Fund IT Research, ACS Tells PM
No Limits to Growth From IT Research Says ACS President
Friday 8 August 1997, Canberra - The Australian Computer Society (ACS) has urged the Prime Minister to announce funding for IT research in his August information technology industry policy statement.
ACS President, Tom Worthington , has called on government and industry to get behind a new research strategy which includes government funding recommendations to develop Australia's information economy for the next century.
The draft, "Discipline Research Strategy for Information Technology", was released today by the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.
The one hundred page report by government, industry and academic experts has been a full year in the making. It was funded by the Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs, with additional funding and expertise from the ACS.
Mr Worthington was a member of the project steering committee for the project while Dr Bernard Robertson-Dunn acted as the ACS nominee on the working party. The draft report and background material is available from the ACS home page at: http://www.acs.org.au/president/1996/drsit/
Mr Worthington today urged the Government to adopt the strategy funding proposals in its August IT policy statement.
"Prime Minister Howard is reported to be planning an agenda-setting policy statement in mid-August which concentrates on the ability of IT to boost jobs growth," he said.
"The raw materials of the IT industry are innovative ideas and expert people. Our research sector will be the source of the ideas and the people upon which the Australian economy will depend in the next century."
Mr Worthington pointed out that IT research is not something which can be done suddenly or cheaply saying the lack of support for research for the Australian information industries has been a feature of both Labour and Liberal governments.
"The ACS will be looking for specific funding commitments to IT research in the Prime Minister’s statement, as recommended in the IT Research Strategy. This Government’s commitment to IT will be judged by how much specific funding there is in his announcement, not on how many visionary statements are made," he said.
"Economics has been called the dismal science because it deals with issues of distribution of scarce resources. Economic theory is used by policy makers in government and industry in deciding the allocation of resources for the Australian economy."
Mr Worthington believes that economists now need to understand that the equation has changed. "Information is not a physical commodity like coal or iron ore. The information industry is not limited by a scarcity of physical resources, but by a scarcity of ideas and expertise.
"In other industries steady growth over a year or decade is considered a good result. On the Internet, as an example, exponential growth is the norm and the measure is how many months it takes your business to double in size. Where the ideas and expertise are available though an investment in research, there are no limits to growth," he said.
One of the recommendations of the Discipline Research Strategy report is for a closer working relationship between the ACS and other professional bodies at the national level. An example of such cooperation is the annual Australian Software Engineering Conference (ASWEC97) which is being hosted this year by the ACS, with the support of IE (Aust).
This media release is located on the Web at: http://www.acs.org.au/news/randd.htm
ENDS
Media Enquiries:
Tom Worthington, ACS President, Tel: (0419) 496 150, Email: tomw@acslink.net.au
Dr Bernard Robertson-Dunn, ACS Working Party Representative, Tel: (06) 201 8820 or (0411) 157 113, Email: brd@netinfo.com.au
Caroline New, Caroline New PR, Tel: (02) 9980 8060 or (0411) 889 456, Email: cnew@acslink.net.au
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