A new series of postage stamps celebrating Australian Innovation is being issued by Australia Post today.

The series recognises five of Australia's great innovations - 'Black Box' flight recorder, Ultrasound Imaging Equipment, Racecam TV Sport Coverage, the Baby Seat Capsule and Polymer Banknotes.

The CSIRO and IP Australia are two organisations that inspired Australia Post to produce the Australian Innovations stamps.

Polymer Banknotes and Ultrasound Imaging Equipment are CSIRO innovations that appear on two of the stamps.

"Postage stamps have a special place in our society, as do all of these innovations," says CSIRO Chief Executive, Dr Geoff Garrett. "CSIRO prides itself on making a great contribution to Australia and it is wonderful to see technologies we've worked on being celebrated in this way."

IP Australia helps to protect Australian innovation as the Federal Government agency that administers patents, trade-marks and designs. IP Australia is celebrating its centenary this year and is using the occasion of its 100th birthday to highlight the significant achievements made by Australian innovators over the last century.

"We see many Australian innovations with so much potential each year," says IP Australia's Director-General, Dr Ian Heath. "It is a wonderful idea to feature some of the most significant inventions of our time on stamps. This stamp issue will serve to remind people of the difference these inventions, and the innovators who have created them, have made to their lives."

The Polymer Banknote was developed by the CSIRO and Note Printing Australia, a subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of Australia. The banknote was designed to improve both the security and the durability of Australia's currency, replacing the notes made from rag-based paper. First released in 1988, the polymer notes have now completely replaced paper notes in Australia.  Polymer banknote technology is now in use in 23 countries worldwide. CSIRO, Note Printing Australia and Securency are expanding their collaboration in the high security documents area.

CSIRO also had a part to play in the development of Ultrasound Imaging Equipment, although a substantial part of the work was done by the Ultrasonics Institute (then part of the Commonwealth Health Department) before it was transferred to CSIRO in 1989.

Ultrasound technology was initially developed to produce images of unborn babies that could help to detect problems before birth without having to use potentially harmful X-rays. Widespread use of the technique became possible when George Kossoff and his team and their collaborators achieved a breakthrough, 'grey-scale imaging', which produced much higher quality images that could be readily interpreted by obstetricians and radiologists. This development was quickly adopted worldwide, leading to an explosion in the use of ultrasound imaging in virtually all areas of medicine.

Equipment designed by the Ultrasonics Institute was commercialised by an Australian company, Ausonics, in 1975 and sold worldwide. While this equipment was subsequently overtaken by real-time ultrasound, it remains a significant Australian achievement.

The Australian Government is committed to fostering innovation in Australia, which is demonstrated through the release on 6 May of the second phase of the Backing Australia's Ability policy to promote science and innovation.

More information:

Bill Stephens, CSIRO Media, 02 6276 6152, Mobile: 0408 817 066

Gary Kichenside, IP Australia, 02 6283 2042, Mobile: 0414 924 501