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2009 media releases
NZi3 Acting Director (September)
Hon. John Key opens the new NZi3 Building (23 April)
University of Canterbury appoints new Vice-Chancellor (February)
2008 media releases
New NZi3 Business Development Manager (October)
IT and Sustainability - the HP experience (19 June)
Sensor Workshop hailed success by industry guests (1 May)
New Wireless Research Centre Manager (18 February)
2007 media releases
UCi3 renamed NZi3 (13 Nov)
Scholarship enables engineer to further develop high-flying technology (Sept)
Inaugural UCi3 Director takes up post (Sept)
Blue Gene Supercomputer launched (14 August)
University mourns Sir Angus Tait (10 August)
Global supercomputer rankings: UC in the Top 100 (2 July)
Robotic planes flying out of new research centre (5 April)
Jade awards
UCi3 scholarship (30 March)
Inaugural scholarships a boost for ICT students (2 March)
$9.7 million invested in tertiary education innovation (pdf 21kb) (26 Jan)
2006 media releases
$2 million funding for new geospatial research facility (5 Sept)
ICT Innovation Institute launched (12 July)
Supercomputer takes up residence at UC (20 June)
ICT giants under one roof at Canterbury University (22 May)
2005 media releases
Jade Software Corporation joins ICT Innovation Institute (6 Dec)
UC announces plans for $20 million ICT Centre of Excellence (12 Aug)
We are pleased to announce that Hamish House, who joined the team last year as NZi3 Business Development Manager, has been appointed as Acting Director until March 2010.
Hamish, most recently has four years of experience with the Canterbury Development Corporation where as Project Manager for ICT, he worked closely with both industry, academia and research to develop an extensive network of trusted and well established working relationships in the ICT sector.
The new NZi3 National ICT Innovation Institute building at the University of Canterbury has been officially opened, and recognised as the most environmentally-friendly educational building in the country.
Prime Minister the Hon. John Key was the official guest at the NZi3 building's official opening on 23rd April 2009. He was joined by three other Cabinet members, senior representatives of the Institute's founding partners Hewlett-Packard New Zealand, IBM, Jade Software Corporation, Tait Electronics and the University of Canterbury together with other stakeholders.
Mr Key said Christchurch's reputation as a hub of innovation in New Zealand would be cemented by the establishment of NZi3.
He said economies benefitted from partnerships between universities and industry.
University of Canterbury appoints new Vice-ChancellorThe University of Canterbury has appointed Dr Rod Carr as its next Vice-Chancellor. He will take up a five-year appointment in February 2009.
NZi3 are pleased to welcome Hamish House who recently joined the team as NZi3 Business Development Manager. Hamish brings with him four years of experience with the Canterbury Development Corporation where as Project Manager for ICT, he worked closely with both industry, academia and research to develop an extensive network of trusted and well established working relationships in the ICT sector.
A key part of his previous role was to identify, develop, fund and manage key economic development projects that in turn created substantial economic value and returns for Canterbury. Projects included the building of local capabilities, alignment of education with industry demands, skills building and knowledge transfer, the setting up of core infrastructure projects around broadband for the city of Christchurch, a test-bed for Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6), a very successful MOU with National Institute of Communication Technology (NICT) of Japan, a sensors network group and the commercialisation of the Dynamometer in partnership with IRL . In addition to developing economic development projects, he was also a facilitator and board member for Canterbury ICT, Electronics South and Canterbury Software Incorporated.
Prior to joining CDC, Hamish held a number of diverse roles in New Zealand including Marketing Manager, Independent Consultant for two large water schemes (Barrhill Chertsey and Central Plains Irrigation Scheme) and as a Stock Broker for a small independent firm in Christchurch. He also spent a number of years prior to this working in two of Washington’s more prominent litigation law firms (Paul, Hastings and Steptoe and Johnson) while attending law school in Maryland.
In his spare time, Hamish is an avid fly-fisherman and outdoorsman. Hamish holds a bachelors degree from Roger Williams University in Bristol Rhode Island USA in pre-law and an MBA from the University of Canterbury.
