CONFIRMATION that the next fleet of Australian submarines will be built in South Australia absolutely recasts the debate about our aspirations to be a state with an advanced manufacturing base. 
However, with seven years until the first steel is cut on the subs project, it is important that the momentum from such an announcement isn't lost and this commitment to advanced manufacturing is expanded in a way that touches all South Australians.
Enter the State Government's ambition to be the leading state in the research and development of autonomous vehicles in the southern hemisphere.
South Australia is the first state to pass legislation allowing for trials of self-driving vehicles on public roads. Premier Jay Weatherill recently became the first Australian Premier to ride in Carnegie Mellon's autonomous Cadillac SRX at our Pittsburgh campus.
Why is South Australia embracing the driverless car future? Because this future is coming fast and strong.
Tesla's Elon Musk predicts that autonomous Tesla cars will be ready by 2018. His forecast echoes that of Google's co-founder Sergey Brin. General Motors and other car companies are less bullish in the timing, but are no less bold in making their bets, because all fear being on the wrong side of the unmistakeable trend.
KPMG's 2015 study of connected and autonomous vehicles estimates that Level 3 autonomous vehicles (where the driver can fully let a car drive itself under certain conditions) will be 83 per cent of the market in 10 years.
If this estimate of market penetration is mind-boggling, consider that the iPhone was not even on the market 10 years ago. Apple itself is widely suspected to be working on a driverless car project.
To be sure, there is more R&D to do before driverless cars can be, in the words of CMU autonomous vehicle leader Professor Raj Rajkumar, "planetary-ready".
This includes vehicles being able to drive in heavy rain, snow, and fog; perform evasive manoeuvres in response to unexpected incidents; deal with failures in sensors, computers and communications; and prevent cyber-security attacks.
But this industrial transformation is already upon us, and the commercial potential for technology companies that will produce the componentry for such vehicles will be enormous. This means significant opportunities for local companies and institutions.
Carnegie Mellon is working with South Australia-based companies such as Cohda Wireless to see where the university's more than three decades of research can help develop products designed for connected and autonomous vehicles, such as vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2X) and vehicle- to-vehicle (V2V) products.
These firms would naturally grow as the autonomous vehicles market grows. Hundreds of jobs will be created, as most of these firms' revenues will be going to wages as they compete globally on their research and development prowess. Who gets the best products to market the fastest will have first-mover advantages.
Will Australia be a first mover? Or will it be a follower and a consumer? These are vital questions for different jurisdictions to consider if they want to be leaders in this advanced manufacturing space.EMIL BOLONGAITA IS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY AUSTRALIA AND DISTING-UISHED SERVICE PROFESSOR OF PUBLIC POLICY AND MANAGEMENT