The Victorian Government has announced $3.9 million in funding to help the state’s researchers access the latest information communication technology (ICT).

 

State Technology Minister Gordon Rich-Phillips announced the funding in the lead up to the AusBiotech 2012 international conference for the life sciences industry in Melbourne.

 

“Our supercomputers, networks and platforms, applications, skilled workforce and collaboration tools offer capabilities equal to anywhere in the world to researchers.

 

“The eResearch Agenda fulfils the commitment made by the Coalition Government to continue Victoria’s progress towards sustainable and mainstream adoption of eResearch.

 

“The eResearch Agenda will continue to develop Victoria’s capacity over the coming years in skills development, data management and collaboration,” Mr Rich-Phillips said.

The eResearch Agenda includes:

  • the Australian Research Infrastructure Network (ARIN) software system which will link research facilities across institutions in a virtual network;
  • support for the Victorian bid to the Australian Research Data Storage Infrastructure program;
  • the Victorian eResearch Strategic Initiative (VeRSI) that provides eResearch skills to member universities;
  • an eResearch industry study in 2013; and
  • ongoing state-supported investment initiatives, such as the Australia-India Research Centre for Automation Software Engineering (AICAUSE).

 

“The capability offered by eResearch will solve not only the challenges faced by the scientific community, but also by industry, which is increasingly generating large datasets and using high performance computing power to inform decision-making processes and investments,” Mr Rich-Phillips said.