Welcome to the fourth edition of the Smart State e-newsletter, Smart Connections. It has been an exciting time for education and ideas in the Smart State and this edition will provide you with some of the highlights.
Throughout 2006 Smart Connections will continue to keep you informed with the latest Smart State news, success stories, upcoming events and initiatives.
Help keep us informed, too! Let us know if you are involved in, or know of a business, an idea, activity or event that exemplifies the Smart State in action.
E-mail it to: smartstate@premiers.qld.gov.au
The Ideas Festival was a four day celebration of ideas, innovation and invention, held at Brisbane's South Bank from 29 March to 2 April 2006.
Attendance exceeded 20,000 this year, with people from across Brisbane joining audiences from regional Queensland, interstate and overseas.
In addition to speaker sessions, audiences enjoyed exhibitions and demonstrations and a Kids Ideas program. National and international audiences were able to tune to sessions through live radio broadcasts from the festival and in the weeks following the event.
The Ideas Festival was proudly presented by the Queensland Government. The Festival exists to:
If you missed the festival or wish to revisit highlights of Ideas 2006, a selection of papers, transcripts and audio files are available online.
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| Tim Reardon (QETI) giving a speech at the 4th Queensland Cup English language competition in China |
China and India are significant international education and training markets for Queensland. Almost one in four of Australia's international student enrolments in 2005 came from China, and India is the fastest growing international education and training market overall.
Paul Braddy, Chairman of the Queensland Education and Training International Board and Tim Reardon, Executive Director, Queensland Education and Training International, recently led an international education and training industry mission to China and India.
The recent mission built on QETI's strategy to capitalise on the continued strong economic and outwardly mobile student growth of these two countries. The focus was on industry-specific areas where Queensland has particular strengths including biotechnology, tourism, aviation, mining, and creative industries.
Highlights of the mission in China included:
Highlights of the mission to India included:
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| Kaitlyn Wright a former winner of the TechnologyOne BYTE awards with Adrian Di Marco, Executive Chairman of major sponsor TechnologyOne. |
Minister for Education and the Arts, Rod Welford, said the Queensland Government is committed to technology education, combining ICT skills, creative thinking and practical problem solving in both classroom and real life situations.
"The Queensland Government is focused on making ICT integral in learning for every state school student and we have utilised the Smart Classrooms Strategy as a blueprint to do this," Mr Welford said.
Kaitlyn Wright is a former winner of the TechnologyOne BYTE awards and is now employed part time by the company. She has started training as a junior consultant, and is also in her second year of a Bachelor of IT studies at the University of Queensland. Kaitlyn describes working for TechnologyOne as, "a dream come true."
TechnologyOne Executive Chairman Adrian Di Marco said Kaitlyn's winning BYTE award showcased her creative focus and entrepreneurial spirit.
"Kaitlyn stood out as an outstanding individual who displayed the high calibre attributes that we look for in potential employees - creativity, a strong work ethic and a positive attitude," Mr Di Marco said.
The BYTE Awards are open to all state school students in Years 4-12. Students are required to submit a project or school activity that demonstrates the use and development of ICT and enter by completing an online registration form
Students need to answer four questions to explain how they developed their skills in a learning area using new technologies and must include between five and 10 screenshots supporting their submission.
This year, groups with a maximum of three participants, will be permitted to enter into any of the six categories. These include animation, design, games development, information systems and programming, school and short film.
Winning students receive great cutting edge prizes, but it is the five-day industry visit program for the winning students from Years 10-12 that continually proves to be the most rewarding.
The BYTE Awards encourage students to think about the variety of career choices available in ICT industries by providing them with real world opportunities to engage with industry experts.
To be a part of 2006 TechnologyOne BYTE Awards and reward your creative IT students, entries must be submitted by Friday 9 June 2006. All categories and entry criteria can be found by going to the website.
Since being launched by the Premier and the Minister for Training, Employment and Industrial Relations in March 2005, the Department of Employment and Training’s Skilling Solutions Queensland initiative has assisted almost 3500 Queenslanders in reaching their training and career goals.
Recipients of the $12 million Innovation Skills Fund have been announced. This funding is an investment by the Queensland Government to attract and retain top researchers and PhD students in key strategic sectors.
