1] ANNUAL CONFERENCE & LAUNCH - initial program
2] GOVERNANCE & MANAGEMENT - RIC meeting; Appointments; Colleges
3] RESEARCH ACTIVITIES AND PROPOSALS - Program 3 call for proposals
4] CRC PROGRAM - 6 month “visit”
5] PARTICIPANTS - 4 new 43pl companies
6] STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT - starting soon
7] CRCSI CALENDAR - internal meetings
8] TENDER

Broad Conference program framework:

Day 1

- CRCSI Launch by the Minister
- launch of the new CRCSI
- launch of the international Networks for Networks
Session 1 = Global Spatial Innovation and Trends
- international speakers include leaders of Tecterra (Dr Mohamed Abousalem, CEO) and GEOIDE (Dr Nick Chrisman, Scientific Director), and other experts in core CRCSI programs like Dr Peter Reinartz, DLR in Germany and Renee Sieber, Magill University.
- Australian speakers will cover significant developments in space; climate change and data management
Session 2 = Participants Forum
- including the famous 43pl soapbox session [now to be called the "catalyst session"] and debate from the Colleges
- Strategic Planning for the CRCSI
- the AGM
Day 2

Session 3 = CRCSI Programs and projects
- hear from current, new and proposed projects

- what is planned, what you need to know across the CRCSI activities, who do you need to connect with and contribute to …

Satellite meetings - student day; 43pl meeting; Program team meetings; College meetings
Exhibition - we will have the posters and exhibit area as in past conferences

Program updates posted at http://www.crcsi.ecampus.com.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=1153

Parts of the conference timetable are still open so if you have any views or suggestions please contact Mike Ridout immediately.

2] GOVERNANCE & MANAGEMENT

Research Investment Committee (RIC)
RIC meet (”RIC01″) in July to consider several research proposals and make recommendations to the Board and give feedback to the proponents. Two were recommended for funding and immediate commencement:
P4.1.1 - Biomass Business - contact Dave Lamb for further information

P4.1.5 - Monitoring Key Climate Parameters from SAR - contact Kim Lowell for further information
A further 5 projects are responding to the RIC feedback and others are in preparation.

Program Appointments
A number of appointments have been made. All these people’s contact details are available from our website page for contacts
Program Board Chairs
P1 Positioning = Dr Chris Pigram - CEO, Geoscience Australia  [contact via Phil Collier]
P2 Feature Extraction = Mark Judd - Director, Geomatic Technologies
P3 Spatial Infrastructure = Bruce Thompson - Director, Spatial Information Infrastructure, DSE [contact via Kylie Armstrong]
P4.3 Energy = James Bangay - Information Strategy Manager, Ergon [contact via George Curran]
P4.4 Health = Dr Tarun Weeramanthri  - WA Chief Health Officer [contact via Narelle Mullan]
The PCBs are starting to appoint members.

Science Directors
P1 = Prof Peter Teunissen  - Curtin University Foundation Fellow [contact via Phil Collier]
P2 = Prof Clive Fraser  - University of Melbourne
P3 = Kylie Armstrong as Program Director - Landgate
P4.1 = Prof Kim Lowell - University of Melbourne
P4.4 = Prof James Semmens  - Curtin University, Director Data Linkages Unit [contact via Narelle Mullan]
P4.5 = Prof Peter Newman - Curtin University, Director, CUSP

Colleges
Research and Education College has put forward position papers to the Board on funding of research positions; PhD scholarships; and is considering its recommendation for an education program. A Program Board for the Education program is under consideration. Next meeting is 1 September.

43pl has affirmed its new board of directors http://crcsi2.com.au/43pl/; commenced its collation of stakeholder expectations; and welcomed 4 new members.Next meeting is in September.

The Government College through ANZLIC considers CRCSI issues at its regular meetings as a standing agenda item.

