ground. To know that we’ve already got a business such as Cubic, with a proven track record in simulation and training, and working closely with Defence in particular, is fundamental,” LTGEN Caligari said.

Cubic’s Senior Director Strategic Development Mark Horn said the business was proud to be associated with NQ SPARK.

“Cubic is based in North Queensland. We’ve been here for some time, and we want to play our role in further growing the defence technical workforce in the region and in building credentials that are common to other industries, like health and research for the academic sector,” Mr Horn said.

“The North Queensland Simulation Park is going to be leading edge in terms of its technology delivery. It exploits a unique geographical location in North Queensland, where tropical science is inherent, where there are great military training areas and the front end of the Australian Defence Force is heavily concentrated,” Mr Horn said.

NQ SPARK Executive Director and James Cook University Professor Mick Reilly said Cubic supported the first simulation conducted at the interim facility, which involved a disaster response command and control scenario.

“We also had trained observers working here from Defence Science and Technology Group with JCU students,” Dr Reilly said.

“People wore heart rate monitors, they wore eye tracking glasses, just seeing how people operate in that space as a way to educate us to help teams get better dealing with crises here in the north.”

Dr Reilly said the simulation and training conducted at the interim facility would inform the design and construction of the permanent facility to be built on land adjoining Lavarack Barracks, James Cook University and the Townsville University Hospital.

“We have the chance here in this facility to undertake numerous experiments while exploring options for when we build SPARK so we know what works,” he said.

Asked about timing for construction of a permanent facility, representatives said it would take a couple of years.

“The land is owned in several packages and parcels. We need to work through that, then undertake surveying, roadworks and construction,” LTGEN Caligari said.

The federal government has committed $32.2 million towards NQ SPARK.

“We’ll have industry buildings, Cubic as our anchor tenant, and an advanced environmental facility that will allow us to undertake a range of training, education, research, and test and evaluation underpinned by high performance computers to help understand the data and to provide visualisations that support that,” Dr Reilly said.

In the meantime, through the interim SPARK, the team will be working to increase awareness about the value of simulation.

“We want to help organisations understand what simulation can bring to their business,” LTGEN Caligari said.

“Any business can benefit from operational test and evaluation to understand what they can do better.”

“It will be a game changer for North Queensland, particularly some of our younger students who gain a STEM education but find after a period that they need to leave the region to continue a career. If we get this ball rolling and activate industry in Townsville to understand what it can use simulation for, we can keep a lot more of our young people here.”