Inspire July 2022
How REDARC
drives innovation in
Australian vehicles
6 A Q+A with REDARC, one of Australia’s
leaders in the area of electronic voltage
converters and associated products.

The automotive industry is a space
where innovation continues to
thrive – on the near horizon we can
already see the approach of new
technologies like advanced sensors,
self-driving systems, electric vehicles,
and more being made readily
available to consumers. We reached
out to one of our leading clients in
this field, REDARC electronics, to talk
about the future of the industry, their
specific challenges, and how their
success has been tied to the power
of their IP.

Q: What is REDARC’s
mission? Our mission is to be a world class
designer and supplier of automotive
electronics solutions.

In a world of exponential mobility,
discovery and exploration, we make
power products that put people
in control of whatever situation
they find themselves in. We’re for
adventurous spirits; those that like
to push boundaries. This often lands
them in mission critical situations
where things just have to work. To
enable people to do things outside
of their comfort zone they need
peace of mind that their equipment
won’t let them down.

We come from a belief that
“made in Australia” can be a point
of competitive advantage and
premium-ness in an increasingly
commoditised global economy.

REDARC is not just a world-class
manufacturing facility; it’s an agile
and innovative problem solver.

Our side-by-side design, production
and support capability gives our
customers the confidence to explore
life away from the grid. When you’re
in control there are no limits to
where you can go!



Autonomous vehicles and reducing
fossil fuel consumption are
commonly discussed themes for the
future of the automotive industry.

Electric vehicles are already gaining
popularity and are expected to
account for nearly 50% of new
vehicle sales by 2030. REDARC sees
opportunity in this space for our
existing products and by exploiting
niche opportunities that arise during
the market adjustment to a more
sustainable future. Customers are
expecting more from their vehicles,
power demands and consumption
are increasing, and customers want
to bring all the luxuries of home on
the road with them, more so now
than ever before.

Autonomous vehicles bring
opportunity in the sensing,
monitoring, and data analysis
space. With autonomous vehicles,
safety is paramount and being able
to sense and act on events is key.

From a manufacturing perspective
it makes sense that the sensors and
the platform architecture for this
monitoring is locally designed and
easily customised to suit the myriad
vehicles and big data systems that
will be on offer in any specific region.

Q: What future do you
see for the design and
manufacture of innovative
equipment within the
medical and defence
industries? Medical and military level
manufacturing is some of the
more cutting edge in terms of
technology, requirements, and
compliance. These industries are
constantly pushing the boundaries
of what is possible, and it makes
sense that this type of high
value manufacturing occur in
Australia. There are also security
considerations with military devices,
further highlighting the benefits of
Australian manufacture.

The current government spending
is creating significant opportunity
in the defence industry and
defence primes are actively seeking
contribution from high-value
Australian manufacturers resulting
from record spend on defence
hardware globally.

REDARC’s core focus
is on registering
inventive patents early
and speeding up our
time to market.

With regards to the medical industry,
COVID-19 has shown the value of
manufacturing essential products
locally, particularly in the medical
field. Whether it be the vaccines
themselves, the technology required
to create and store them, or the
respirators required to treat patients,
Australia was at the mercy of the
availability of these on the global
market. We expect to see increased
incentives to manufacture medical
grade equipment locally driven by a
government desire to protect against
the supply issues suffered during
the pandemic.

Q: How has REDARC been
impacted by the COVID-19
pandemic? Are there any
specific opportunities and/or
challenges you’ve faced?
Like any manufacturer globally,
REDARC has experienced disruption
in the supply of raw materials
and shipping delays. In our case
this included metals used in our
housings and enclosures and
semiconductor components used
in our products. So far, we have
been able to navigate supply issues
with a reasonable amount of agility.

Onsite engineering and manufacture
worked strongly in our favour as
supply issues arose and we were
able to continue to supply our
customers whilst our competition
reliant on overseas manufacture and
supply chains suffered.

Our ability to supply on time and in full
has seen us achieve significant sales
growth throughout the pandemic,
however the demand for our high-
quality products is ultimately what has
made this possible. We found that
without the ability to travel overseas
Australians spent significantly more
on local travel, which meant fitting out
4WD’s and Recreational vehicles with
accessories, two of our core markets.

Q. How does REDARC use
IP to support business
and commercialisation
opportunities? REDARC regards intellectual property
as a business asset, it helps set us
apart as an innovator and market
leader. As innovation is a key value of
our company, we invest well above
industry norms in research and
development. We value the support
that POF provides us in protecting
that investment. The relationship with
our patent and trademarks attorney
Raffaele Calabrese has proved
invaluable to REDARC, particularly
due to his speciality in electronics,
physics, and IT.

Our IP strategy combines
registered IP protection such as
Patents, Trademarks and Design
Registrations, with unregistered
protection strategies such as trade
secrets, learned processes and
first to market innovations where
possible. We have used registered
IP protection extensively in Australia
for many years and, in more recent
years, have implemented a global
IP registration strategy. We then
leverage this IP to both protect and
defend our position and develop
trust with our core customers
through innovative and reliable
solutions. REDARC’s core focus is
on registering inventive patents early
and speeding up our time to market.

Q. What are the key
successes based on
REDARC’s generated IP?
The patent system has been a great
success for us, particularly with
respect to our Tow-Pro electric brake
controller range. The system has
allowed us to add innovative features
to our existing Tow-Pro platform in
an iterative fashion and protect the
research and development investment
required. As a result, we’ve been able
to offer our customers an increasingly
safer and more feature packed
product and position ourselves as
the market leader in electric brake
controllers. We’ve also been able to
use these patents to successfully
defend against competition
attempting to imitate our offering.

We also protect our designs through
the design registration system. Often
when companies try to imitate our
products a copy of the product look
is the easiest path to market. Having
design registrations in place ensures
we can protect our customers from
inferior look-alike copies.

Inspire July 2022
Q: What future do you
see for the design and
manufacture of innovative
equipment within the
automotive industry?
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