Published on the 31/08/2015 | Written by Beverley Head
After more than 12 months’ negotiations, the Government has confirmed that the IT research operations of CSIRO and NICTA are to be combined in an entity to be known as Data61…
To be led by Adrian Turner, a University of Technology Sydney alumnus and Silicon Valley veteran, the agreement to merge had been widely anticipated, but there is as yet scant detail on how the organisation will be funded or how many researchers and staff will be kept on.
CSIRO has been facing swingeing economic cuts while NICTA’s Government funding rug is to be pulled from under the 14-year old organisation in 2016.
While Australian government ministers have said that the combined entity will be a “force to be reckoned with” they haven’t indicated what if any funding will be provide, giving the announcement a shuffling deckchairs feel.
Communications minister Malcolm Turnbull said that there would be 300 technology PhDs affiliated to Data61, and enrolled at partner universities – but gave no indication as to whether that cohort would be secure with Data61, or the organisation’s future plans to promote technology education.
Adrian Turner said that he wanted to harness the start-up culture of NICTA and the multidisciplinary strength of CSIRO but he too gave no indication about how the organisation would be funded or how many of the approximately 700 combined headcount would be moved across to the new entity. There have already been estimates out of CSIRO that as many as 200 jobs could go.
According to CSIRO staff association secretary Sam Popovski; “There’s no additional Federal Government funding attached to this announcement. There is a funding shortfall and science jobs are on the line.
“The Government wants to take credit for the creation of a ‘digital powerhouse’ with no additional funding whatsoever. They’re too stingy to hook the house up to the grid and the end result may be more jobs lost in process.”
According to the association a briefing document provided to staff acknowledged that there was “a significant funding gap to close (over) the next twelve months” and that it had plans to seek private and government investment.
At least it’s already decided on a name – although that too is somewhat cryptic. Australia’s international dial code is 61 which may provide some clue as to what Data61 signifies, but it’s perhaps also worth noting that 61 is the atomic number of the element promethium which is notoriously unstable.
