News & Views item - September 2010

 

 

 Science Minister Kim Carr "launches" AuScope at  Parliament House Yesterday. (September 30, 2010)

Yesterday, at Parliament House, the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr opened his short address with "It is a great pleasure to join you in Canberra today to launch the AuScope Infrastructure System," and continued, "the AuScope Infrastructure System will transform the practice of geoscience for researchers, industry and the wider community. It could not happen without Government support. The Australian Government invested $43.3 million in this project under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy. In June this year, I committed a further $23 million from the Education Investment Fund to support the AuScope Australian Geophysical Observing System... Government is the critical enabler of great scientific endeavours like this project. It’s our role to build Australia’s capacity, unleash Australia’s creativity, and make the most of Australia’s achievements."

 

According to AuScope's website:

 

             Why AuScope was established

AuScope Limited is a non-profit company formed to facilitate the implementation of a world-class infrastructure system for earth science through the delivery of a range of technologies and capabilities in data acquisition, management, modelling and simulation across the geospatial and geoscience spectrum.

AuScope was awarded $42.8 million in 2007 by the Australian Government under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) as Capability 5.13, “Structure and Evolution of the Australian Continent”, which brings together 23 participants including CSIRO, Geoscience Australia, 11 universities, and state government agencies. In addition to its NCRIS funding, over $70 million in co-investment has been committed by the participants in AuScope.

AuScope is built on the principle that simply acquiring the infrastructure and making it accessible to meritorious researchers is only part of the solution. The paradigm shift will come from harnessing, organising and providing ready access to the data, information and knowledge that result from use of the infrastructure. In turn, making the new data, information and knowledge available outside the research community will result in new and improved science, business, educational and policy applications.

Six components are identified that covered the main science and infrastructure delivery needs.

 

Members and Associate Members

AuScope Ltd members
The Australian National University (ANU)
Curtin University of Technology
Macquarie University
Monash University
University of Adelaide
University of Melbourne
University of Queensland
University of Sydney
University of Tasmania
University of Western Australia
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
Geoscience Australia (GA)
Victorian Government:
(Geoscience Victoria;)
Queensland Government
(Geological Survey of Queensland; Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Water)
West Australian Government
(Geological Survey of Western Australia; Landgate WA)
New South Wales Government
(Geological Survey of New South Wales; New South Wales Department of Lands)
Tasmanian Government
(Mineral Resources Tasmania; Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Water & Environment)
Northern Territory Government
(Department of Planning, Infrastructure & Environment; Department of Primary Industries, Fisheries and Mines)
South Australian Government
(Primary Industries and Resources South Australia)

The organisation's vision statement to identify the goals that underpin its work and direction reads: 'A National Geoscience and Geospatial Infrastructure System to transform our Understanding of the Structure and Evolution of the Australian Continent’, and a core purpose ‘To reveal new insights into the Australian Continent, through continually improving earth science infrastructure, to benefit the Australian community of the future’.