Balancing business objectives with those of environmental sustainability was explored in a lecture hosted recently by the New Zealand Institute of ICT Innovation Institute (NZi3).
Annukka Dickens, Hewlett Packard Environmental Manager (South Pacific), outlined the steps HP was taking to reduce the environmental impact of its operations and products. HP is a founding partner of NZi3.
The event attracted more than 40 people from the University and local industry.
Ms Dickens said HP had been a leader in environmental sustainability for decades. HP’s Design for the Environment programme, which was established in 1992, meets key priorities around product energy efficiency, materials innovation and design for recyclability, to reduce the quantity and environmental impact of the materials in its products.
“HP has developed its own set of standards to guide partnerships with its supply chain and facilitate positive practices around ethics, occupational health and safety, labour rights and the environment. These internal standards led to the development of the industry’s first Electronics Industry Code of Conduct in 2004 to extend HP’s social and environmental standards to the supply chain industry-wide,” she said.
“In addition, this year HP is disclosing its list of top suppliers, making it the first major company in the technology industry to do so. We expect this step will promote transparency and progress in raising standards in the IT industry’s supply chain and also encourage other companies to do more to advance responsibility within their own supply chains.”
Ms Dickens said in terms of recycling, HP offered the HP Planet Partners™ Programme which provided a return and recycling service for organisations. HP’s goal was to recover two billion pounds of electronic products and supplies by 2010.
Under the programme, organisations are offered a return and recycling service for office products including printers, personal computers, scanners, fax machines, servers, monitors and associated components, such as cables and keyboards – regardless of whether they are HP products or not. Other HP programmes include hardware and asset recovery services to corporate and public sector customers, printer cartridge recycling, and a pilot carbon offset programme for laser jet printers
A Sensor workshop was held on 29th April at CDC and featured keynote speaker Professor Wendi Heinzelman from the University of Rochester, USA. Professor Heinzelman is currently on an Erskine Fellowship at the University of Canterbury and is being hosted by computer scientist Krys Pawlikowski.
The event attracted 57 people (40+ of whom were from industry) and was supported by Electronics South, NZi3's Wireless Research Centre, Canterbury Development Corporation (CDC) and UC's Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering.
The first session was about key concepts and innovation and the second covered practical implementation issues with regards to wireless sensor networks. Other presenters included Larry Podmore from CDC and Wireless Research Centre Manager Jeremy Reece.
Jeremy Reece has recently commenced his position as Manager of the Wireless Research Centre. He has a strong background in University Industry collaboration, having worked in this field at the University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom, for 13 years. At Wolverhampton , he rose to the level of principal lecturer, primarily through project managing and consulting on a wide variety of ICT-related, technology transfer projects.
He has undertaken several industrial secondments, including representing the West Midlands region's 13 Universities on its ICT Cluster's strategic board, the remit of the cluster being to define and implement a $200 million strategy for the development of the region's ICT industry.
Jeremy's final position at Wolverhampton was a secondment on to the IT Futures project, which created a team to specialise in collaborating and supporting industry in the use and development of ICT technologies, through the leveraging of University expertise. He has also worked for Lucas Aerospace, where he undertook research and development into fly-by-wire and fly-by-light actuation systems and engine control systems.
Since emigrating to New Zealand in 2006, Jeremy has been working for Tait Electronics Ltd in their development department, helping to define the solutions for their range of terminal radios. We welcome Jeremy aboard NZi3 and wish him every success with his work in the Wireless Research Centre.
UCi3 has undergone a name change and re-brand to NZi3 in a move to establish it as the national ICT Innovation Institute, which is based at the University of Canterbury.
The transitioning of UCi3 to NZi3, the national ICT Innovation Institute, has been planned since the Partnerships for Excellence proposal was first submitted to the Government. The move is supported by the industry partners and Government.
Since NZi3’s Director, Dr Darin Graham, took over the reins of the Institute in August of this year, he has worked towards establishing NZi3 as the national institute and the strategic plan he has developed reflects this.
