Message from the Minister: Victoria s eresearch Agenda

Transcription

1 DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS AND INNOVATION Cover image: Blue Gene/P chip Victoria leading eresearch capability Message from the Minister: Victoria s eresearch Agenda Technology and the use of advanced information and communication technology (ICT) have transformed the face of research in Victoria, boosting research productivity and enhancing Victoria s international reputation for research and development. With significant eresearch assets, including landmark infrastructure like the Australian Synchrotron, IBM Research Australia (one of only 12 IBM global research labs), the Victorian Life Sciences Computation Initiative, and most importantly, skilled eresearch personnel, Victoria has all the components that come together to make it the Australian leader in eresearch capability. This eresearch Agenda meets our commitment under Victoria s Technology Plan for the Future (Biotechnology and Information and Communication Technology) and cements Victoria s competitive advantage in eresearch. Government support of $3.9 million will continue to develop this capacity over the coming years in the key areas of skills development, data management and collaboration. The State s universities and research sector are driving eresearch in Victoria, setting future priorities and leading the way forward. The eresearch Agenda supports this momentum and will continue Victoria s progress to sustainable adoption of eresearch as well as explore how eresearch could extend beyond the research sector to enable businesses to become more competitive. The Hon Gordon Rich-Phillips MLC Minister for Technology

2 The Victorian Government has a long history of investment in eresearch. This eresearch Agenda outlines Victoria s current and forthcoming capabilities in eresearch, cementing the State s position as Australia s leader in eresearch excellence. New Victorian Government investments in eresearch ( ) CAPABILITIES Platforms and tools Data Skills INITIATIVES Australian Research Infrastructure Network (ARIN) Increased data storage for researchers Victorian eresearch Strategic Initiative (VeRSI) eresearch Industry Study Research in Victoria Research in Victoria is thriving. Each year over $7 billion 1 is spent on R&D activity in the State, from research activities in the business, higher education, government and private sectors. Victoria has nine research universities, 13 medical research institutes, a number of government research departments and over 40 private sector contract research organisations. This research activity is focused into mature research precincts such as Parkville, Clayton, Bundoora and Geelong each with specialised areas of expertise. The Parkville (University of Melbourne) precinct is home to over 10,000 researchers and clinicians co-located across one square kilometre in 46 individual facilities in health, medical and biotech and life sciences. The Clayton (Monash University) precinct hosts more than 3,000 research staff, 120 research centres and institutes and 150 fields of research in materials, engineering, health and wellbeing, future technologies, sustainable environments and resilient cultures and communities. 1 Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2012, Research and Experimental Development, All Sector Summary, , Released October eresearch Research has changed in response to contemporary research problems and the rapid advancement of technology. The global challenges of human health and disease, and energy, food and water sustainability are now so large and so complex they can no longer be addressed by individual researchers, groups, or even single institutions. eresearch refers to the use of advanced ICT capabilities by researchers such as: > high performance computers > collaboration tools > high capacity broadband networks > data storage and manipulation > skilled experts. eresearch accelerates data processing to allow experimental decisions to be made in real time. It enables researchers to process very large datasets or use computationally intensive algorithms which cannot be easily handled otherwise. eresearch improves collaboration by providing the tools for remote participation by parties across institutions in Australia and abroad.

