Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, recently hosted  a week long Summit examining ways of realising our broadband future (held 15 – 19 November 2010).  One of the key note speakers was Gordon Bell, Researcher from Microsoft who in an ABC TV interview explains the benefits of the NBN for Australia.Showcased at the summit were CSIRO technologies that were enabled by widespread broadband connectivity. To learn more about the Summit  please click on the following link.

The Tasmanian Premier, David Bartlett has released his government’s Innovation Strategy. The key points around Digital Economy were:

• A $1m industry awareness initiatives, NBN4Business, to educate Tasmanian industry on benefits from the National Broadband Network
• $600,000 on other awareness-building strategies, such as “a hands-on digital coaching pilot” and “a digital toolkit for small businesses”
• $250,000 on research for the impact of the NBN on business engagement in the digital economy and the effectiveness of government programs
• $400,000 to migrate key business websites to “the government 2.0 model”
• $3.6 million for a Digital Futures Capital Fund, to fund the “development and delivery of digital content, applications and services” that add value to those engaging in Tasmania’s digital economy
• A Digital Futures Advisory Council
• Collaborating with industry and TasICT to develop a “Digital Economy Industry Strategy”

The full document can be accessed from here.

TECC CEO Mr John McCann (pictured right, in image) recently returned from Shanghai China, as part of a Tasmanian government trade delegation that showcased Tasmanian based IT companies, as well as promoting the opportunities provided by the National Broadband Network (NBN) rollout in Tasmania. Mr McCann also held meetings with senior executives from Huawei Techologies, a major world technology equipment supplier, on strengthening opportunities through the Huawei – TECC partnership around the Hobart Wireless Waterfront project, in which the TECC is mananging  Wi-Fi and WiMAX digital technology trials around the Hobart waterfront on behalf of the State government.

The TECC designs and leads projects with government, private sector and research partners that demonstrate and trial advanced broadband networks, infrastructure, applicationss, devices and content.  Most recent projects include tasCOLT, Tasmanian Logistics Online and the Hobart Wireless Waterfront.

While in Shanghai, the TECC represented the Tasmanian broadband testbed opportunities at EXPO, attended the launch of the 2nd Australia- China ICT Summit (Hobart November 2010) as well as touring the Huawei Research facility and holding  discussions with key members and potential partners from the Shanghai Digital content sector

The  press release from the State government on the World Expo and Tasmanian ICT Industry Show. is available from the TECC website. For further enquiries, please contact John McCann on Ph 03 6211 0400 or mccann@tecc.com.au