"NZi3 is a true collaboration of the leading ICT researchers, students and industry partners within New Zealand so positioning the Institute as a national institute is a logical progression,” Dr Graham says.
"The world-class industry partners of IBM, HP, Jade and Tait, together with the University of Canterbury as the academic lead and base of the Institute, support the NZi3 initiative as a cornerstone of ICT research and innovation not just for New Zealand, but also in the global landscape.
As the inaugural recipient of the UCi3 $30,000 PhD scholarship John Stowers is pleased to be finally getting his teeth into some technical research.
He is working with the Geospatial Research Centre on his electrical engineering PhD looking at the use of vision for the control and navigation of unpiloted aerial vehicles.
After graduating from UC with a first class Honours degree in electrical engineering, John decided to do a Master’s in Engineering Management. As an undergraduate he was part of a 2005 University of Canterbury Entrepreneurship Challenge (entré) team that developed a hardware and software autopilot system for a model aircraft and as a result he co-founded Greenbird Systems Ltd. His Master’s looked at refining the auto pilot system as well as commercialisation and monetisation of open source projects.
"During my Master’s I missed being involved with technical research so I was pleased to have this opportunity to build upon my previous work by undertaking my PhD with the Geospatial Research Centre team.”
Worth $30,000 per annum, John said that the UCi3 PhD scholarship was "brilliant” as it allowed a certain amount of freedom to study in the direction he wished. “The UCi3 scholarship is a natural progression for me and I’m thrilled.”
As John has spent the last six months travelling with friends he has to catch-up on the recent advancements in unpiloted aerial vehicle technology. "Six months is a long time, so I have been spending a lot of time reading and researching what has been going on while I was away.”
The development of unpiloted aerial vehicles is a key research area for the Geospatial Research Centre and is a platform for much of its inter-disciplinary projects. The technology may offer significant benefits to New Zealand’s farming, viticulture, defence and environmental monitoring industries, as well as search and rescue teams.
The Geospatial Research Centre was established in 2006 by a team of five leading geospatial researchers from Nottingham University in the UK. The Centre provides a world-class geospatial technology and research capability within UCi3.
UCi3 has awarded more than $750,000 in scholarships this year. UCi3, the New Zealand ICT Innovation Institute, at the University of Canterbury is a centre for excellence in Information and Communications Technology (ICT). The first teaching and research facility of its kind in NZ, it links academic and industry expertise to enhance high-tech capabilities and developments.
The UCi3 PhD scholarship is funded by the Community Trust and is designed to encourage students to undertake applied research either in conjunction with a company or with the intention of developing and commercialising a product. Scholars are expected to participate in entre or an equivalent business plan competition.
Dr Darin Graham, UCi3 Director, says John is a very worthy recipient of the inaugural UCi3 PhD scholarship.
"John has already successfully developed an autopilot system for an unmanned aerial vehicle and co-founded a company to commercialise the technology. His demonstrated applied research and entrepreneurial skills are exactly what we are looking for in students for the UCi3 scholarships.
"John’s skills and achievements to date fit well within the parameters of UCi3, which are based on transforming ideas into interaction and investment.”
The recently-arrived director of the New
Zealand ICT Innovation Institute (UCi3) is
describing his move to the University of
Canterbury as a personal and professional
adventure.
Dr Darin Graham has moved from Canada
where he was president of commercialisation
company, Innovation Initiators.
He says there are only a handful of
research centres like UCi3 in the world and
opportunities to be involved with them are
limited.
“And plain and simply, the culture of New
Zealand is wonderful. It’s a phenomenal place.
We have lots of friends down here who said
you have got to come down.”
The arrival of Dr Graham is a milestone in the
institute’s development, which began after the
Government’s ICT Sector Taskforce identified
a need to build and sustain a highly skilled ICT
workforce.
Dr Graham said his main priority since arriving
had been to talk to everybody with an interest
in the institute’s development.