3] RESEARCH ACTIVITIES AND PROPOSALS
The Program 3 Board invites all those CRCSI participants interested in putting forward a Research Proposal for Program 3 - Spatial Infrastructures to review this Proposal Pack link. It provides you with the new Project Proposal Form, the Program 3 review process and background documentation related to the ANZSM Investment Framework and the Terms of Reference for the Program 3 Board. This should provide an understanding of the evaluation criteria and priorities for this program.  Contact Kylie Armstrong kylie.armstrong@landgate.wa.gov.au if you have any questions.

RIC has recommended for funding and immediate commencement two projects with others under consideration:
P4.1.1 - Biomass Business - contact Dave Lamb for further information
P4.1.5 - Monitoring Key Climate Parameters from SAR - contact Kim Lowell for further information 

4] CRC PROGRAM 
Exit Report
We are required to prepare an “Exit Report” for the Commonwealth covering the first term of the CRCSI. This will be produced in time for the Conference.

CRC Program 6 month visit
On Tuesday 24 August we host the senior managers from DIISR on their first of a series of visits to satisfy themselves that we are up and running to an appropriate extent given this time in our second phase. 

5] PARTICIPANTS
We welcome four new companies into the 43pl SME consortium: CNG (Vic); Critchlow (NZ); Industrea (Qld); and Leica (Vic/Qld). A number of others are considering joining. 

6] STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
We are now in a position to commence the annual stakeholder engagement meetings which entails high level discussions with each stakeholder to ascertain their respective expectations. This will feed into the overall CRCSI strategic plan and form the basis of the following such interview. 

7] CRCSI CALENDAR
Events and meetings specifically related to the CRCSI are listed at the crcsi.com.au website page “news” section.
Forthcoming events include CRCSI Board meeting on 30 August and RIC on 23 September.

Past events included a very successful workshop in Wellington.  While focussed on CRCSI Program 3 Spatial Infrastructures with Bruce Thomson and Kylie Armstrong leading discussion on the Program and potential new projects, the wider CRCSI and the NZ node was also covered by Mary Sue Severn and Mike Ridout. 

8] NEW ZEALAND TENDER OPPORTUNITY

The NZ Ministry of Education is understood to be releasing a tender opportunity in the area of “GIS software, data and services”.

PS - Contact Mike if you have forgotten the crcsi2.com.au website password for current CRCSI members.

An update from the CRCSI is below. If you have any queries please feel free to contact Mike Ridout.  

1] GOVERNANCE & MANAGEMENT
2] REMOTE SENSING DATA ANALYSIS OPPORTUNITIES - 43pl to note
3] CRCSI CALENDAR
4] ANNUAL CONFERENCE & LAUNCH

1] GOVERNANCE & MANAGEMENT

Research Investment Committee (RIC)
Based on nominations received and considerations of the required skills the following people have been appointed to the RIC. Brief descriptions on each are attached

• Graeme Wright, Dean of Graduate Studies, Curtin University [Chair]
• James Bangay Manager, Information Strategy, Ergon Energy
• Arthur Berrill VP Software Design and Innovation, DMTI
• Mike Bradford CEO, Landgate
• Tony Cantoni Independent
• Guy Perkins Former COO, NearMap
• Scott Ramage MD, AAM
• Bruce Thompson Director, Spatial Information Infrastructure, Victorian Dept of Sustainability & Environment
• Peter Woodgate CRCSI CEO [ex officio]

RIC will meet (”RIC 1″) on the 8 of July by teleconference to establish initial operating principles and discuss any issues prior to a face to face meeting (”RIC 2″) in Melbourne on 22 and 23 July where several research proposals will be considered. The Board has authorised the RIC to progress the high priority research projects outlined in the Commonwealth Agreement.

Other invitees to the RIC 2 meeting will include Science Directors and equivalents who have guided the program to date including Peter Teunissen; Clive Fraser; Kim Lowell; Charles Vagi; James Semmens; Peter Newman.

For information the draft terms of reference are attached.

