Canberra, Wednesday 22 May 2002

ANU and partners win $130 million ICT bid

The ANU is a major research partner in a new $130m venture announced today by Senator Richard Alston, Minister for Communications, Information and Technology and the Arts, and Dr Brendan Nelson, Minister for Education, Science and Training.

The initiative will establish a new Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Centre of Excellence based in Sydney and in Canberra.

The Centre will build a core of 300 world-class researchers and create more than 500 new PhD places over the next 10 years. The vision is to establish an internationally competitive ICT capability in Australia through a research culture embracing innovation and commercialisation, with strong economic outcomes.

The National ICT Australia (NICTA) consortium bid partners include: The Australian National University, ACT Government, NSW Government and The University of New South Wales. Other partners include: Allen and Buckridge, Bovis Lend Lease, Redfern Photonics and The University of Sydney. Supporters include: The University of Canberra, The Australian Defence Force Academy and Capital Technic Group.

Professor Brian Anderson, Director of the ANU Research School of Information Science and Engineering, will be the Centre's first CEO. "This is a marvellous outcome for Australia, the region and the ANU. We have a winning team addressing a national need in a visionary way. This will build Australia's critical mass and competitiveness in information and related technologies," he said.

"Winning as a partner in this bid is a great achievement for the ANU and the win has enormous strategic importance for Australia and for the ACT," said Professor Ian Chubb, Vice-Chancellor of the ANU. "The ANU recognised a long time ago that ICT would be lead science both in its own right and in other priority areas of research such as bioinformatics, genomics and photonics. We invested heavily over the past 10 years in human resources to build a leading research base in our Research School of Information Sciences and Engineering. The new Centre starts with an impressive intellectual base generated by the ANU and by our university partners in the ACT and NSW."

"We can now provide the nation with the intellectual capital it needs to advance the nation's social and economic well-being including regional development in NSW and the ACT. It was these exact reasons that the ANU was first established," he said.

Professor John Hearn, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) said the ANU is one of the few universities in the world that has critical mass across the full range of sciences. "We are committed to the success of this Centre and to attracting and retaining the best and brightest of Australian and international scientists and PhD students."

For further information please contact:
Professor Ian Chubb, ANU Vice-Chancellor, 02 6125 2510; Professor John Hearn, ANU Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), 02 6125 8487; Professor Robin Stanton, ANU Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Academic Development and Information Strategy), 02 6125 2504; Professor Brian Anderson, Director, ANU Research School of Information Science and Engineering, 02 6125 8667
Genevieve Turville, ANU Public Affairs on 02 6125 6125 or 0416 249 245

No 61/2002

© 2000 Marketing & Communications Division,
The Australian National University.
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Last Modified Tue, July 16, 2002