 world is a fascinating place. From the natural wonders contained within the cocoon of the Earth's atmosphere to the spectacular light shows and hidden worlds of deep space and beyond, there is so much to learn, understand and in some cases harness for the good of all. We have built many monuments to our imagination and inventiveness but we have also created enormous problems that affect us all from climate change to dislocation of entire populations through war or drought from the turmoil of geopolitical conflict to the degradation and depletion of our environment. These are challenges that we face now and in the immediate future. The solution to many of these challenges no doubt lies buried in the Googleplex of data that researchers have generated over a long period of time. The trick is to access, analyze, disseminate and make the connections contained within these boundless oceans of information. The reality is most major breakthroughs will be done by teams large and small. Not the solitary genius so loved by Hollywood but research teams relying on the work of hundreds if not thousands of researchers from all over the country and indeed the world. To do 21st century research you need 21st century infrastructure not just something that works for today but way into the future. That's why the Australian government through their national collaborative research infrastructure strategy has created the ARDC the Australian Research Data Commons. ARDC is a transformational investment in Australian e-research infrastructure which in turn under rights and nations reputation for conducting high impact research. We work in partnership with Australia's research institutions to accelerate positive change for the research ecosystem which ensures Australian researchers have access to world-leading data facilities and capabilities enabling scientists to work on data from the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder while being 800 kilometres away in Perth. It also supports high performance processing for incredibly complex modelling and computation enabling the connectivity to share tools and data with researchers and systems around Australia and the world. It also creates archiving capabilities that allow huge data sets to be safely stored and accessed by colleagues no matter where they live and collaborative tools to enable meaningful data sharing, trusted local and international customised access and measurable data citation capabilities. This gives our universities and research institutions indeed all those engaged in research enterprises the tools to build the future and achieve tangible outcomes with a mindset that embraces the next big challenge. The ARDC is built for things we haven't even thought of yet. To find out more visit ardc.edu.au