- Published:
- Tuesday 23 April 2019
Melbourne will be home to an international-standard artificial intelligence centre, pending a formal agreement with the next Federal Government.
Melbourne is already attracting significant investment into cutting edge industries and the Andrews Labor Government wants to attract the best and brightest talent from around the country and the world, boosting employment opportunities in new and emerging tech sectors.
The Labor Government will contribute $1 million towards establishing the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence in Melbourne, and welcomes Federal Labor’s promise to establish the centre if elected.
The state’s $1 million investment to the proposed centre would help identify and establish a location for the new national centre, bringing together a mix of world-leading businesses, startups and tertiary institutions.
Already, inner Melbourne is attracting a cluster of digital businesses, including Seek, carsales.com.au, MYOB, Tesla and Uber.
The new centre will build on Victoria’s national leadership in technology, with Victorian universities producing about 37 per cent of Australia’s tech graduates - more than any other state.
Worldwide expenditure on AI systems is forecast to reach US$77.6 billion a year by 2022. According to a recent AI Group report, artificial intelligence is also changing the skills that employers want, with skills shortages in big data and machine learning.
Quotes attributable to Treasurer and Minister for Economic Development Tim Pallas
“The Andrews Labor Government is ready to partner with the next Federal Government because Melbourne is the natural home to a national centre for artificial intelligence.
“We are already attracting significant tech investment and we want to make Melbourne the drawcard for the best and brightest talent in the world.”
Quotes attributable to Minister for Innovation Martin Pakula
‘’This centre will help turbo-charge Victoria’s innovation ecosystem - it will be great to have it In Melbourne.
“Artificial Intelligence is becoming the defining technology that is changing the way business is done, from autonomous vehicles and healthcare robots to the latest agriculture technology.”