INDUSTRY

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA -- The CSIRO-Macquarie Internet Innovation Centre, a one-stop shop for solutions in Internet-related services, was officially opened by NSW IT Minister, the Hon Kim Yeadon MP today. "This new Internet Innovation Centre is a place where the research and business communities can meet to explore opportunities and commercialise innovations," Mr Yeadon said. "People from industry often say that research organisations are daunting to deal with. That it's simply not clear who they should be talking to or how to find out what's on offer. "The Internet Innovation Centre will help break down barriers and make it easier for people engaged in leading edge research to get together with business to adapt and develop technology. "This sort of collaboration through facilities like this centre is the key for a globally competitive internet industry for NSW." The new Centre will also conduct research into technologies that could help businesses, large and small, transact with each other cheaply and flexibly. Dr Ian Krycer, Manager of the Centre, claims that the Internet's real potential has yet to be realised, especially in the business-to-business (B2B) arena. "The opportunity for Web Services is to provide seamless many-to-many e-commerce business connections. The Internet Innovation Centre will help by working on Internet standards, security and reliability" he says. The Centre draws on the skills and strengths of two of Australia's most respected research institutions - CSIRO and Macquarie University in Sydney. It was researchers from CSIRO and Macquarie University who, ten years ago, developed some key wireless networking technologies that were spun off into the company Radiata. In 2000, Radiata was bought for $550 million by IT giant, Cisco. "This just shows what can happen when talent is aligned," says Dr Krycer. "It would be fantastic to have another success story like Radiata." He points to two technologies showcased at the Centre, SQIS facial recognition and the 'haptic workbench', as holding great promise for commercialisation. SQIS is a face image capture and recognition system that provides non-intrusive recognition technology at high security risk locations like airports and casinos. SQIS individually describes a face using a compact 'facial features' vector and then rapidly compares it to faces in a database, alerting an operator when there is a match. The haptic workbench is a virtual reality technology that immerses a user in a 3D, touch- and movement-responsive environment. It holds great promise for applications like surgical training and remote health. As it uses huge data files, the feasibility and cost will be helped by improvements in broadband networks. Dr Krycer says innovative Australian companies could have a major impact in areas such as Web Services, e-health, Internet security, advanced networks and tailored information. "We need to help researchers and business people to get together. That's our aim". For industry, the benefits of working with the Centre include cost-efficient research, independent vendor-neutral advice, and the resources of two institutions focussed on their problem. "Industry gets more return on its investment," Dr Krycer says. The Centre offers services such as problem solving, building demonstrators, and testing proofs of concept.