The Innovation Skills Fund is comprised of three parts. The first of these is the Smart State Premier's Fellowships, which provides funding to entice experienced and distinguished research leaders of national and international prominence to Queensland. The research undertaken by recipients is to be novel, innovative and contribute to Queensland research and development priorities. Recipients must have a proven track record in research and leading strong research teams. The amount of funding is $250 000 per annum, for five years, a total of $1 250 000 per recipient. Only one recipient is announced each year.
In 2006, the Fellowship has been awarded to Australian of the Year, Professor Ian Frazer, for his University of Queensland Centre for Immunology and Cancer Research at Princess Alexandra Hospital.
Professor Frazer has put Queensland on the research map with his groundbreaking scientific achievements. He has researched the cause of cervical cancer for the past 20 years and has proven the link between cervical cancers and the papilloma virus. In addition, he has developed the world's first vaccine for cervical cancer - a cancer which kills 270,000 women each year. This vaccine has the potential to virtually eradicate cervical cancer for future generations. With the aid of this fellowship, he is aiming to translate the immunotherapy success of the cervical cancer vaccine to other cancers and infections.
The second component of the Innovation Skills Fund is the Smart State Fellowships, which provide funding for outstanding early and mid career researchers to undertake innovative reasearch.
The third component of the Innovation Skills Fund is the Smart State PhD Scholarships, which provide funding for graduates of outstanding ability to undertake PhD research at Queensland universities.
A list of Round One recipients of the Innovation Skills Fund.
Round Two of the Innovation Skills Fund is scheduled to open on 17 July 2006 and will close on 31 October 2006.
Further details
The Premier will soon announce the successful recipients of Round 4 of the Growing the Smart State PhD Funding Program. These scholarships offer funding towards research costs to assist students completing PhDs in Queensland, in research areas that relate to the Queensland Government's seven priorities.
Each application is assessed on its ability to inform the development of future Queensland Government policies and priorities. Each successful applicant is linked with a Queensland Government mentor with expertise in the relevant area, who will support the student throughout the term of the project.
The program has run annually since 2002 with 89 students awarded more than $700 000 in funding.
The next round of applications will open in June 2006. For further information visit the Growing the Smart State website
So far, 10 students have completed their PhD projects and provided research outcomes to their mentoring government agency. Policy implications summaries from these research projects are also availalble on the Growing the Smart website.
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| The Hon Tom Barton, Queensland Minister for Employment, Training and Industrial Relations, welcomes international delegates to Queensland during the International Education Forum welcome reception. |
The Australian Government Department of Education, Science and Training recently hosted an International Education Forum in Brisbane for 900 delegates from around the world. The forum focused on future directions and influences on education and training over the next 10 to 20 years.
Parallel to the forum, Federal Minister for Education, Science and Training, the Hon Julie Bishop convened a meeting for 27 Ministers and senior officials representing education and training portfolios from across the Asia-Pacific region. The purpose of the meeting was to determine actions to strengthen relations in the region, and to underpin social and economic development through international student mobility and research collaboration.
Ministers Welford and Barton participated at the forum, Minister Welford in his capacity as Chair of the Ministerial Council for Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs at the closed door Asia-Pacific Education Minister's Meeting hosted by the Hon Julie Bishop; and Minister Barton as the Queensland Government representative at the general forum welcome reception hosted by Federal Minister for Vocation Training and Employment, the Hon Gary Hardgrave.
The Queensland Government through Queensland Education and Training International (QETI) sponsored the forum and facilitated visits and meetings for foreign ministerial delegations and other VIP delegates. The activities organised through QETI provided the equivalent of conducting in-market missions to each of the 27 participating countries at the Forum.
Universal Education Forum
Universal education: equity and excellence, observations from home and abroad, was presented by the Queensland Department of Education and the Arts on 22 May in Brisbane.
This forum was designed to stimulate discussion about the challenges associated with providing high-quality, equitable educational programs with the capacity to engage all young people. The forum was well attended by in excess of 80 participants.
Three guest speakers shared their knowledge and expertise from their involvement in a range of educational initiatives. The speakers included:
Constancia Warren, Carnegie Corporation, New York, is an expert in school reform. She is a key player on the 'Schools for a New Society Initiative' and serves on the Evaluation Task Force for the US Department of Education's 21st Century Learning Centre Initiative.
