CELEBRATING INTELLIGENT ISLAND'S ACHIEVEMENTS

7 April 2004

Tasmania's information and communications technology (ICT) industry continues to benefit from the $40 million Intelligent Island Project.

Australian Government Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Daryl Williams, and Tasmanian Premier, Paul Lennon, today congratulated the Intelligent Island Board on the success of the program, which is funded through the Australian Government's Building on Information Technology Strengths (BITS) program.

Key Intelligent Island initiatives, the ICT incubator and the Centre of Excellence, will continue to deliver long-term benefits to Tasmania and to Australia as a whole.

The Centre of Excellence will work closely with the ICT industry and undertake research and education to help meet the needs of the health and life science sectors.

Mr Williams congratulated Intelligent Island Board Chairman Neville Roach and the board on their careful consideration of the issues facing the Tasmanian ICT sector.

"This important program plays a significant part in the Australian Government's commitment to building our ICT capability," Mr Williams said.

"Ensuring Intelligent Island funds were committed to projects that would develop the Tasmanian ICT sector with both short and long-term focussed initiatives has been a significant challenge for the board.

"The board has met this challenge, giving Tasmania the best prospects for getting true, long-term value from the Intelligent Island funding."

The BITS program is a part of the $1 billion Accessing the Future package of social bonus programs, funded from the second sale of Telstra shares.

Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon congratulated the Intelligent Island Board for its strategic approach to investing the $40 million funding to stimulate higher, sustainable long-term growth in the Tasmanian ICT industry.

"Over the past four years, the board has spent about half of its resources on short to medium-term projects that were designed to support immediate, or near immediate, activity, with the remaining funding allocated to long-term projects," Mr Lennon said.

"Its achievements over the past three and half years are testament to the determination of the Australian and Tasmanian Governments and industry to work cooperatively to achieve positive outcomes."

The majority of funding has now been allocated to individual projects, with $3 million remaining in a commercialisation fund established to assist the development of products from early stage research to commercial reality. An additional $1.6 million remains for investment attraction initiatives.

The major tasks for which the Intelligent Island Board was established have now been completed.

Under a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), an Australian and Tasmanian Government Project Executive will have responsibility for overseeing the Intelligent Island program initiatives.

Administrative support will be provided by the Tasmanian Department of Economic Development. The Intelligent Island Board will be dissolved within two months of the execution of the MOU.

Information on the Intelligent Island projects is included in a new brochure available on the Department of Economic Development website at www.development.tas.gov.au

Media contacts:
Carina Tan-Van Baren (Mr Williams) (02) 6277 7480/ 0439 425 373
Matthew Rogers (Mr Lennon) (03) 62 33 2222 / 0408 563 957

Intelligent Island program achievements to date include:

In-tellinc Incubator: Significant growth and return from 11 of the companies being supported by the Intelligent Island incubator, In-tellinc.

Enterprise Development: Implementation of an industry development grants program, cluster development strategies, an online ICT directory, an ICT industry survey and participation in software quality programs. A commercialisation fund has also been established.

Centre of Excellence: The University of Tasmania and the Tasmanian Department of Health and Human Services will establish a Centre of Excellence in bioinformatics and health informatics. The Centre will work closely with the ICT industry and undertake research, education and development and application of informatics knowledge to help meet the needs of the health and life science sectors.

Skills Development: Support of activities that increase the ICT skills base in Tasmania, helping to ensure there are enough people with the right education, training and experience for the rapidly growing ICT industry.

Investment Attraction: National software developer eTech Group has established a global e-learning support centre and content development facility in Tasmania. eTech Tasmania has the potential to provide 12 new jobs and $1.5 million in new investments to the state over a two-year period.

Telecommunications Study: Investigation and subsequent recommendations facilitated the gaining of full benefit from Tasmania's telecommunications services and infrastructure.

Marketing: A number of marketing activities including attendance at national and international ICT forums and Tasmania's first ICT showcase highlighted the capabilities of the Tasmanian ICT sector to the Tasmanian business community and general public. These have resulted in establishing contracts and new market and network opportunities for the Tasmanian ICT sector.