A new not-for-profit institute will aim to catalyse space-based and space-enabled technologies for widespread benefit across the community.

The Australasian Space Innovation Institute (ASII) was announced at the recent International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Sydney by Professor Andy Koronios, CEO and Managing Director of the SmartSat CRC.

With the SmartSat CRC due to finish its seven-year run in mid-2026, Koronios will become the inaugural CEO and Managing Director of the of the ASII in January 2026.

According to a media release, the ASII is intended to be a “trusted, neutral connector with a commercial approach, linking end users with industry and universities to accelerate the path from research to impact” that will “help grow sovereign capability while lifting productivity in sectors such as agriculture, resources, defence, disaster resilience and environmental stewardship”.

The ASII will “build on the principles of the SmartSat CRC by developing critical sovereign space capabilities and unlocking commercial innovation through space-for-earth applications”.

Some of the foci for that effort will be satellite communications, Earth observation technologies and AI-enabled autonomous satellite systems. Examples include:

• An Australian Agriculture National Digital Twin, which would be an AI-enabled virtual model of Australia’s agricultural landscape that integrates satellite- and drone-derived sensing and climate data to boost research, decision-making and scenario modelling across the agricultural sector.
• Regional Space-Based Surveillance, in the form of The Takahē Project, which seeks to advance sovereign maritime domain awareness and reduce reliance on foreign systems via a formation-flying SAR satellite system. It will be used for responding to illegal fishing, natural disasters and grey zone threats in the Indo-Pacific.
• A Digital Infrastructure for Disaster Management program that will establish a globally connected digital infrastructure using satellites, AI and advanced communications technologies to strengthen emergency management and disaster resilience through real-time monitoring, predictive early warning, coordinated response, and informed recovery planning.
• Space-Enabled Digital Innovation for Regional and Remote Community Resilience, a flagship program that will integrate advanced satellite communications, Earth observation, GNSS and IoT systems into practical solutions that support community priorities.

Speaking to media at the IAC, Koronios said that while mission of the SmartSat CRC has been to develop specific space technologies according to its original remit, “The mission now is not so much about delivering individual technologies but delivering systems and applications.”

With SmartSat CRC’s seven-year life coming to an end in the middle of next year, Koronios says there is a need to “build a new organisation that wasn’t time-bound, that was enduring”.

Whereas SmartSat CRC has been a “membership organisation,” the ASII will be “open to everyone; everyone can participate, and we will then get the best capability available to solve the problems that we need to solve”.

Koronios says the ASII will have a blended funding model and will be seeking support from government and government departments, especially those with relevance to the applications the ASII will build.

“But as a not-for-profit… we will be bringing the ecosystem together to go for large projects like the Australian Agriculture National Digital Twin… [which] will be funded by the end users,” he said.