ICT Research Groups develop a research collaboration

Australia's leading ICT research groups have announced the formation of a collaboration to develop advanced information-sharing technology.

The collaboration will be the first joint project arising from the Public ICT Research Roundtable. According to Ms Glenys Roper, chairman of the Roundtable, "The members of the Roundtable have considerable expertise in human systems interfaces and collaboration. This area was identified as the best way to harness their world-class capabilities. This collaboration is an important step forward in building Australia's global ICT competitiveness."

Speaking at the ICT Outlook Forum, Ms Roper said: "This announcement is an important step in overcoming barriers to collaboration. After detailed interactions through two workshops involving leading Australian experts in human systems, there is considerable excitement about the potential of this joint work and the outcomes it will deliver for Australia."

Three of the Roundtable members, National ICT Australia (NICTA), the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO), and the CSIRO ICT Centre are funding development of a detailed business plan and project specification, with contributions from major universities and ICT Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs). The Roundtable is seeking involvement from a broad range of research and industry groups. It aims to identify the best modes for collaboration, assess available technologies and skill sets from collaborators and develop the most appropriate business and funding models.

This research project will be built on existing work from the three national research institutions, including:

• A Collaborative Access Table technology known as ViCAT, a joint project of NICTA, the University of Sydney, the University of South Australia, and DSTO.
• The Virtual Team Room, a large-scale immersive collaboration environment, developed by the CSIRO ICT Centre as part of the CeNTIE (Centre for Networking Technologies for the Information Economy) project.
• Livespace, an advanced collaboration tool developed by DSTO, Distributed Systems Technology Centre and University of South Australia.