Cisco has launched its Innovation Central research and development hub in Sydney, dedicated to the engineering and commercialisation of Internet of Things technologies.
Innovation Central will be located at ATP Innovations, which is an existing technology hub in Sydney.
It will house Cisco’s collaborative initiatives with CSIRO’s Data61, UNSW, the NSW Department of Primary Industries, ATP Innovations, the National Farmer’s Federation and NSW Farmers.
These initiatives will develop proof-of-concepts, features and functionalities, and also perform rapid prototyping.
Australia’s Chief scientist Dr Alan Finkel AO was on hand to launch the R&D hub. He highlighted the importance of Internet of Things for driverless technologies, while Cisco propounded the importance of these innovations for smart cities and data-driven agriculture.
Also present at the launch was NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer, Professor Mary O’Kane, and the NSW Minister of Primary Industries, Land and Water, The Hon. Nial Blair MLC.
The new Sydney facility is the tenth Cisco centre worldwide, and complements the company’s Perth centre, which was opened in December in collaboration with Curtin University. Other centres are located in Rio de Janeiro, Toronto, Songdo, Berlin, Barcelona, Tokyo, London and Paris.
According to Cisco, these centres will allows its 25,000 engineers to work with industry partners and local startups to build a cooperative tech ecosystem which spans the globe.
The Innovation Central hub in Sydney has four key areas of focus: astronomy, smart cities, resources, and agriculture, aiming to bring Internet of Things technologies into these fields.
IoT, often called Industry 4.0, refers to the digitisation and the connection of an increasing number of machines to the Internet, allowing smarter operations thanks to the leveraging of data, control and processing.
Proponents say that by adding computer chips, sensors and connectivity to things like automobiles, industrial machines, it is possible to awake their potential, allowing the application of automation, monitoring and control over the Internet.
The expansion of connectivity to ever increasing numbers of objects is a continuation of a trend which has been accelerating over the past two decades. In 2000, there were around 200 million connected objects, but by 2013 that number of connected “things” was 10 billion.
Cisco says by 2020 there will be 50 billion connected devices, with machine-to-machine connections making up a large number of these.
Altogether, Cisco is investing US$15 million over five years on the Australian hubs. The Centres will also get additional funding from partners, while specific projects will also get their own funding.
Cisco’s Australia and New Zealand Vice President Ken Boal says Australia is a market with great potential to benefit from the Internet of Things.
“Australia is a sophisticated market with a high level of innovation and is an early adopter of new technology,” Boal said.
In particular, Australia’s resources and agricultural sectors, which have been prioritised by the government over the years, are well-placed to derive enormous advantage from becoming connected and working smarter via Internet of Things technologies. This will allow Australia’s industries to grow in tandem with, and cater for the needs of rapidly growing markets in Asia.
In particular, Boal singled out the Australian government’s National Innovation and Science Agenda, saying Cisco’s investment will play a part in the recently-announced agenda, which requires industry to support collaborative innovation initiatives.
“The aim of Innovation Central Sydney is to turn innovation into real commercial solutions based on IoT in agriculture, smart cities and transportation in Australia,” Boal concluded.
Operations at the Sydney hub are expected to commence in mid-2016.
[Image: FreeImages.com/Joerg Beyer]