The Australian Academy of Science (AAS) and think tank, the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE), have released a strategic plan for Australia's digital future.
Titled, Preparing for Australia's digital future: A strategic plan for information and communication science, engineering and technology, the paper has been released as this country transitions from a resources-based economy to one of services and commercialisation of technologies.
The AAS National Committee for Information and Communication Sciences and ATSE argue that tackling different aspects of Australia's digital future in isolation would not be very effective.
"Despite the amount of good work underway across Australia, we lack an overarching framework to help (metaphorically) map the terrain," the strategic plan states.
"In the best-case scenario, tackling any aspect of our digital future in isolation can be effective only in a small, and perhaps isolated, domain. In a more common scenario, a new initiative can be only partially effective in a small domain because issues or barriers that were ‘out of scope’ were not considered. In the worst-case scenario, well-intentioned activities in one area can be counterproductive overall."
The strategic plan suggests Australia thinks about the digital realm as a complex and interconnected system because digital technologies have become so pervasive that everything from data theory to new hardware to primary school education is now interlinked.
The strategy offers up 32 recommendations grouped under five priority areas: encouraging digital leadership in industry; fostering research and industry partnerships for Australia's digital future; safeguarding and strengthening the digital workforce and capability pipeline; ensuring whole-of-government action for a digital future; and delivering research sector reforms.
And the plan specifically addresses how researchers in Australia can assist in furthering opportunities in data, IoT, virtual reality, e-health, automation, and smart cities for new and existing businesses.
Engineers Australia has a free online community of practice on the application of the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies in every industry. The IoT has been described as the defining technical trend of the coming decade, impacting virtually every industry and business process so the community is there to help engineers demystify the topic and build their skills.