Monday 9th August 2010, 11.00am.

The Shanghai World Expo 2010 is being held between May 1 and October 31, 2010, and will be the largest Expo in history. Over 190 countries are participating and 70 million visitors are expected, 95% of whom are expected to be local Chinese. Science Week is the greatest series of science based events held as part of the Australian pavilion's business program.

The Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research hosted a science program in the VIP Business Centre of the Australian Pavilion during Science Week and on the evening of the 4th of August, a gala cocktail event was held which is where the SecureMat technology was on display, incorporated into a showcase 'magic carpet' by the Centre for Science and Engineering of Materials (ANU-CSEM) and the e-Government cluster (NICTA).

The event was held in the Australian pavilion's 250 square metre VIP space to honour 30 years of formal government to government cooperation in Science and Technology between Australian and China. The audience at this event was primarily the Chinese government, Australian government and/or representatives and Chinese and Australian researchers.

As the guests entered the foyer on the night, they were presented with the carpet and signal monitor as a key feature of the main hall. It was received with much acclaim as a visual prop, a conversational piece and entertainment device in its own right.

The technology showcase itself sparked great interest not merely from an entertainment angle, with business and science leaders engaged by the simplicity of the technology as well as its wide range of potential applications, from perimeter security to crowd movement and monitoring capabilities.

Click here or on any of the photos to open the gallery.

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Photo 1: From 1 May to 31 October 2010, Australia's visually striking national pavilion will showcase Australian innovation, creativity and achievement to some 7 million visitors mostly from mainland China - an average of 38,000 people on each of the 184 days of the expo.

Photo 2: The SecureMat technology on display in the main hall before the event.

Photos 3, 4 & 5: Guests at the gala cocktail event enjoy the night as the SecureMat technology below registers footsteps and movements on the main monitor in the background.

Photo 6: The SecureMat signal-analysis and foot-step recognition technology being demonstrated on the main monitor display.

Photo 7: From left to right: Lynne O'Brien, Steven Donghang Chen, and Roger Hausmann with the main display monitor for the SecureMat technology.