Australia’s first dedicated facility for photonic integrated circuit packaging has opened in Pullenvale, giving researchers and technology companies access to specialised packaging and testing capabilities in Queensland.
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The Queensland Advanced Photonics Packaging Centre, known as Q-APP, is located at CSIRO’s Queensland Centre for Advanced Technologies in Pullenvale. The $6 million facility has been established to help prepare tiny photonic chips for real-world technologies and support their development towards practical and commercial applications.
It is a highly specialised process. Photonic chips use light to process data at high speeds and can be more energy-efficient than standard silicon chips, according to CSIRO. At Q-APP, the intricate components that make up photonic chips can be connected and tested using specialised equipment in controlled environments.
So what does that mean beyond the laboratory? The technology is being explored for applications across a range of fields. Fibre optic communications, healthcare, quantum computing, mining, fire detection and construction are among the areas identified by CSIRO as potential applications for technologies using these next-generation microchips.
Packaging is an important stage in turning a chip into something that can be incorporated into a working technology. Before Q-APP opened, photonic chip components had to be sent overseas for packaging, according to CSIRO.
The new Pullenvale facility provides that capability locally, allowing Australian researchers and companies to access specialist equipment and expertise for packaging and testing without sending those components offshore for this stage of development.
CSIRO Research Group Leader Karsten Hoehn said Q-APP would help accelerate the real-world use of photonics technologies.
“Q-APP helps bridge the gap between an idea and reality,” Mr Hoehn said, describing the centre as providing Australian researchers and companies with the expertise and equipment needed to build and test photonic chips locally. He said the facility could also help progress work in areas including faster communications, advanced manufacturing and future quantum systems.
The centre is expected to play a role in Queensland’s developing quantum and advanced technology sectors as researchers and industry work to take emerging technologies through development and towards commercialisation.
Queensland Chief Scientist Dr Kerrie Wilson said the facility would support the state’s ambition to grow those sectors and develop the workforce needed to support them. She also highlighted the importance of supporting infrastructure and opportunities to build a quantum-ready workforce as the field develops.
Q-APP is primarily funded through Queensland’s Quantum and Advanced Technologies Commercialisation Infrastructure Program. The program supports start-ups and industry working on the development and commercialisation of prototype devices.
For Pullenvale, the opening brings a specialised photonics research capability into Brisbane’s western suburbs. For researchers and companies working in the field, it also removes an overseas step from the packaging process.
The facility is now positioned to help researchers and industry undertake photonic chip packaging and testing locally, supporting the development of technologies from research towards practical applications.
The official opening was attended by Dr Christian Rowan, the Member for Moggill, alongside Dr Kerrie Wilson and CSIRO Executive Director of Environment, Energy and Resources Dr Peter Mayfield.
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Dr Rowan said the facility represented an investment in Queensland research and innovation and highlighted its role in helping promising prototypes move towards products ready for industry.
For a suburb better known for its bushland setting than advanced microchip technology, Pullenvale now has a role in an emerging field that could influence communications, sensing, computing, and other technologies.
Published 3-September-2026
