Federal budget unpacks details of the government’s $124 million AI spend
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. Source: AAP/Lukas Coch.
The federal budget has offered insight into the government’s $124 million investment into Australia’s artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, first announced as part of the digital economy strategy last week.
Previously, it had been announced that part of the funding would be pegged to create a National AI Centre, headed up by CSIRO.
Now, we know this initiative will receive $53.8 million over four years, from 2021-22. The national centre, and four AI and Digital Capability Centres, are intended to encourage small and medium-sized businesses to adopt and use AI technologies.
iTWire Tuesday, 11 May 2021 22:33 MEGA UPDATED: Australian IT industry responds to 2021 Federal Budget Featured
MEGA UPDATED: More than FIFTY top IT companies in Australia have provided IT industry commentary on Australia’s 2021 Federal Budget, focusing on the digital economy, cyber security, business and more.
The ACS, nimbus, Max Kelsen, BlackLine, ActiveCampaign, Cohesity, Talend, Attivo Networks, Barracuda, ExtraHop, 8x8, Forbury, MaxContact, Nintex, Peak Insight, Tecala, Ping Identity, Snowflake, Zscaler, Pega, CardieX, Envestnet | Yodlee, Nexion Networks, Cyara, Tenable, Uniphore, Optus Business, Darktrace, Blackmagic Design, Tellis Data, Mimecast, Alteryx, KnowBe4, Elastic, Rackspace Technologies, Secure Code Warrior, F5, Cloudflare, Pluralsight, Smart WFH, BlackBerry, Swoop, EFEX, Rubrik, Nutanix, D2L, Intelicare, Verizon, McAfee, Congnizant, METS Ignited, Avaya, archTIS, Contino, Qlik, Commvault, The Adecco Group, Modis Australia: and the AIIA
iTWire Wednesday, 28 April 2021 10:43 AIIA Skillls Hub courses now top 3,000 Featured
The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) has grown the number of education courses it offers through its Skils Hub to over 3,000 in partnership with education institutions.
The AIIA says courses on Skills Hub are made available by Microsoft, IBM and AWS and with long held skills shortages in Australia’s ICT sector, the Skills Hub is one measure to help improve the supply of skilled Australian workers.
“With long held skills shortages in Australia’s ICT sector, the Skills Hub is one measure to help improve the supply of skilled Australian workers as well as mapping employee skills to career pathways and relevant training courses,” the AIIA says.
Industry hails digitalâs return to centre of government
Save
Share
The return of the Digital Transformation Agency to the Prime Ministerâs department under a senior cabinet minister marks a major elevation of digital, say industry experts, providing a much-needed strengthening between policy and delivery.
This will be especially so initiatives that reach across departments such as data sharing, cyber security, privacy and digital identity. It will also help for moments in citizens lives that involve multiple government touch points. An example of this would be the birth of a child prompting the need for birth registration, postnatal and childcare support and changes to Centrelink, Medicare and tax accounts.
âNot prepared to meet with himâ: Tech industry concerned about Porterâs appointment
Save
Share
The tech sectorâs engagement with the federal government may nosedive thanks to former Attorney-General Christian Porterâs appointment to the portfolio, with industry leaders saying they believe he would be unwelcome by some at events, and organisations would have to âbargainâ with themselves about accepting government funding.
Mr Porter was moved to the Industry, Science and Technology portfolio as part of a cabinet reshuffle, which also had Linda Reynolds shifted from her role as defence minister to government services and the NDIS last week. Peter Dutton has picked up the Defence Ministry and Karen Andrews has moved from the technology portfolio to home affairs.