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: [email protected] Tel: +61 7 5474 5164 Mobile: 0419 870 009
Thank you
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