Page 3342 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 18 September 2013
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Mr Doszpot: Always has and always will be.
MR BARR: That is not the case, Mr Doszpot, and you know it. NICTA is Australia’s most successful ICT research centre and it is recognised internationally. The ACT government’s support for NICTA is a direct investment in Canberra’s innovation and economic future. It is a key element of the ACT government’s vision for the ICT sector. In my view and in the view of many others, NICTA’s Canberra research laboratory has been NICTA’s highest performing laboratory over the last 10 years. It has engaged in challenging collaborations across the country and projects that have the potential to transform major industry sectors through advanced research and to provide Australian firms and organisations with a competitive advantage by making major productivity gains.
Locally NICTA’s Canberra researchers are working with the ACT government, ACT companies and research groups at the ANU and the University of Canberra in areas such as e-government solutions, solar energy output prediction, e-health, social media monitoring, the bionic eye and public transport. Further, NICTA generates about 20 per cent of all spin-outs from Australia’s research and university sector. These spin-outs contribute to Canberra’s entrepreneurial environment. The most recent from NICTA Canberra was the Performance Assurance in July 2013, with another company to be spun out from Canberra later this year.
NICTA also plays an important role in skills development in the territory. NICTA Canberra is building and maintaining the professional ICT skills base in the ACT by ensuring a strong flow of highly skilled and entrepreneurial researcher and research and development professionals into industry, government and research organisations.
Nationally, NICTA graduates over one-quarter of all PhD graduates in ICT. This year NICTA Canberra has 59 PhD students working on projects. NICTA will also soon be working with the Australian Information Industry Association on the national digital careers program, which aims to build ICT participation and career interest at primary and secondary school level.
The research projects, spin-outs and skills developments demonstrate the important role that NICTA Canberra plays in the territory. An independent analysis by Deloitte estimates that two of NICTA’s projects based in the ACT, as I was alluding to yesterday—ePASA and the Automap projects—will have a combined annual impact of $354 million a year on the national economy either through cost savings or increased productivity. This same Deloitte study also estimates NICTA’s economic benefit to the nation at $2 billion per year through productivity and efficiency savings.
It is clear that NICTA is a key partner in Canberra’s innovation future. Its research is improving productivity and efficiency in a number of industry sectors and contributes to important social outcomes in health and education, not just in the ACT but nationally. So the coalition’s announcement just prior to the federal election that it would cut $42 million from NICTA’s funding over two years from 2014-15 will undoubtedly have a substantial impact on NICTA’s capacity to continue to undertake this important research and development work.
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