Telstra to partner with Australia's brightest minds

Telstra will partner with Australia’s leading research institutions as part of a multi-million dollar program to explore and collaborate on projects of mutual interest.

The Telstra Research Partnership Program will see Telstra work with NICTA (National ICT Australia) in areas as diverse as security, privacy, smart network planning and future media delivery.

Telstra is also looking to work with UTS, Deakin University and the George Institute on a variety of research projects.

Telstra Chief Operations Officer, Kate McKenzie said the program was designed to explore opportunities flowing from technology advances and cutting-edge research that could benefit Telstra and its customers.

“We’re always striving to find or create solutions to meet the future needs of our customers and the wider community, and increased collaboration with the brightest minds in the country will help us get there,” Ms McKenzie said.

The Research Partnership Program complements Telstra’s existing innovation agenda, which includes an in-house platform for crowd-sourced innovation, the muru-D incubator for start-ups and the Telstra Ventures group, which takes a broader, global view of opportunities in the industry.

“We want to expand the breadth and depth of our relationships with research institutes over time to ensure the highest quality outcomes, and I am very excited that in the first phase of this program we are working with NICTA, Australia’s information and communications technology research centre of excellence,” Ms McKenzie said.

“Part of the work with NICTA relates to parts of our business that are of great importance to Australia and our customers. We want to gain further insights into the growing demand on our networks and how that can further inform our overall network strategy and investment approach.

“We’re also looking at the security and privacy of the data our customers entrust in Telstra and exploring future products and services that can give customers more control over how their data is used.”

NICTA CEO, Prof Hugh Durrant-Whyte said, “Innovation in information and communications technology lies at the heart of Australia’s future prosperity. The partnership forged today between Telstra and NICTA is an exciting opportunity for driving innovation in Australia and a revolution in communications between individuals, devices, businesses and industry.”

Minister for Communications, Malcolm Turnbull MP said, “It is great to see first-class organisations like Telstra and NICTA working together to accelerate innovation. If Australia is to retain its competitive position in the global economy and support the growth of advanced, knowledge-intensive industries, partnerships like this are vital."