3 High Performance Computing One of the most demonstrable benefits of the power of eresearch is the use of high performance computers to undertake simulations, modelling and visualisation to improve research productivity. Computation is opening up opportunities to explore new areas of research never previously thought possible. The enormous computational capacity of the Victorian Life Sciences Computation Initiative (VLSCI) the Southern Hemisphere s fastest supercomputer dedicated to life sciences and Australia s fastest supercomputer is allowing researchers to conduct experiments significantly faster than in the past turning months or weeks of research time into hours or even minutes. The VLSCI is a $100 million initiative of the University of Melbourne, the Victorian Government and global research leader IBM, providing Victorian life scientists and computer scientists with exciting opportunities to improve diagnostics, find new drug targets, refine treatments and further our understanding of the major health issues affecting our community such as cancer, epilepsy, genetic disorders, infectious diseases and eye disease. As Australia s leading High Performance Computing facility for computational imaging and visualisation, the Multi-modal Australian ScienceS Imaging and Visualisation Environment (MASSIVE) is providing scientists with unprecedented views of large captured datasets that allow meaningful interpretation to see what is really going on at the molecular level. MASSIVE turbulence visualising the invisible An estimated 50 per cent of transportation fuel is lost to aerodynamic drag forces. Technology to visualise these energy wasting forces, which cause drag or wind resistance, is now available. In the commercial aviation industry up to $1 billion a year could be saved by just a ten per cent reduction of this drag. These findings will be of significant value to aerospace component design, manufacture and testing companies based in Victoria s aerospace precinct at Fishermen s Bend Port Melbourne such as Boeing, Airbus and Lockheed Martin. Engineers at Monash University s Laboratory for Turbulence Research in Aerospace and Combustion (LTRAC) are trying to understand the turbulent boundary layer the region right next to objects surfaces that causes drag on aeroplanes, ships, trains, trucks all vehicles, as well as the resistance to flow of water, oil and gas in pipes. Using MASSIVE to quickly process and visualise flow data, researchers can see patterns and observe coherent structures that are undetectable to the naked eye allowing them to understand and consider new ways to overcome the energy sapping effect of drag. Below: The velocity field of the turbulent boundary area. The turbulent flow exhibits a variety of arch and cane like vortex structures that evolve in time and space. The colour represents the distance of these structures away from the wall. Scientists from the National Enterovirus Reference Laboratory at the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory are now using Australia s fastest supercomputer the IBM Blue Gene Q (above) at the VLSCI, to build a three-dimensional simulation of the poliovirus (top) in a matter of minutes. The model is the most biologically accurate structure of poliovirus currently available and has led to collaborations with a number of virus research teams in the USA.

4 Right: Professor Andrew Peele, Australian Synchrotron, at the opening of VisLab1 at La Trobe University. (Source: Photography and Digital Imaging Unit at La Trobe University.) Below: Dr David Turner, a research fellow at Monash University Chemistry Department and Dr Rachel Williamson, Australian Synchrotron at the Microcrystallography (MX2) Beamline. Photographer: Nancy Mills, Australian Synchrotron Collaboration tools eresearch allows researchers to collaborate in new ways, moving beyond single institutions to multidisciplinary teams located around the globe, participating remotely in experiments and data processing. Victoria s universities are involved in national and international research projects, creating new ICT tools that enable them to partner with international peers and industry. These tools are purpose built technology platforms that can support specific communities or span entire research spectrums, for example cancer research or population health. The Government has committed more than $1.3 million to the Australian Research Infrastructure Network (ARIN). ARIN is an integrated platform management software system that will link more than 100 Victorian biomedical R&D facilities in a virtual network, enabling access through a single portal. Commencing in 2013, ARIN will provide Victorian industry and academic researchers with improved access to technology infrastructure within the state. The platform will also provide the facilities with real time analysis for their instruments and services, allowing them to make informed decisions that will enhance their users experience. What is the data deluge? In 2011, a University of Southern California study estimated humanity had generated about 295 Exabytes of data to date across the whole of the digital age. An Exabyte is 1 billion gigabytes. In 2012, an international consortium commissioned a $2 billion radio telescope to be known as the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). Once operational (after 2020), the telescope will produce 980 Exabytes of data every day! Australia will play a key role in the SKA project, not only in hosting a large part of the telescope, but in supplying the eresearch skills around highend supercomputers, networking and data management crucial to the success of the project. Data storage and management Just as research questions have become more complex, research instruments have also evolved, generating vast amounts of digital data. Managing big datasets has brought its own set of challenges and has required the research sector to develop strategies to deal with this data deluge. To address these research data storage challenges, the Government has committed $0.5 million to the Victorian bid to the Commonwealth s Research Data Storage Infrastructure (RDSI) program for increased storage capacity for research data as well as developing and improving associated access and data sharing capabilities. The Victorian RDSI proposal will support Australian research groups using infrastructure and capabilities such as the Australian Synchrotron, the VLSCI, MASSIVE, the Centre for Neural Engineering and other characterisation, imaging and computing systems. New funding of $0.5 million from the Government will ensure all Victoria s universities and other significant research organisations can benefit. eresearch provides mechanisms and tools that allow data to be accessed, linked, interrogated, modelled and simulated. These tools can provide researchers with new understandings of patterns and trends within data that can lead to improved outcomes in social, urban and health areas. The Government s new DataVic Access and IP policies are opening up millions of dollars of high-quality data about our state to researchers, businesses and the community. These two new policies put Victoria at the forefront of access to state government data.