“It’s important to get all the inputs, ideas and
directions and assemble them into a really
strong strategy to help grow the UCi3.”
Dr Graham said he was hopeful that within a year the institute would be “on the ground
running”.
“Hopefully the building will be all done, that
we will have the different theme areas well
organised and have very strategic plans for
each one of them. I’m confident that the
institute will be a national ICT institute by then
too, which was the aim right back when the
first proposal was submitted to Government.”
He said with the institute having some
heavyweight founding partners — IBM, HP,
Jade Software Corporation and Tait Electronics
— he was looking forward to
forming relationships with small-to-medium
enterprises.
“A very large proportion of the economy here in
New Zealand, like other industrialised nations,
is made up of companies with less than 100
people. So we have to start to engage with them.”
14 August
The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Tertiary Education Dr Michael Cullen was the official guest at yesterday's launch of the University's new IBM Blue Gene supercomputer.
UC is the first research institution in the Southern Hemisphere to have a Blue Gene supercomputer. Other universities which already have Blue Genes include Harvard University, Princeton University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States.
At yesterday's launch, Dr Cullen congratulated the University on its commitment to world class research and said the acquisition of the Blue Gene put UC among the "big players in supercomputing research."
He said world class research and innovation depended on developing international connections.
"No matter how smart we are, we will never have a monopoly on the best ideas. So if we want access to the best we need to collaborate with others and exploit the opportunities that deepening connections in a globalised world can bring us. This supercomputer is an example of those connections working."
Vice-Chancellor Professor Roy Sharp described the launch as a "great day".
He said while the Blue Gene itself was somewhat nondescript in appearance, the combination of its technology with the talents of the researchers using it would bring advancements across a range of research disciplines.
He also noted the support of the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, Victoria University of Wellington and AUT University which are foundation partners in the Blue Gene project.
IBM New Zealand Managing Director Katrina Troughton said she was excited at the prospect of New Zealand researchers now having the technical infrastructure to help address critical health and environmental issues.
While UC's Blue Gene has only just been installed, it has already been officially recognised as one of the 100 most powerful supercomputers in the world.
The 29th edition of the prestigious Top 500 list released last month ranked UC's machine, dubbed Blue Fern, the most powerful supercomputer in the Oceania region and 99th overall worldwide.
The University of Canterbury has been very saddened to learn of the death of Sir Angus Tait, founder of Tait Communications and a strong supporter of the University.
Sir Angus’ first significant financial support of the University began with the 1992/1993 Scholarship Endowment Campaign. He not only chaired the fund but contributed $1 million to establish the Tait Chair in radio communications.
He served two terms on the University Council as a ministerial appointment and was a member of the University of Canterbury Foundation’s patrons group since its inception.
Most recently the Tait Foundation, the charitable trust that now owns 80 percent of Tait Electronics, pledged $1 million for the establishment of a Wireless Research Centre within UC's ICT Innovation Institute.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Roy Sharp says Sir Angus' passing is a significant loss.
"There is no doubt the University has benefited tremendously from Sir Angus’ experience, and his recognition of the value of education and research."
The University of Canterbury's new IBM Blue Gene supercomputer is not yet operational, but already it is being officially recognised as one of the 100 most powerful supercomputers in the world.
The 29th edition of the prestigious Top 500 list has been released at the International Supercomputing Conference in Dresden, Germany.
UC's machine, which has been dubbed Blue Fern, is the only New Zealand listing. It is ranked the most powerful supercomputer in the Oceania region and is 99th overall worldwide. It is just six places behind the supercomputing facility at Harvard University in the United States.
It is one of the 40 most powerful supercomputers operated by academic institutions throughout the world.
UC Vice-Chancellor, Professor Roy Sharp, says the rankings provide a useful overview of supercomputing worldwide.
"To see Canterbury University in the same list as Cambridge University and Harvard University illustrates worldwide acknowledgement that supercomputing is a critical element of modern day research.
"As an outward-looking institution, which seeks to form partnerships with researchers and industry internationally, the Blue Gene is going to give us a distinct advantage."
