Project Appaisal Workshop

Embedded Systems Australia is conducting a Project Appraisal Workshop 'Stage 2' from 8:30am-14:00 Monday 21/4/2008 at Level 47, Trade & Investment Centre, MLCCentre, 19 Martin Place Sydney.  This is one of the critical events of the ESA calendar, as we seek to prioritise projects and form tentative project teams.  All stakeholder and interested parties are welcome to attend.  If you can't attend in person, please consider sending a company representative.  You do not have to have participated in prior workshops to attend.  Please email ESA @nicta.com.au for details. 

A initial Stage 1 workshop was held on 11/4/2008 where we attempted to synthesise the list of 14 project proposals.  A summary table of the results is given here..

Collaborative Projects

A current list of project proposals can be found here.

A key activity of the Embedded Systems Australia (ESA) cluster is the development and support of collaborative commercially focussed projects.  This page explains how to submit project ideas for evaluation by the ESA management consortium.  If you have any questions please email ESA AT nicta.com.au.

Project Funding

Collaborators as expect to make financial and in-kind contributions toward their project.  The size of these contributions will be decided by the project members as part of the formulation of a project agreement. 

Project support by the ESA management consortium is primarily in-kind support.  Support may include:

• Assistance to find project partners.
• Assistance to develop a legal project agreement.
• General guidance.
• Support to make grant applications.

How to Submit a Project Proposal

A current list of project proposals can be found here.

1. Fill out a project proposal form and e-mail to ESA AT nicta.com.au before COB Tuesday 8/4/2008.  The proposal form can be found here.
   Note: At the early stages, wild ideas are welcome;  feel free to apply lateral thinking!
   
2. NICTA staff will post your project idea on this web site.
3. Please regularly review other projects on the site and indicate via email to ESA AT nicta.com.au the ones that interest you. 
4. ESA will conduct Project Appraisal Workshops in mid April to help short-list project ideas and assist the formation of collaborative teams.
   
5. Short-listed projects may then be subject to one or more rounds of due diligence examination regarding issues such as IP landscape, path to market, etc.
6. The ESA consortium will select one or more projects based on merit.
   

Project Merit Criteria

Project selection merit criteria include (these are being refined):

1. Number of collaborators (the more the better, within reason) and their commitment to the project.
2. Funding requirements and likelihood of achieving funding goals, e.g. from grants.
3. Likelihood of successful completion within a reasonable timeframe (6–18 months is ideal).
4. Likelihood of commercial success.
5. Potential for positive publicity to promote:
   1. Australia’s capabilities in Embedded Systems locally and overseas.
   2. Embedded Systems as a career for Australian youth.

Project Proposal Example 

Project Proposal Example 01

Name	Movie Purchase Kiosk with Wireless Download
Short Description	Demonstrator Project Kiosk that enables a customer to select a movie and download it wireless to his/her mobile phone.
What problem is being solved?	Inconvenient purchase and transfer of movies to mobile devices.
Skills Required	GUI Circuit Design Chip Design
Suggested  Collaborators (if known)	Fluffy Spider LX Innovations BCS Innovations
Target and End Market	Video rental companies. End market is consumer at a shopping centre.
Time Frame	Nine months
'Champion'	Name: Chris Nicol Company: NICTA
Relevant Grant(s) (if known and if applicable)	Global Opportunities, COMET

Project Ideas

The following are project and activity preferences taken from the Capability Mapping Survey.  Most of these excellent ideas could be developed into project proposals.

Company / Organisation	Preference Ranking
	1	2	3
University of South Australia www.tinmith.net	Disaster relief	Homeland security	Improved advanced manufacuturing
Reino International www.reino.com.au	Education & addressing skills shortage	Networking events
Fluffy Spider Technologies www.FluffySpider.com	Next generation car telematics and infotainment with advanced graphical user interfaces, networked functionalities, streaming media and location based services	Next generation TV set top box capabilities such as 3D graphics, secure applications and dynamic functionality based on in-stream video meta data	Next generation portable consumer devices with advanced graphical user interfaces, multimedia centric, convergence of additional/new technologies (e.g. miniature image projection) and location based services
Microsoft www.microsoft.com.au	Agricultural automation
University of Queensland www.itee.uq.edu.au	ARTEMIS development environment	Auto SAR development environment	Embedded Linux development environment
GSL Electronics www.gsl.com.au	Real time multiple feedback loops on low cost microcontrollers
M.B.S. Pty Ltd www.minck.com	Energy efficiency improvement by using smarter control systems
LX Innovations www.lx-innovations.com.au	Medical + wireless project (two Australian strengths)	UAV project	Robotics project
G2 Microsystems Pty Ltd www.g2microsystems.com	Uses of low-power Wi-Fi in entertainment systems	Uses of low-power Wi-Fi in home automation & energy management	Uses of metro Wi-Fi for traffic monitoring, metering etc
Machinery Automation & Robotics www.machineryautomation.com.au	GPS communications	Machine vision	Autonomous vehicles
Automated Test Systems www.automatedtestsystems.com.au	Promotion in education	Next generation defense system for command and control (threat awareness)	Mining
Invetech www.invetech.com.au	International Directory of Australian (Enbedded) Products Services (Internet based)	Shared Facilities Service (akin to Red Lab) to encourage SE development	Understanding compliance training
AWTA Ltd www.awta.com.au	Lobby government for a centre of excellence / CRC
Itech Corporation Pty Ltd www.itechcorp.com.au	Smart sensors applied to water and waste water	Sensor mesh networks for industrial automation	Traffic and pedestrian management systems
University of WA robotics.ee.uwa.edu.au	Embedded vision system	Automotive black box
Virtual Empire www.virtualempire.com.au	Voice chip	XML Gateway	Networked platform for embedded systems
R.F. Technologies Aust Pty Ltd www.rftech.com.au	Seek Commercial Opportunities	Seek Funded Projects	Engage Government Agencies and MNCs for opportunities
Redfern Broadband Networks Pty Ltd www.rbni.com	Programmable & Configurable 1G - 10Gbit/s OLT Card for Next Generation PON	10 Gbit/s Programmable Multi-Purpose Platform for Prototyping, Licensing & Deployment	Programmable 100 Gbit/s Demonstration Platform for Next Generation Optical Networks
Comptex Pty Ltd	High-speed inter-connect fabrics e.g. ASI, PCI Express	Compression & encryption algoriothms with FPGAs	Powersystems with short-term backup
Peregrine Semiconductor Australia www.psemi.com.au	RF analogue FPGA
BAE Systems www.baesystems.com	UAVs	Sensors on UAVs
Kent Software Consultants www.kentsoftware.biz	Computer Vision for Virtual Reality