5 New life is being breathed into historical maps of the Roman Campagna by digitally scanning and overlaying them on their modern day digital counterparts. Using both voice and hand motion controls, VeRSI s ultra high resolution VisLab platform is providing researchers with access to online resources that are yielding an enormous amount of information about the region in the 17th century. Hotlinks within the map will link to additional data such as archaeological information, demographic statistics, visual imagery and route information. The Digital Roman Campagna Mapping Project is a collaborative project between the British School at Rome and La Trobe University. High capacity broadband networks High capacity broadband networks are critical to the movement of large datasets and data storage solutions. In Victoria the Victorian Education and Research Network (VERN) links 150 research and tertiary education sites to each other as well as to national and international broadband networks. The new Victorian Research Network connects Victoria s key research precincts as well as important data-intensive computational, storage and other key facilities like the Australian Synchrotron and the VLSCI. The network provides researchers with access to 10Gbps services which can scale to 40Gbs and 100Gbps in the future. Skilled experts The role of skilled people within eresearch cannot be overlooked. This includes professionals adept at translating between research domains, ICT specialist knowledge and researchers who are skilled in the latest eresearch techniques. The Victorian eresearch Strategic Initiative (VeRSI) has contributed to investment in eresearch at Victorian universities and has galvanised the efforts of research groups to adopt eresearch practices. VeRSI and its partners are focused on delivering eresearch tools and techniques that enhance the statewide research environment. VeRSI s workforce, who are highly prized for their knowledge and capabilities, devise the appropriate technological solutions for specific research problems. The Government has provided an additional $1 million to extend VeRSI s activities to continue to provide eresearch services to its member universities, to facilities like the Australian Synchrotron, and Victorian Government agencies like the Department of Primary Industries. Hosted at the University of Melbourne and supported by its members this new funding will ensure VeRSI continues to develop new eresearch tools and undertake strategic projects that continue to mainstream eresearch within member institutions.

6 Left to right: Chris Andrew Myers, VeRSI and Professor Lisa Beaven, La Trobe University Technology for collaboration Victoria s R&D infrastructure and eresearch capability were key elements in ABB choosing to collaborate with RMIT University and form the Australia-India Research Centre for Automation Software Engineering (AICAUSE) to undertake world-class R&D in global industrial software for automation and robotics. Investment support by the Government will see AICAUSE use eresearch tools to link laboratories in Victoria and India with further links from India into ABB s worldwide research network. This collaboration will bring together researchers, engineers, scientists and PhD students from diverse fields of research and foster multi-disciplinary software-driven innovation. Victoria s infrastructure and skilled workforce were also pivotal in IBM s decision to establish IBM Research Australia in Melbourne. These two collaborations will bring together researchers, engineers, scientists and PhD students, and create new jobs over the coming years. Victoria s universities, each with an eresearch director, have invested heavily in extending the scale and depth of capability of their eresearch offices, to focus on maximising the outcomes of their research investment and delivering benefits for their respective campuses and research precincts more broadly. This advanced capability has seen a number of Victorian universities act as hosts or recipients of large Commonwealth Government research initiatives. As an example, the Monash eresearch Centre (MeRC) established in 2005 encourages researchers to collaborate using the latest ICT. Over 40 staff provide specialist advice and customised eresearch solutions in collaboration services, high performance computing, visualisation, data storage and management. MeRC proactively develops eresearch links, not just within the university sector, but also with researchers in industry and the community. Significant eresearch skills also exist within major research facilities such as the VLSCI. Located across three campuses, the Life Science Computation Centre (LSCC) is an eresearch centre that employs experts in mathematics, physics and computer science. These experts work with life scientists to help with the software, hardware, research design, work flow planning and specific expertise required to transform their research through access to the VLSCI s supercomputing facility. The future The challenges that eresearch can solve are not just those faced by the scientific community, as has been demonstrated by the recent impact of eresearch on the humanities and social science fields. Business and industry sectors have also begun to generate and analyse big datasets as well as use high performance computers to inform their decision making processes and investments. Evidence suggests that big datasets are also important to industry, creating value and enhancing productivity and competitiveness. There is a role for the Government to further investigate the value of eresearch to business and industry. The Government is keen to explore how eresearch tools can assist industry in managing its large data and is committed to working with Victorian businesses, industry and higher education to undertake a study to investigate how eresearch can enhance collaborations and address data and storage needs across the economy. For further information visit: mmv.vic.gov.au/eresearch, data.vic.gov.au State of Victoria 2012 Published by DBI October 2012 DBI 6119