UC is the first research institution in the Southern Hemisphere to have an IBM Blue Gene supercomputer. It is expected to be operational by the end of July.
5 April 2007
The development of an unmanned, robotic plane for farmers to collect data on animal health, crop and soil conditions, water uptake and water use is one example of the work to be done at a new multi-million dollar research centre launched last night by the University of Canterbury.
The new Geospatial Research Centre is a partnership between the University of Canterbury, the University of Nottingham (UK) and Canterbury Development Corporation, and is based at the New Zealand ICT Innovation Institute within UC's College of Engineering.
Broadly speaking, geospatial research is the gathering and interpretation of geographic information through the use of new technologies such as satellite navigation devices.
Director of the Centre, Dr David Park, and four other researchers from the University of Nottingham 's Institute of Engineering Surveying and Space Geodesy (IESSG) have moved to Christchurch to establish the new centre.
“The range of actual physical environments that is available for research in the South Island within a few hours of Christchurch in terms of oceans, rain forest, glaciers, mountains, cliffs and agriculture of all types, makes it all very exciting.”
Dr Park says the centre is already trialling an unmanned aircraft fitted with a Global Positioning System (GPS), imaging systems and communications facilities.
“The idea is to develop a model which would retail for about $10,000 and which would be no more than a couple of metres in size, and packed with electronics and sensor devices.”
Dr Park says the aircraft would fly over a property and technology on board would collate and feed information to a central computer which would interpret the data and produce useful information to help manage a property more efficiently.
The new centre has received $2 million in government funding and $900,000 in regional funding. Dr Park says the centre needs to be self-supporting within two-and-a-half years.
30 March
Jade Software Corporation (JSC) today awarded their first $30,000 UCi3 scholarship to Di Zhou (Joe), a Master of Science student in the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering, College of Engineering at University of Canterbury.
The scholarship was awarded as part of Jade’s partnership to UCi3, New Zealand’s ICT Innovation Institute, which is based at the University of Canterbury. Jade is one of five founding partners of UCi3.
Supervised by Dr Richard Pascoe of the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering, Joe’s Masters Thesis investigates issues related to the process of developing Multi Agent Systems (MASs) using the Model Driven Architecture (MDA) within the context provided by the JADE™ platform.
The objective being to enhance the support provided by MASs for managing the complex real time logistical activities of a container port, for example, and the MDA process by which these systems can be constructed. Jade
Managing Director, Rod Carr, believes investment in local talent and ideas is good business. “Jade is delighted to provide support to the university and community that has supported Jade for so long. The Jade UCi3 scholarships are about accelerating the growth in the breadth and depth of capability to create good businesses out of great ideas and are dear to the heart of Jade Software Corporation as well as important to the local community and economic growth of the country.”
2 March 2007
Next generation mobile communications, power management solutions and the inter-operation between computer programs are all topics that will be tackled by the inaugural recipients of UCi3 Master's Scholarships.
The scholarships were established last year on behalf of sponsors of the ICT Innovation Institute (UCi3) at the University of Canterbury to encourage research in the information and communication technology (ICT) field, either in conjunction with a company or with the intention of developing and commercialising a product. 
The scholarships, worth $30,000 each for a year, were awarded to three master of engineering students.
Electrical and computer engineering stunt Arpan Mandal said he and his family were “overjoyed” when they found out he had received the scholarship.
Arpan, who did his undergraduate studies in engineering electronics and communication at Bangalore University in India, will return to study after six years in the workforce.
Arpan's master's project will involve him working on an aspect of 4G (fourth-generation) mobile communications technology.
Under the supervision of Professor Harsha Sirisena (Electrical and Computer Engineering) and Dr Kishore Mehrotra (Tait Electronics), Arpan will conduct research on advancing high-speed wireless broadband technology known as WiMAX.
“The technology is not yet fully developed and there are thousands and thousands of engineers working on this worldwide but to our knowledge we are the only academic institution in New Zealand working on this technology,” Arpan said.
