The latest blog post from the ITEE College Chair - Peter Hitchiner - Year of Humanitarian Engineering
Posted: 25 Feb 2011 11:33 AM PST
Several of our members have set a great example with the initiative of providing critical support to mobile phone and internet users in Brisbane in the immediate aftermath of the floods. The importance of robust, in particular wireless, telecommunications and data centre (including disaster recovery) infrastructure in the wake of floods, cyclones and other catastrophic failure situations has become very apparent.
The development and resilience of such infrastructure will be of increasing importance in all countries and, with the continual growth in the electronic services and associated digital economies, there will be an increasing role for ITE/ICT engineers. This will include support for developing economies in such matters as eHealth, eEducation, financial services (eg microfinancing), and access to spatial information to support new (electronic) services and smart solutions. The need for more people skilled in these areas throughout the community will become a growing challenge if the opportunities are not to be inhibited. These needs also exist in many parts of Australian society. So, here is a challenge to all ITEE College members to create and contribute to various EA initiatives in this Year of Humanitarian Engineering.
I also take this opportunity to encourage ITEE College members to contribute to the issues currently subject to EA policy development in urban policy, population strategies and sustainability. The contribution of the ITE/ICT industries to enabling sustainability in the face of urban development and population growth is essential here and overseas!
