NICTA creates Canberra eGov cluster

James Riley
Tuesday, 08 September 2009 18:29

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

Australia’s peak IT research and commercialisation agency NICTA has joined with the ACT Government to create a new public-private R&D cluster focused on government technology.

The ACT Government, one of the founding members of the National ICT Australia consortium that created NICTA, has tipped $350,000 into the cluster project to allow NICTA to build a membership-based organisation of local innovators, multinational technology companies, and research institutions.

The territory’s acting Chief Minister Katie Gallagher said it made sense that a government technology cluster be based in Canberra, given the ACT hosts the Commonwealth as the nation’s largest buyer of ICT goods and services.

The Chief Minister said despite the ACT’s modest population, it was home to a high proportion of ICT talent – including many home-grown ICT innovators

NICTA senior researcher and government program manager Dr Jonathan Gray said the organisation had already received expressions of interest from multinational ICT companies with interests in government technology, as well as from small Australian companies.

Gray said the founding members of the cluster would be announced in the next several weeks as formal invitations are put to the industry – but he expects a mix of local and multinational companies.

He said Australia had a reputation for delivering solid government technology to its public sector, and that there were untapped opportunities to sell to export markets, particularly to governments in the Asia Pacific.

ACT Senator Kate Lundy told iTWire the cluster was the right idea, in the right place, at the right time – with the Australian Government an especially vibrant and ambitious user of new technology to deliver services and create economic opportunity.

Senator Lundy, who has worked with NICTA in recent months on special projects related to the Public Sphere government 2.0 events she has pioneered, said through openness and collaboration, the cluster would thrive.

“The way of the future is collaboration and this cluster provides the perfect environment for greater collaboration across large and small companies in Canberra and across the public and private sectors,” Senator Lundy told iTWire.

“The key to its success will be openness and genuine participation by all the parties.”

“Canberra is the logical place for the cluster because of the high proportion of businesses transacting with the public sector, but also because of the opportunities across the tertiary education sector, NICTA, and that whole network of researchers.”