Thomas Venning, a fifth-year student in electrical and computer engineering, will work with the Christchurch branch of Eaton Powerware, a leading global provider of power quality and management solutions.
Eaton is developing a new range of rectifiers (electrical devices which convert alternating current to direct current) and Thomas will be involved in researching and testing different base designs to develop a low-cost, low-power rectifier under the supervision of Dean of Engineering, Associate Professor Richard Duke.
Computer science and software engineering student Di Zhou (Joe) said he was very proud to receive one of the inaugural awards.
“I was really excited because the scholarship has presented me with an opportunity to apply my theoretical knowledge in search of solutions to real-life business problems.”
Joe's master's thesis will see him working with JADE Software Corporation to better understand how software agents work in the business sector and communicate with object-oriented database management systems. He will also iinvestigate the suitability of an intelligent multi-agent system to inter-operate with JADE computational platform in logistic areas, for example in a port. He will be supervised by Dr Richard Pascoe (Computer Science and Software Engineering).
Pro-Vice Chancellor (Engineering) Professor Peter Jackson said the scholarships were an important part of the University's strategy for making UCi3 “an icon for the ICT industry in New Zealand”.
“By setting their value at the top end of the range and having them awarded in association with ICT companies, we hope to attract top students into postgraduate research in this general area.
“In particular, we are looking for students who are interested in product development with an industrial focus and are very pleased with the standard set by our inaugural scholars.”
5 September 2006
The Government has provided the University of Canterbury with $2 million for the establishment of a Geospatial Research Centre.
Economic Development Minister the Hon. Trevor Mallard announced the funding during a visit to the University today.
The centre is a partnership between the University of Canterbury, the University of Nottingham (UK) and Canterbury Development Corporation, and will be established within the New Zealand ICT Innovation Institute (UCi3).
It will feature a focus on technologies associated with gathering geospatial data, complementing New Zealand 's existing strengths in the analysis and use of such information.
Geospatial technology has potential applications in activities as diverse as surveying, environmental monitoring, precision agriculture and global positioning systems.
Five researchers from the University of Nottingham 's Institute of Engineering Surveying and Space Geodesy (IESSG) will relocate to Canterbury University.
The IESSG is an internationally recognised research and teaching centre that has been at the leading edge of location-based research since its inception.
Much of its activity has centred on satellite navigation and positioning systems, but it also undertakes more fundamental research projects and other specialised research applications in fields such as engineering surveying and precision agriculture.
Mr Mallard says the new centre fits well with the Government's aim for a high income, high wage, export-led economy.
"The centre provides a unique opportunity for Canterbury and New Zealand to gain a competitive advantage by accessing world-class knowledge in a developing industry and using it to benefit industry, tertiary education institutions and research bodies.
"It will encourage local reinvestment, assist with product development and provide opportunities to those businesses providing products and research services to the geospatial industry," Mr Mallard says.
Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Engineering) Professor Peter Jackson says the centre will allow Canterbury University researchers to have an involvement in the development of the geospatial industry which is anticipated to grow significantly.
12 July 2006
UCi3, the New Zealand ICT Innovation Institute, was officially launched last night bringing the information and communication technology (ICT) industry closer to accessing world-leading research expertise and entrepreneurial graduates.
The launch event, held at Christchurch Art Gallery, was hosted by the University of Canterbury and brought together more than 200 key research, industry, and local and central government representatives from around New Zealand and overseas.
UCi3 was declared open by the Associate Minister for Tertiary Education Hon Jim Anderton, who spoke about the Government's support for UCi3 and the shared vision of producing more talented ICT graduates.
During his speech, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Engineering) Professor Peter Jackson said the launch of UCi3 was a significant milestone after 18 months of collaborative hard work from the University and its industry partners.
“In just six months we developed significant partnerships with IBM, HP, Jade Software Corporation and Tait Electronics, and raised $9.7 million to match the Government's money granted through its Partnerships for Excellence scheme.
