Topic: What would industry like to see from

Australia-New Zealand engagement in the PEP?

John Humphreys

Chair, ASKAIC

SKA Pre-construction Phase Workshop CSIRO Marsfield – 4 October 2011

Affiliate NZSKAIC

INTEL

ALCATEL-LUCENT

Suggested Topics - CSIRO

¡  How should the proto-consortia best engage with industry? - perhaps the question should be “how the WPC (proto-consortia) – which includes the research institutions & industry” can be established & effectively deliver WP’s?” – the former question implies a separation between the ‘proto-consortia’ & industry

¡  Key issues which need attention/Perspectives ¡  An example of ‘good engagement’

(industry case studies to follow on “industrial experience of working in an international research collaboration”)

Revisiting ISKAF 2011 - Banff

Presentation: “The SKA System” - Peter Dewdney Introduction to 2 day Engineering/Industry Event

Expected Management Structure (P.Dewdney)

SKA Organisation Board/Council

SPO Director

SKA Project Office (SPO)

Work Package Contractor

Work Package Contractor

Work Package Contractor

Each WPC will be a consortium of astronomical institutions & industry

Probably (i) a single lead institution with a significant organisational structure; (ii) WPC’s are likely to be large; (iii) Risk carried by the WPC?

Defining “below the line of the WPC’s”?

Industry Issues/Perspectives

Procurement/Industry Engagement •  Concern with WP5 but understand that the ‘ball’ will

be passed shortly (JH – ‘missed opportunity’) •  Preference for ‘outcome-focussed’ specifications to

encourage innovation/flexibility in meeting performance requirements– not prescriptive in terms of solutions except where there is a clear need - can result in significant cost savings

(refer: Ian Tuohy, BAE Systems et al) •  How to effectively develop sustainable collaborative

research/industry arrangements? – foster spin-offs!

Industry Issues/Perspectives

•  Compatibility of the ‘best value for money’ procurement principle with the need to award work to founding nations under a (broad) ‘juste retour’ approach?

-  ‘best value for money’ disadvantages founding nations whose labour rates are higher than other nations that receive government subsidies. (Refer: Noel Wainwright – Lockheed Martin Australia)

Defining Work Packages

¡  How will the packages be ‘systems engineered’ to better couple the science requirements, engineering capabilities & cost? Could logical groupings be as follows? 1. Sensor Group – antenna, sensors, etc 2. Data, Compute, Networking, monitoring/control group 3. Logistics Group – power, trenching, field works (ref: Peter Elford Cisco)

¡  If logical groupings between WP’s occur (as suggested) – what implications does this have for a global ‘juste-retour’ approach?

Summary of Industry Opportunities SKA Signal Path (P.Dewdney ISKAF 2011)

Our Collective Challenge

¡  How do we develop “A Cooperative

Mindset” rather than collaborate from a purely technology perspective/or from a ‘what’s in it for us’? Viewpoint

- a Cooperative Mindset is a term emerging out of the need for transport interoperability/open standards – Europe

Does Australia have a “cooperative mindset”?

¡  Culturally - our focus is on “individualism” rather than “collectivism” which is the hallmark of some European & Asian societies

Cooperative Mindset/Collaboration – What is our record?

¡  Surprisingly poor! – an overriding policy need in Australia is to stimulate clusters, consortia-building, & project-specific alliances

¡  Individualism needs to evolve to collectivism

Refer: OECD Science, Technology & Industry

Outlook, 2007 - provided by Dr Chris Nicol, CTO Embedded Systems, NICTA

Comments on Australian Collaboration

¡  Firms (SMEs & larger organisations) collaborating in innovation activities by size

¡  Number of Aust. innovative firms collaborating with an external partner as part of the innovation process

¡  Firms collaborating in innovation with higher education institutions –

¡  Firms collaborating in innovation with government institutions

¡  Lowest number (as a % of all firms) of 26 OECD countries

¡  Only 9% of innovative firms

¡  Lowest (as a % of all firms) of the 26 countries - 2nd lowest is Greece

¡  2nd lowest (as a % of all firms) – lowest is Greece

Reference: OECD 2002-2004 figures

Results

This all points to

The urgent need to rapidly develop robust, sustainable collaborative frameworks in Australia which bridge cultural gaps & extend beyond the rhetoric

SKA can be an exemplar in this regard

Memorandum of Understanding

¡  Australasian SKA lndustry Consortium (ASKAIC) ¡  Affiliate – NZ SKA Industry Consortium ¡  United Kingdom SKA Industry Cluster (SKAUKIC) ¡  Italian SKA Industry Consortium (currently

NASTRO consortium) ¡  Canadian SKA lndustry Consortium (emerging) ¡  The Netherlands SKA Industry Consortium

- Maximising global industry input into Work Package planning in the SKA Pre-Construction Phase - Promoting an enhanced level of cooperation between industry & science

Positioning Australasian Industry 9 Signatories at Govt/Funding Agency Level ¡  Australia ¡  New Zealand ¡  United Kingdom ¡  The Netherlands ¡  Italy ¡  China ¡  France ¡  Germany ¡  South Africa ¡  observers/aspiring (Canada, India,Japan,Korea) (5 countries and one observer are already

encompassed within the MOU)

Industry Support for Process ¡  The Founding Board agreed to include an

industry advisory group into SKA Board structure in its members’ agreement.

¡  Australasia is in a good position to adopt a lead industry role in crossing international boundaries - via MOU signed in Banff

¡  Industry MOU between all Founding Board members? – understand capabilities, develop trust between countries

¡  ASKAIC in a good position to catalyse this – given its multinational spread across founding countries

What are the current tasks?

¡  Finalise Work Package Definition – adopt ‘total systems approach’

¡  Confirm the ANZ ‘prime/s’ – institutional bidders, or even industry organisation?. How do they accelerate the level of trust necessary for effective consortia delivery, possibly across stakeholder countries?

¡  Confirm consortia models, IP arrangements etc. & what happens ‘below the organisational line of the WPC’s?’

¡  Ensure compatibility with approaches of Founding Countries/Founding Board

Final Questions ¡  What examples demonstrate the outcomes

of research/industry partnerships, both from the perspectives of ANZ & international stakeholders? - development of a case study register

¡  Are such partnerships driving innovation & fostering new approaches to procurement & industry engagement? – what are our examples?

¡  How effectively have we leveraged the ASKAP/SKA investment - by government, research institutions & industry?

Where Are We Heading? What Road-Map are we Following?

Credit: SKA: the road to the Centre of the Universe John Goldsmith, ICRAR/Curtin PhD Student

Contact Details: John Humphreys Chair ASKAIC Managing Director Global Innovation Centre Pty Ltd www.askaic.com

Email: johnh@globalinnovation.com.au Tel: +61 7 5474 5164 Mobile: 0419 870 009

Thank you