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Disruptive technologies are helping leading manufacturers to boost productivity, attract and engage new consumers, inspire new market strategies and drive substantial business growth. Here's our pick of disruptive technologies to watch:

Drones: Deutsche Post, the world's biggest courier company, is using a drone to deliver medication to a remote German island. It’s been such a success the company is considering using the “parcelcopter” to make more regular deliveries.

‘Mobile-geddon’: mobile devices are making waves in the business world: think service delivery, worker productivity and customer experience.

Distributed manufacturing: is where the final product is manufactured near the final customer, so the raw materials, assembly and product fabrication are decentralised, potentially increasing customisation.

Advanced robotics: including human-machine collaboration.

Emergent Artificial Intelligence: is where machines can learn automatically by taking on large volumes of information; it has huge implications for productivity.

Self-driving vehicles: that could potentially move or distribute goods.

Internet of Things: has massive potential for business process optimisation, reduced downtime and waste, and increased quality overall.

Find out more about these disruptive technologies by reading the full story here.

Food & Drink Business

Asahi Beverages is the latest company to partner with Charles Sturt University (CSU) to support Australian farmers recognise and implement climate smart practices, with scientists from the Cool Soil Initiative tracking carbon emissions from the barley used in beer.

New Zealand based agtech company, Halter, has completed a $314.5 million Series E funding round, achieving a new $2.86 billion valuation. The company plans to use the funding to expand commercialisation of its virtual fencing and animal management system in Australia and the United States.

A senate inquiry into CSIRO funding and resourcing has warned Australia’s sovereign research capability is under pressure from job cuts, declining real funding, ageing infrastructure and uncertainty over the national science agency’s strategic direction.