Telstra has announced it will partner with a number of universities and research institutions, most importantly NICTA (National ICT Australia).

NICTA has been funded by Government, but with recent budget cuts has been told it needs to become self-finding within three years. This will help. Telstra says it will also work with UTS, Deakin University and the George Institute on a variety of research projects.

Telstra Chief Operations Officer, Kate McKenzie said the Telstra Research Partnership 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,” she 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. Part of the work with NICTA relates to parts of our business that are of great importance to Australia and our customers.

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