2] REMOTE SENSING DATA ANALYSIS OPPORTUNITIES - 43pl to note

The Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency delivers the Australian Government’s Climate Change legislation, policies and programs. The Department is seeking applications for inclusion on a “Multi-Use List of potential suppliers” who can meet the conditions of participation to provide remote sensing data analysis services to support the National Carbon Accounting System from August 2010 to June 2012.

Further information at the Austender website entry

3] CRCSI CALENDAR
Events and meetings specifically related to the CRCSI are listed at the crcsi.com.au website page.

Scheduled events include CRCSI Board meetings on 26 July; 30 August; 7 October and 20 December 2010

4] ANNUAL CONFERENCE & LAUNCH
The internal CRCSI Annual Conference will be held in Melbourne on November 23 and 24. We are planning on the official launch at this time as well.

PS - Contact Mike if you have forgotten the crcsi2.com.au website password for current CRCSI members

An update following the 8 June Board meeting is below. If you have any queries or concerns or “knowledge gaps” please feel free to ring or email Mike Ridout.

1] GOVERNANCE & MANAGEMENT
2] ACTIVITIES & WORK PROGRAM
3] ANNUAL CONFERENCE & LAUNCH
4] PARTICIPANT EXPECTATIONS
5] COMMUNICATIONS

1] GOVERNANCE & MANAGEMENT

Board
The first meeting of the full CRCSI Board was held on the 8 June. The new Directors appointed on that day through the College nomination process are Mr Drew Clarke, Mr Malcolm McCoy and Ms Tina McMeckan. (New board directors synopses). They join Emeritus Professor Mary O’Kane (Chair); Mr Warwick Watkins AM; Professor Graeme Wright; and Dr Peter Woodgate (CEO)

Research Investment Committee (RIC)
The Terms of Reference of the RIC has been drafted (RIC ToR). Nominations for membership were considered. The board appointed one of its directors, Graeme Wright, as the Chair of the RIC to provide a reporting channel and confirmed the CEO as an ex officio position. The RIC founding membership will be announced as soon as possible based on nominations received and considerations of the required skills. The Board authorised the RIC to progress the high priority research projects outlined in the Commonwealth Agreement. Science Directors will be invited to join the RIC meetings.

Research Program leadership
The Board delegated authority to the CEO to appoint, in consultation with the RIC Chair, people to key program positions in order to advance the research portfolio and the preparation of proposals. We will announce these as they are confirmed.

2] ACTIVITIES & WORK PROGRAM  

Program 4.5 - Sustainable Urban Planning - will hold workshops in June: 17th Perth, 21st Adelaide, 22nd Melbourne, 23rd Sydney, 24th Brisbane. Summary of the workshops and also the wider program is available at the program web page  

Program 2 - Spatial Information Product Generation
Current versions of the research proposals in this program can be viewed at the CRCSI participants only page for this Program If you can’t remember the password for our temporary crcsi2.com.au website contact Mike Ridout.

Should you wish to participate or have any questions or comments on the proposals, contact either Clive Fraser or the respective project leaders, Geoff West (gwest@crcsi.com.au) and Chunsun Zhang (chunsunz@unimelb.edu.au).

Please refer to prior Communiques for activities in the other programs, check out the crcsi2.com.au website, or contact Clive Fraser, Phil Collier or Mike Ridout for an update.

3] ANNUAL CONFERENCE & LAUNCH
The internal CRCSI Annual Conference will be held in Melbourne on November 23 and 24. We are planning on the official launch at this time as well.

4] PARTICIPANT EXPECTATIONS

As we approach the new financial year we are planning our Essential Participant and other key stakeholders’ “Expectations Analysis and Interviews.” In the near future we will be visiting each within a formal process (as we did annually during our 2003-2009 phase).

5] COMMUNICATIONS

We appreciate there is a balance between keeping you well informed while minimising the content and email traffic in these busy times. Let us know if we stray either side of this balance.

