MEDIA RELEASE

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ACS Calls for National IT Research Organisation

Friday 18 September 1998 - The Australian Computer Society (ACS) has called f or the establishment of a major national information technology research organisation to stimulate growth in the Australian IT industry.

While welcoming a recent commitment from the Government of $22.5 million seed funding for a major technology park development in Melbourne and moves by the ALP to expand R&D and kick-start Australia's infant venture capital industries, the ACS says more is needed.

ACS Technical Board Director, Associate Professor Karl Reed, said Australia spends around $900 million each year on research relating to Primary Industry, which generates revenues comparable to the total sales of computer hardware, software and services in the Australian economy.

"If you include telecommunications and broadcast media, the IT sector is substantially larger than the primary industry, yet the amount spent on R&D in this critical field is significantly less," he said.

The ACS is calling on all political parties to develop policies aimed at establishing a major research capability to support the IT industry.

"The CSIRO has more than 10 divisions addressing specific primary industry areas and, in effect, about one half of a division focused on information technology," said Reed.

"We're suggesting the best approach would be to establish a major national organisation dedicated to IT research."

The ACS envisages such an organisation could employ experienced research scientists, as does CSIRO, to target a range of pure and applied technologies, producing a range of both short and long-term outputs for the IT sector.

Reed said the Primary Industry clearly received major benefits from the work of CSIRO, with its results underpinning Australia's internationally competitive position in this sector.

"A dedicated research facility would deliver similar advantages for the IT sector, providing a major boost at a time when Australian IT companies are facing increasing competition in both the domestic and global markets.

"There are few efforts of this kind in the world, although countries like Singapore have smaller scale research institutes, and Germany has established a network of major centres under its Fraunhofer network. A large-scale Australian initiative could have an enormous impact on industry development," he said.

While the ACS believes any IT research agenda would have to be set after consultation with the industry, potential areas of interest include: network management; security and services; software engineering; multimedia; safety critical systems; e-commerce; internet and web delivery systems; computer design and architecture; magnetic media; optical technology; low-cost personal computers; telecommunications hardware; telecommunications software; and "future" systems.

Reed explained future systems as a "skunk-works" project to create and explore ideas that could be demonstrated with current or near-term technology and then picked up by industry.

This media release is located on the ACS Web site at www.acs.org.au/news/elect984.htm

ENDS

Media Enquiries:

Karl Reed, ACS Technical Board Director, Tel: (03) 9479 1377, Email: kreed@latcs1.cs.latrobe.edu.au

Caroline New, Caroline New PR, Tel: (02) 9980 8060 or (0411) 889 456, Email: cnew@acslink.net.au