“UCi3 is now at a stage where a director is being recruited, architectural building concepts designed and the industry-led research themes developed,” Professor Jackson said.
Other speakers at the event included Christchurch Mayor Garry Moore and the Hon Russell Marshall, Chair of the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC).
Vice-Chancellor Professor Roy Sharp paid tribute to UCi3's four founding partners ― IBM, HP, Jade Software Corporation and Tait Electronics ― and the support received from Christchurch City Council, CDC and Canterbury Employer's Chamber of Commerce.
The University of Canterbury's vision for UCi3 is for it to be a ‘hothouse' of ICT research and innovation and will be an icon for New Zealand industry.
It will be a place where students and staff cross-fertilise ideas and technologies between disciplines and departments, and industry experts and academia work hand in hand to create spin-off companies, projects and intellectual property.
20 June 2006
The most powerful scientific research computer in New Zealand has just been installed in the University of Canterbury's College of Engineering building.
The supercomputer has been supplied to the University by IBM, which was recently announced as one of four key partners in the NZ ICT Innovation Institute being established at UC.
The Institute, which will also be known as UCi3, will be the home of multi-disciplinary ICT-based research partnerships between University researchers and the ICT sector.
Professor Tim David, who chairs the University of Canterbury Supercomputer (UCSC) Team, says the supercomputer is expected to go live on 1 July.
The IBM machine is a 128 processor Power 5 machine capable of just under one billion floating point operations per second. It has a storage capacity of 11.5 Terabyte, enough to store 3,500 full-length feature films.
Professor David says the supercomputer will be available to be used by the whole university research community.
“This computer is a central facility and can be used by anyone who has an appropriate problem that they wish to solve. This can range from looking at large demographic data sets, investigating the acoustics of large sculptures, through searching for genetic patterns in large databases to solving the millions of partial differential equations required to investigate the flow in the human body.
“Over the coming months staff will grow more expert in its use and seminars will help new researchers solve problems they could only dream about.”
IBM New Zealand's managing director, Katrina Troughton, says as well as supplying the supercomputer, IBM will be sending a number of its international experts in advanced computing and associated research on visits to the NZ ICT Innovation Institute.
The other key industry partners in the new centre are Hewlett Packard (HP), Jade Software Corporation and Tait Electronics.
HP's multi-year commitment to the Institute includes a grant for University staff to undertake research into teaching technology. HP will also provide technology, services and opportunities for students to be involved in its business over the next five years.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Roy Sharp says the University believes it is the natural location for the New Zealand ICT Innovation Institute because of the region's strong involvement in the ICT sector.
“That's why we are delighted to have two of Canterbury and New Zealand 's pioneering ICT companies with us – Tait Electronics and Jade Software Corporation.”
Tait's Managing Director, Michael Chick, says the company's sponsorship of the Wireless Research Centre within the Institute is a natural extension of its existing strong relationship with UC.
Jade Software Corporation's Managing Director, Dr Rod Carr, says the company is looking forward to a long and mutually beneficial association with the Institute.
22 May 2006
Leading international and New Zealand information and communications technology companies IBM, Hewlett Packard (HP), Jade Software Corporation and Tait Electronics are to be key partners in a new multi-million dollar research centre at the University of Canterbury.
The New Zealand ICT Innovation Institute, which will also be known as UCi3, will be New Zealand 's premier centre of excellence in collaborative ICT research. It will be the home of multi-disciplinary ICT-based research partnerships between University researchers and the ICT sector.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Roy Sharp says the Institute will allow the kind of collaboration between researchers and industry never seen before in New Zealand in this field.
“I am very excited by the opportunities the New Zealand ICT Innovation Institute will provide for our post-grad researchers as well as the ICT sector which needs something like this if it is to realise its full potential.
“In just six months we have managed to get IBM, HP, Tait and Jade all under the one roof which is impressive whichever way you look at it.”
The University was given six months to secure matching support for a Government commitment of $9.7 million to the Institute.
