Reinventing ICT Research

Copyright© 2005, Australian Computer Society Inc. General permission to republish, but not for profit, all or part of this material is granted, provided that the JRPIT copyright notice is given and that reference is made to the publication, to its date of issue, and to the fact that reprinting privileges were granted by permission of the Australian Computer Society Inc. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are vital to Australia. More than a third of our recent GDP growth can be attributed to the adoption of ICT. Future prospects for ICT-led improvements to our quality of life are very exciting as many discoveries and innovations remain to be developed. This is why ongoing R&D in ICT is crucial: substantially more opportunity exists than has been exploited so far and we are still very much at the beginning of the discovery curve for ICT. The average student leaving high school today will almost certainly require skills in ICT for a successful career – and new curricula across the nation are recognising this by making ICT an integral subject of study for all students. For Australia to fully capitalise on future opportunities in ICT, it needs to leverage its highly educated population, its reputation for science and engineering excellence and its strategic location on the Pacific rim into a leadership role in applying ICT for the benefit of people, business and the environment. CSIRO has a long history of research and achievement in information technology and telecommunications. From the early development of Australia's first programmable digital computer, CSIRAC and pioneering developments in RADAR to recent world leading technologies for Wireless LANs and electronic records, CSIRO has been very active in positioning Australia as an innovator in ICT. Because it is increasingly through productivity gains and wealth created in other sectors that ICT has its major impact, CSIRO has been rethinking its ICT research and development strategy in recent times to ensure it is able to deliver maximum value from its unique position as a broad-based research organisation. As part of this re-invention of CSIRO's ICT research, the CSIRO ICT Centre commenced operations on 1 September 2003. The Centre brought together researchers formerly spread across three different CSIRO Divisions to create a new focus for CSIRO's ICT research which provides customers and research partners with a single point of access to CSIRO's total ICT research base. CSIRO's ICT Centre will aim to establish a …