Carr moves on Research Council

ONE of the nation’s best known ICT industry research executives Professor Arun Sharma has been appointed to the Australian Research Council’s new advisory body as government moves to give researchers greater independence.

Innovation, Industry, Science and Research Minister Kim Carr said the appointment of the ARC advisory council was the first stage of Federal Labor’s election promise to restore independence to the Australian Research Council.

Prof Sharma is deputy Vice-Chancellor for research and commercialisation at the Queensland University of Technology and has played a leadership role in ICT research and development in Australia.

Prof Sharma was involved in the founding of National ICT Australia (NICTA) and was the inaugural director at the NICTA Sydney research laboratory. Prior to that, he had been head of the prestigious School of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of NSW>

He was also involved in the founding of the Cooperative Research Centre for Smart Internet Technology and has been on the ICT Sector Advisory Committee of the CSIRO.

Senator said the appointment of the advisory committee would improve the independence of research in Australia. The committee is so far comprised of six appointees from a variety of disciplines from ICT, pharmaceuticals, physics and the humanities.

“Research is not a political plaything to be toyed with at the whim of the Government,” Senator Carr said.

“Research is a matter of vital national importance, the outcomes of which have a significant impact on Australia’s ongoing prosperity and standing in the world,” he said.

“It is our responsibility to seek and respect the views of those individuals most able to provide valuable insight into the issues faced by researchers and shape an environment that will deliver the best possible results for all Australians.”

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NICTA secures additional funding

THE nation’s peak technology industry research body, National ICT Australia, has secured an extra to hire a group of Australian chip researchers recently made redundant when their lab was shut down.

The 16 researchers, considered world-class in their field, were recently made redundant from LSI Australia – formerly Agere Systems – following the closure of their North Ryde research facility.

The additional $4.8 million in funding over two years was set aside by Communications and IT Minister Helen Coonan just before the federal election was called.

The extra funding from the Australian Government means NICTA will be able to offer new employment to these researchers. They will be working on wireless-related research within NICTA’s Embedded Systems research theme. This research is developing next generation wireless networks.

“Through this team Australia has developed a core competency in silicon chip design which is leading edge and contributed to Australia’s ICT capability,” NICTA acting chief executive officer Professor Aruna Seneviratne said.

The addition of the researchers to the Millimetre Wave Gigabit Wireless Project team will allow NICTA to fast-track research on the technology. NICTA envisages that the increased effort afforded by the LSI team could mean that research from the project would be ready for commercialisation in two years.

“NICTA identified an opportunity to merge the LSI Australia-Agere team with an existing research effort to create state-of-the-art personal broadband wireless chips which will enable people to transfer large multi-media files, such as entire movies, a thousand times faster than currently possible,” NICTA Chief Technology Officer of Embedded Systems Dr Chris Nicol said.

The researchers will be based at NICTA’s New South Wales facilities and will be part of NICTA’s efforts in Embedded Systems.

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NICTA appoints Canberra research chief

FORMER Sydney University senior information technology research academic Dr David Everitt has been appointed to head the Canberra Research Laboratory of National ICT Australia (NICTA).

Dr Everitt has more than two decades of extensive research and research management experience. He most recently held the position of Chair of Internetworking of the School of Information Technologies at Sydney Uni.

Dr Everitt has more than two decades of extensive research and research management experience. He recently held the position of Chair of Internetworking of the School of Information Technologies at the University of Sydney.

He will take up the position of Canberra Research Laboratory Director from 16 July 2007.
Current Canberra Laboratory head, Dr Terry Caelli, stepped down from the position at the end of June 2007. He will continue to work with NICTA in a research leadership role.

The new building the Canberra Laboratory will move into in September will bring together NICTA's three offices in Canberra, housing the current 165 staff and students and allowing expansion by up to 220 people.

The A-grade 4-star environmentally-friendly building on London Circuit, adjacent to the Australian National University (ANU), is set to become the hub of innovative ICT activity in the ACT. It will include a cluster of ICT companies centred on NICTA's research.

"NICTA's new laboratory in West Civic is an important piece of the West City knowledge precinct that is forming around ANU Exchange," NICTA chairman Neville Stevens said.

Mr Stevens said the ACT Government's announcement in its recent Budget to provide an extra $6 million over five years to NICTA to support the organisation's continued development, to build greater innovation capacity in the Territory, and to support Canberra's growing ICT sector, was a welcome sign of support.

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Microsoft in China research joint venture

The world’s largest software company, Microsoft, has linked with Chinese PC maker Lenovo to set up research facility in Beijing, the first time the company has entered an R-D-based joint venture.

The investment, which is though to be worth several million US dollars annually to both companies, will involve about 40 engineering staff from Lenovo, with an expected similar number from Microsoft providing technical training and support.

The 50-50 joint-venture partners will share any intellectual property produced by the organizations.

It is thought the venture will focus on new consumer device technology, particularly in the mobile device market.

The companies will share a facility on the Lenovo campus in Beijing.

Microsoft chief research and strategy officer Craig Mundie said the two companies would target opportunities in the consumer and mobile markets like digital photography, digital media and the internet.

Unsurprisingly, the development will also centre on products that build on top of Microsoft platforms.

“Today's announcement signifies another step in Microsoft's continuing efforts to build stronger collaborations with local partners, and foster a flourishing innovation ecosystem in China,” Mr Mundie said.

The announcement comes on the eve of a Microsoft-hosted Government Leaders Forum in Beijing, which was due to start last Thursday and Friday.

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates will address the leaders forum, along with Mr Mundie and senior vice-president for emerging segments market development Orlando Ayala.

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