The Government of Western Australia has unveiled plans for a third innovation hub, which will provide a space for Western Australians to gain access to the training and skills they need to take on more jobs in data science.
The WA Data Science Innovation Hub will be run in collaboration with Curtin University and run across Curtin’s Perth and Bentley sites to ensure maximum engagement with industry. The State Government has announced that it will be providing $800,000 over four years, through the $16.7 million New Industries Fund. Curtin University will also be providing $800,000 towards the hub over the next four years.
The innovation hub will provide access to specialised data science capabilities in universities and trained graduates, upskilling programs for the industry, the translation of data science capabilities from the resources sector to emerging sectors and promote the value of data science in WA. Industry and stakeholders in the data science community were consulted on the innovation hub to ensure the innovation hub supports WA jobs and benefits the WA economy.
“There is real potential to create and support jobs by harnessing the increasing availability of large volumes of data in WA to grow our existing industries,” commented Innovation and ICT Minister Dave Kelly, earlier this morning.
“To create these WA jobs, we need to provide practical training and develop the skills needed to meet the challenges in this burgeoning field. It will also build on the data science capabilities currently being developed as a result of investments in the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre, the Square Kilometre Array, Innovation Central Perth and the Curtin Institute for Computation,” said Mr Kelly.
Chief Scientist Peter Klinken said data science is extremely important to WA’s economic development and jobs growth in the mining and energy sector, amongst others.
“I am excited about this collaborative arrangement, and I am convinced it will drive activity and growth in key sectors critical to the State’s future growth,” Mr Klinken shared.
The innovation hub will be officially launched in September.