Photo credit: NVIDIA

Australia Steps into the AI Era

Australia is charging full speed into the AI era — and NVIDIA AI Day Sydney proved just how ready the nation is.

Over 1,000 attendees packed into the Sydney event last week to explore the future of sovereign AI, agentic intelligence, robotics, and AI factories — technologies now shaping the next frontier of innovation.

“It was a privilege to join NVIDIA AI Day Sydney and hear how the next generation of compute is driving AI,” said Brendan Hopper, Chief Information Officer for Technology at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. “It’s phenomenal to have NVIDIA helping build out Australia’s AI ecosystem through infrastructure, partnerships and innovation.”

AI Powering Australia’s Digital Transformation

From finance and retail to public service, AI’s impact in Australia is accelerating fast. The event spotlighted how quantum and high-performance computing are enhancing the speed and precision of scientific discovery.

“AI Day Sydney highlighted how quantum and high-performance computing, empowered by AI, are redefining the pace and precision of scientific discovery,” said Giuseppe M. J. Barca, cofounder and head of research at QDX Technologies, and a professor at Monash University and the Australian National University.

Australia’s AI ecosystem continues to expand rapidly, with:

600+ NVIDIA Inception startups based locally
3 quantum computing companies collaborating with NVIDIA
20+ universities using NVIDIA technologies for advanced research

Cloud partners such as Firmus Technologies, ResetData, and SHARON AI were also among those present at the event.

“NVIDIA AI Day Sydney proved that Australia is ready to step into its place as a global hub for AI infrastructure and innovation,” said Tim Rosenfield, co-CEO and cofounder of Firmus Technologies. “Australia’s time has come to go large in the AI era — and AI Day Sydney told that story in a way that I’ve never seen before.”

Bass Salah, co-CEO of ResetData, called it “a fantastic showcase for Australian AI talent and a welcomed opportunity to develop and grow the Australian ecosystem.”

“The energy, ideation and talent at NVIDIA AI Day Sydney were all remarkable,” added Andrew Leece, COO of SHARON AI. “SHARON AI is thrilled to be at the center of such an opportunity for Australian startups and innovators.”

Startups and Investors Connect

A major highlight of the event was NVIDIA’s first-ever “Australia Startup, VC and Partner Connect,” designed to bridge startups, venture capitalists, and government leaders.

Venture firms such as Airtree and Breakthrough Victoria joined the discussion to explore national AI strategies and future collaborations.

“NVIDIA AI Day Sydney was by far the best-to-date technology event that XENON has attended in Australia,” said Dragan Dimitrovici, founder and CEO of XENON Systems. “It brought together key NVIDIA executives, industry leaders like Canva and Commonwealth Bank of Australia, ecosystem partners, the public sector and finance organizations to talk about how AI can help make Australia into an AI nation with the advent of AI factories.”

Canva and NVIDIA Team Up

Australia’s design powerhouse Canva also took the stage, showing how it’s working with NVIDIA to develop generative and agentic AI for millions of users worldwide.

“Canva is on a mission to empower everyone in the world to design anything and publish anywhere,” said Paul Thompson, Senior Director of Engineering for Generative AI at Canva. “We make extensive use of NVIDIA technologies to train, fine-tune and serve AI features to millions of users.”

The Takeaway

As NVIDIA AI Day Sydney wrapped up, one message rang clear — Australia isn’t just joining the global AI movement. It’s helping lead it.