The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and NBN Co have entered an agreement to combine their expertise and resources to strengthen research and planning for Australia’s needs in the digital age.
The CSIRO said that with NBN Co’s deep knowledge of broadband traffic patterns across its network and CSIRO’s expert analysis and modelling capability, the two organisations would develop data insights to support the future digital capability needs of the nation.
“The first research project under the collaboration aims to improve our understanding of the skills, infrastructure and support needed by industries to accelerate their digital transformation,” the CSIRO said.
“CSIRO’s data and digital specialist arm, Data61, will examine how households and businesses across Australia have used digital channels to access work, social connection and entertainment during COVID-19,” it said.
“The initial analysis will serve as a baseline hypothesis for the digital maturity and resilience of different sectors, business activities, jobs and households, and their ability to recover in the post-pandemic environment.”
CSIRO said the project would show how businesses and households across different regions, industries and occupations moved their activities online as COVID-19 hit, and how activity changed as the pandemic, and associated restrictions, continued to evolve.
“This could highlight the relative success of industries in adopting technology, adapting to an evolving work environment, and provide a perspective on productivity under COVID-19,” it said.
It said future collaborations were expected to explore how data insights could inform and improve energy reliability and efficiency; data privacy and security; agriculture automation; and digital health.
