Novell and the university have jointly developed techniques to identify the needs of "customers of the future" by watching the way that 16-22 year olds use the Internet, wireless applications and mobile commerce. The researchers combine these observations with diaries kept by study participants and then create "product-oriented scenarios of the future," said Steve Howard, associate professor in the university's Department of Information Systems.
"We're trying to learn what they'll be looking for in the years to come and developing solutions with clients so that we will be there waiting for them," said Greg Trainor, Novell's Asia Pacific VP of Strategy and Professional Services.
His company's inherited the relationship with the university when it purchased Cambridge Technology Partners. SITCRC is "a perfect fit for us," he said. "I think we'll do some very interesting things in the future".
Darrell Williamson, SITCRC CEO, said "one of the challenges of the post dot-com era is to create Internet-based products that people actually want and for which real money will be paid".
SITCRC's independent chairman Neville Roach pointed out that ICT represents about half of Australia's balance of payments deficit. "We have to address this problem," he said, and one way of doing that is to ensure that Australian intellectual property does not go offshore.
The centre's research falls into five areas: natural adaptive user interfaces, smart personal assistants, intelligent environments, smart networks, and user environments. Its intellectual property is commercialised directly by one or more partners, by a spin-off company, or by selling the technology.
Other participants include the Federal, NSW and ACT governments, Telstra, Adacel, Motorola, Westpac, and the universities of Sydney, New South Wales, Tasmania and Adelaide.