Laudan Aron, Urban Institute, Washington DC, has more than 16 years experience in social policy research and has worked on many issues related to children and youth including special education, alternative education, child welfare, family violence and homelessness. She is providing strategic planning advice for high quality 'second chance' learning opportunities for out-of-school youth to the US Department of Labour.
Jenni Connor, Educational Consultant, who was commissioned by Dusseldorp Skills Forum to conduct a local research project entitled "What's Mainstream". This project seeks to explore student, principal and teacher views about schooling, educational reform, non-school pathways and the dynamics between 'mainstream' provision and 'alternative' settings.
The speakers raised some interesting questions that were followed up in panel discussion.
Overall, the forum highlighted that there are considerable challenges associated with being able to offer equitable choice for all children. This is particularly the case for children who are at risk of early disengagement from the educational system.
As a result of recent reforms, such as the Education and Training Reforms for the Future (ETRF), Queensland can be seen to be taking positive action to address some of these challenges.
Nevertheless, there is an obvious need for continued research and investigation to determine how best to:
It is anticipated that powerpoint presentations from the various speakers will be available online in early June 2006.
For further information, please contact Fiona Brown via email fiona.brown@qed.qld.gov.au or phone (07) 3237 1281.
The Premier hosted a special function at Parliament House on May 9 to welcome the Governor of Washington State, United States of America, on her official visit to Brisbane. Governor Christine Gregoire was in Brisbane to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between Washington State and Queensland to support the on-going collaboration between the two states in knowledge-based research, joint ventures and commercialisation.
The Premier took this opportunity to announce three new Smart State Ambassadors: Chief Scientist Peter Andrews AO, Professor Peter Coaldrake and Professor John Hay AC.
The Smart State Ambassadors program recognises the achievements and commitments of special individuals - Queensland's champions, advocates and advisors. Smart State Ambassadors are a select group of high-profile individuals. The three new ambassadors have already contributed greatly towards making Queensland the Smart State, and as official ambassadors are called to promote Queensland and its advancement here and abroad.
Peter Andrews has been Queensland's Chief Scientist since 2003, and is the face of the science, research and innovation community. He continues to raise Queensland's profile as a centre of research and commercialisation. He is also a bio-entrepreneur at the forefront of developing the biotechnology industry, and as Chair of the Smart State Council provides valuable advice to the Queensland Government.
Professor Coaldrake has been the Vice-Chancellor of Queensland University of Technology since 2003. In this time, QUT has worked closely with the Queensland Government to accelerate the growth of Queensland's research capacity and performance in several strategic areas.
QUT's new research facilities are expanding Queensland's capacity and include the Creative Industries Precinct, the Medical Engineering Research Facility, the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation and the Centre for Aerospace Automation. The Centre for Aerospace Automation is receiving wide acclaim for its development of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).
Professor John Hay has been the President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Queensland since 1996. Under his leadership, the University of Queensland has gone from strength to strength. It was named Australian University of the Year in 1998-99, and is today Australia's most successful university in winning teaching awards. It also attracts the second highest amount of competitive research funding in Australia.
Professor Hay has led the development of new research facilities that are a crucial part of Queensland's Smart State infrastructure. These include the Queensland Biosciences Precinct, the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, the Queensland Brain Institute and the Sustainable Minerals Institute.
Your comments and ideas on Smart Connections and the Smart State website are always welcome, so feel free to email us at: smartstate@premiers.qld.gov.au
For further information and on-line registration, log on to:
http://aei.dest.gov.au/AEI/Events/IEF06/Default.htm
www.ideasfestival.com.au
Your comments and ideas on Smart Connections and the Smart State website are always welcome, so feel free to email us at: smartstate@premiers.qld.gov.au
Disclaimer
This publication is produced to convey general interest policy information
and highlight innovative developments in Queensland. While every care has
been taken in preparing this publication, the State of Queensland accepts
no responsibility for decisions or action taken as a result of any data, information,
statement or advice, express or implied, contained in the publication.
© The State of Queensland Department of the Premier
and Cabinet 2005.
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