The Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) welcomes the opportunity to provide its response to the Terms of Reference for the inquiry into the role of smart ICT in the design and planning of infrastructure.
Effective infrastructure planning is a critical issue for Australia, particularly as our population continues to grow.
Infrastructure – notably transport, water, energy and communications – is vital for driving productivity, underpinning prosperity and our way of life. It impacts on all aspects of our society.
Information Communications Technology (ICT) is an enabler, and when used in smart ways, it has the potential to increase efficiencies and productivity in a range of sectors and when doing so, could be referred to as ‘smart ICT’. National ICT Australia (NICTA) have defined the term ‘smart ICT’ as “a range of tools and techniques that include advanced (ICT) such as data analytics, optimisation, modelling & software systems, networked sensors, and integration with mobile devices and new ways of gathering data, such as social media and crowd-sourcing.”2 The use of ICT to transform existing infrastructure systems into so-called smart or intelligent infrastructure will provide enormous opportunities for Australia. Not only will ICT-enabled smart infrastructure provide improved efficiencies and service delivery, it will also improve public safety. In addition, there will be rich opportunities for Australian companies to develop the ICT and other technologies needed to underpin smart infrastructure.
The benefits of smart infrastructure will flow only if it is widely adopted and applied. For example, ICT will be central to smart health systems, smart road and transport infrastructure, smart agriculture and energy networks, and is critically important to the growth of existing and future Australian businesses and industries. In the pages below, we have highlighted some of the benefits that will flow in five key areas: smart health care systems, smart transport, smart agriculture, smart grids and energy systems, smart cities, and industry.
The benefits of using ICT to enable smart infrastructure will come from proactive adoption of technology, and government can facilitate this adoption and encouragement through regulation and proactive adoption as technology penetrates every aspect of business3.
In the health sector, despite large national investments in health ICT very little policy work has been undertaken in Australia in deploying telecare and telehealth as a solution to the increasing demands and costs of managing chronic disease.
Establishing robust infrastructure plans is critical. Weaknesses in those plans impose economic costs that are usually difficult and expensive to correct. Use of ICT capabilities, such as ‘big data’, allow for greater consideration of the issues in the planning stage of all types of infrastructure plans and offers efficiencies in life-time management of investments. The use of ‘big data’, referring to the exponential growth, volume and variety of large collections of data for analytical purposes, offers the opportunity to capture and apply information to improve the operational efficiency of numerous networks and make better decisions based on an understanding of user behaviours and preferences4.
Full details are outlined in the attached submission.
2 NICTA Response to the Public Infrastructure Productivity Commission Issues Paper and Draft Report, 2014.
3 Business Council of Australia (2014). Building Australia’s Comparative Advantages.
4 Australian Infrastructure Audit Report 2015
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