The federal government has injected $76 million into 10 information technology and communications centres designed to support and foster the development of IT startups throughout Australia.
Funded through the second sale of Telstra last year, the initiative was announced in November and is known as The Building on Information Technology Strengths (BITS) Incubator Centre program.
Nine "incubators" have been nominated across NSW, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, the ACT and Western Australia, with $5 million set aside for the Northern Territory.
Successful companies include ePark, inQbator, Perth Ideas Centre of Technology (PICTS), SA BITS, Capital Region Technology Business Centre (CRTBC), Bluefire Group, IT Catalyst, Information City and Australian Distributed Incubator - Emerge.
According to government officials, a similar incubator program will be established in Tasmania under a separate program - Intelligent Island.
"The Incubator Centre will provide support and information for new and growing firms, and stimulate the formation of clusters of innovate information technology businesses, " said the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Richard Alston.
"The BITS incubators will provide financial support, business skills development, marketing and sales advice, and generally act as mentors for new small businesses."
According to Alston, the centres will also provide assistance with developing business plans and skills, conducting market research, protecting intellectual property, establishing links with venture capitalists as well as financial, legal, marketing and taxation services.
Alston said that in addition to providing centres for metropolitan-based organisations, the program will also service rural and regional startups through the establishment of a "virtual incubator".
"The virtual incubator will assist startups in regional Australia that do not want - or are not able - to relocate to an incubator in a metropolitan area. The electronic network will be able to bring strategic advantages from a range of international venture capitalists, legal, commercial and academic entities."
Australian Distributed Incubator, which has offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, has been nominated as the "virtual incubator".
Alston said that more incubator centres will be established over the five years of the program.
Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. Zones provide focussed content from Computerworld and leading technology partners.
Discover how SOA can create smarter outcomes for your business.
Attend and learn:
- How SOA is helping leading companies to become more agile
- Where you should be applying SOA processes in your company
- The top SOA implementation mistakes to avoid
Click here for more information.
- +
Computerworld Live Podcast #97: The Future of Enterprise Networking 25/07/2008 09:45:36
This week CW Live chats with Mark Thompson, global sales and marketing manager for HP ProCurve, on the future of the enterprise networking. Mark discusses the trends we can expect to see in the near future and how the right infrastructure can ensure your enterprise network is secure. - +
Computerworld Live Podcast #96: Security at the Edge 11/06/2008 09:22:22
CW Live speaks with Amol Mitra, HP ProCurve Director of Marketing for Asia Pacific and Japan. Today's topic: how enterprises are starting to shift away from simply controlling security via server logins, firewalls and moving to more adaptive security frameworks. - +
Data Management Edition #10: Multi-Petascale Systems 02/05/2008 09:12:33
This week we look at sustainability and the development of multicore technologies to build multi-petascale systems. - +
IT Security Edition #11: How to poison the Storm botnet 01/05/2008 08:51:55
This week CW Live presents a case study on how to poison the notorious Storm botnet . Plus we take a look at Cisco's plans for Ironport. - +
IT Security Edition #10: Cyber-battles fought and won 24/04/2008 11:09:47
Vendors bow to end user pressure to improve product security, and we take a look at the latest concepts shaping the cyber-battlefield of the future.
FrontRange Solutions launches HEAT Plus Mobile to reduce help desk costs and improve service management productivity 2008-12-02 15:15:00+11
AARNet Helps to Advance Indigenous Health 2008-12-02 12:44:00+11
Orbis selects Telstra International as its data centre partner for the UK, Europe and Middle East Region 2008-12-02 11:23:00+11
ComOps Deploys Corporate Performance Reporting Solution For Healthcare Test Manufacturer 2008-12-02 10:09:00+11
Mornington Peninsula Shire implements Objective to manage knowledge and deliver service excellence 2008-12-02 09:56:00+11
Controlling storage costs with Oracle database 11g
Organisations must embrace new ways of storing data that don't involve adding more of the same hardware to accommodate data growth and dealing with duplication as well as uncompressed information. Simple steps such as tiering storage, moving data across these tiers and reducing the amount of data to be managed, can dramatically reduce capital and operating expenses. Read on to learn how to implement these steps in your business.
Buying Guides
