Partnership launches Open Source Institute

A collaboration between The University of Canberra (UC), the ACT Government and NetApp has led to the successful launch of the $2.3 million Open Source Institute (OpenSI).

Seen as a world-class institute for open source research, collaboration and innovation, OpenSI was launched by Chief Minister Andrew Barr MLA, UC Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Enterprise, Professor Lucy Johnston, and Pete Lilley, NetApp’s Vice-President and General Manager of Instaclustr, part of NetApp.

Speaking at the launch, Chief Minister Barr said the OpenSI will further Canberra’s position as the knowledge capital of Australia.

“Global competition for talent and investment is growing and this partnership will help attract that investment and retain skills and talent within Canberra’s tech industry,” he said.

“This is one of the ways we are developing our skilled workforce and helping to grow the number of jobs in Canberra to 300,000 by 2030.”

OpenSI will act as an innovation hub for the ACT and surrounding region, as well as a national and international leader in open source technology. The institute will undertake deep research into open source technologies and provide practical work-integrated-learning opportunities for the University of Canberra’s undergraduate IT students.

“This is an exciting partnership with the ACT Government and NetApp that will advance the open source sector in the ACT through an industry-focused, collaborative approach to research and education,” Johnston said.

“The Open Source Institute will further the university’s research capacity in open source technologies and translate industry-leading thinking and experience into our undergraduate courses.”

Research at OpenSI will fall under the four themes of data solutions at scale, cybersecurity and privacy, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and open source business models.

The partnership will fund an open source-specialised professorial appointment, three higher degree by research (HDR) scholarships and three research projects.

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