Geelong picks up $100,000 for ICT
The Victorian Geelong region has picked up funding to the tune of $100,000 to further develop ICT in the area.
Victorian Minister for Technology Gordon Rich-Phillips announced the funding, which was provided under the State Government's Innovation Through Clusters program to ICT Geelong, and outlined the sort of projects he expected it would assist.
"Major projects include the development of ICT research and investment opportunities, commercialisation of technologies (such as Radio Frequency Identification), and delivery of the annual Technology Entrepreneurship Forum and ICT investment pitching competition," he said.
ICT Geelong chairman Robert Reed welcomed the funding and provided some examples of organisations that would benefit from the boost.
"Barwon Heath is a recognised leader in e-health, and the newly established Keystone Business Park will provide some excellent future opportunities for businesses in the technology sector," he said.
He also pointed to the benefits that its local tertiary education institutions would gain from the funding.
"Deakin University is undertaking world-class research and live projects with industry partners in haptics, robotics and simulation," Reed said.
Other universities across the country will also benefit from a new $249 million research and development package, which was announced today by Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Federal Innovation Minister Senator Kim Carr.
The Industry Transformation Research program and cadetship package aims to churn out over 1000 engineering cadetships over the next four years, as well as fund new research training centres for up to 600 PhD students and new research hub to connect academics with industry.