A centrepiece of the Federal Government's Backing Australia's Ability plan, announced in January 2001, it has attracted bilateral support, with Shadow Minister for Information Technology, Senator Kate Lundy backing the project.
The so-called Federal Consortium out-tendered a Melbourne-based bid of which Telstra and the CSIRO were major participants, and the Horizons tender based in the Sydney Technology Park.
The Federal Consortium was built on the participation of the Australian National University (ANU), in conjunction with the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney University, and smaller institutions such as the University of Canberra and the Australian Defence Force Academy. Representing the private sector were IT venture capitalists Allen and Buckridge and Bovis Lend Lease, while the NSW and ACT Governments also contributed substantially to the tender process.
According to Professor John Hearn, deputy vice chancellor of research at the ANU, there will be opportunities for different groups to work with the consortium, not ruling out working in conjunction with some of the parties from competing consortia.
-The resources with be spread across the ANU, the UNSW and Sydney University, and provide a significant boost to areas in which Australia already has a niche, such as software development and photonoics," Professor Hearn said. -However, it will also open up opportunities in other areas of science and technology."
Professor Brian Anderson, director Research School of Information Sciences and Engineering at the ANU, has been nominated as interim CEO in recognition of the work he has done establishing technology research within the university itself. Neville Roach, chairman of Fujitsu Australia, is set to chair the committee.
-We are anxious to establish the committee and begin work straight away," Professor Hearn said. -We hope the establishment of this ICT Centre of Excellence will have an extremely beneficial effect on the wealth of intellectual property which remains in this country, and on our ability to keep, Australia's IT and science talent within the country."