The government funds have been allocated from its Partnerships for Excellence Scheme which makes contributions to projects which foster relationships between tertiary institutions, business and industry.
The scheme requires matching funding to be secured from other sources before any of its funding becomes available.
The New Zealand ICT Innovation Institute will be housed in a purpose-built facility.
Already, the University has taken delivery of an IBM high performance computer, which will be the most powerful research computer in New Zealand.
6 December 2005
Christchurch-based Jade Software Corporation is to make a significant investment in the University of Canterbury's new multi-million dollar Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Innovation Institute.
The Institute will link the University's research capabilities with industry needs and increase the supply of ICT-based ideas and start-up companies.
Jade Software Corporation's commitment will fund what will be known as the JADE Foundation, which will operate within the new ICT Innovation Institute.
The JADE Foundation will develop research and teaching projects and provide scholarships for PhD students. The JADE Foundation and UC have already identified potential research project topics.
UC Vice-Chancellor Professor Roy Sharp says the arrangement with Jade is an excellent example of how the ICT Innovation Institute will develop mutually beneficial partnerships between the University and the ICT sector.
“We have great hopes for this partnership with Jade, one of Christchurch's and indeed New Zealand's ICT success stories. It is exactly the kind of arrangement we envisaged when we set-out to establish the ICT Innovation Institute.
“It will allow us to do research we know will be of real benefit to the sector and produce the kind of graduate the sector really needs.”
The Managing Director of Jade Software Corporation, Dr Rod Carr, says “Jade is highly committed to the education sector. Tertiary institutions teach JADE and we have created a student administration system that has been implemented in a number of institutions. Through the JADE Foundation we are seeking to further collaborate and extend our involvement and research activity in the sector especially in the further development of our world class technology.”
Plans for the purpose-built research facility are well advanced after a successful multi-million dollar bid for funding from the Government's Partnerships for Excellence Scheme.
The scheme was established to enhance innovation, encourage greater private sector investment in tertiary education and to foster relationships between tertiary institutions, business and industry.
A fundraising programme is currently underway to match the $9.7 million awarded through the scheme, which makes contributions on the proviso that matching funding is secured from other sources. The Christchurch City Council has also provided underwriting support.
12 August 2005
The University of Canterbury is to establish a multi-million dollar national ICT (Information and Communications Technology) teaching and research facility to support the Government's vision for New Zealand's ICT sector.
In 2002 the Government identified ICT as one of three areas having the potential to make the greatest positive impact on the economy. The others were biotech and creative industries.
That same year its ICT Taskforce set a target of 100 New Zealand ICT companies having an annual turnover of $100 million each by 2012, which would see the ICT sector increasing its Gross Domestic Product contribution from 4.3% to 10%.
In a major report the Taskforce, consisting of top technology entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and business leaders, stated that as well as being a sector in its own right ICT is an integral component of every other sector of the New Zealand economy.
But it said the second biggest constraint to growth in the ICT sector, behind a lack of leadership and experience, is a shortage of appropriately educated graduates.
The report of June 2002 said the nearest tertiary-level teaching of certain types of basic undergraduate knowledge is in Australia , and warned that it was imperative that New Zealand took urgent and active measures to ensure an adequate and continuous supply of ICT talent.
The major focus of Canterbury University's ICT Innovation Institute will be increasing the number of talented graduates for the ICT sector.
As well as producing new entrepreneurial graduates, the environment created by the Institute will generate new start-up companies, attract skilled personnel from overseas and encourage the attention and presence of multinational corporations.
Canterbury University graduates feature prominently in start-up companies developed in recent years. The ICT Innovation Institute will allow the University to make an even greater contribution to the advancement of the ICT sector.
Establishing the Institute will cost close to $20 million.
Because of the significant forward investment required to create this world class purpose-built facility, the project falls outside normal funding criteria and could not be established without direct Government contribution.
The Government, through its Partnerships for Excellence programme, has awarded the University $9.7 million in funding. Nearly 90 percent of the matching funding will be sourced from the private sector.