For your information we will be phasing out the temporary crcsi2.com.au site as our programs firm up; and will look to provide an entirely new web platform for the wider CRC in the coming months through our home domain crcsi.com.au

PS - Contact Mike if you have forgotten the transition phase CRCSI-2 website password for current CRCSI members

1] GOVERNANCE & MANAGEMENT
2] ACTIVITIES & WORK PROGRAM
3] ANNUAL CONFERENCE

1] GOVERNANCE & MANAGEMENT

Board
Further to the call for nominations for CRCSI Board Directors three new directors will formally join the Board at the forthcoming 8 June 2010 meeting, joining Em Prof Mary O’Kane as Chair; Dr Peter Woodgate as CEO; Warwick Watkins and Prof Graeme Wright. Feel free to raise issues with the Board through the college structure that we have in place.

The “CRCSI-1″ Board will meet on the 24 May to consider the reporting for July-December 2009 and the final steps for transition and closure.

Investment Committee
Nominations for this committee have been requested from each college for discussion in the 8 June Board meeting . The IC will be composed of “end-user specialists, technical experts, academics and others as needed”, and probably be around 10 in number.

New Zealand Office
We are pleased to welcome Mary Sue Severn who has been appointed to the CRCSI New Zealand branch, based in Wellington. She will manage the CRCSI NZ office and build up the NZ participation in the wider CRCSI in conjunction with the CRCSI Executive. Contact her on msevern@crcsi.co.nz or through Mike Ridout. We recently visited New Zealand and anticipate some new 43pl and other members to join. Read more on Mary Sue here.

Research Director position
A selection panel has been formed and interviews are expected by June.

College - 43pl
The March 2010 roadshow went well with 40 companies attending. The threads/themes can be reviewed here. The foundation contracts for the new 43pl have been distributed to member companies and the 43pl Board continues to meet frequently in this establishment phase. Several companies are seeking to join 43pl in the next ‘acceptance’ round, from July 2010.

College - Research and Education College
This college continues to meet regularly and has commenced discussions on the education program.

Each College is considering nominations for appointment to the Investment Committee. These will be considered at the June 8 CRCSI Board meeting. In addition the nascent Energy / Utilities College has held a number of meetings with a view to several new members considering joining CRCSI.

2] ACTIVITIES & WORK PROGRAM

Education Program - The Research and Education College has commenced discussions on the education activities for the CRCSI. Contact Mike Ridout or Graeme Wright, Chair of the College.

Program 4.5 - Sustainable Urban Planning - will hold workshops in June: 17th Perth, 21st Adelaide, 22nd Melbourne, 23rd Sydney, 24th Brisbane. Details, and a summary of the program, are here. Contact Peter Newman.

Program 4.4 - Health - Two proposals have been submitted to the CRCSI including the exemplar project. Further detail - contact Narelle Mullan.

Program 4.3 - Energy - A number of meetings have been held around the nascent Energy / Utilities College. The ‘exemplar’ project of the application process has been refined within Program 2 - contact Clive Fraser.

Program 4.2 - Defence - Defence interests are considered within Program 2 proposals - contact Clive Fraser.

Program 4.1 - Agri, Nat Resources and Climate Change - The exemplar proposal “Biomass business” has been submitted to the CRCSI. Contact Dave Lamb and Kim Lowell.

Program 3 - Spatial Data Infrastructures - workshops to scope the Program activities are to be held from 1000-1600 in Melbourne 15 June [Graduate House Carlton] and from 1000-1600 in Perth 10 June [Leeuwin Centre Floreat]. RSVP.
Agenda:

• Review and confirm Aust Spatial Marketplace vision and objectives
• Review Marketplace research agenda
• Review of CRCSI research agenda
• Evaluation criteria for proposals
• Evaluation of CRCSI research program in the light of new research and stakeholder priorities
• Process for proposal evaluation and acceptance.

Contact Bruce Thompson or Kylie Armstrong.

Program 2 - Spatial Information Product Generation - Two project proposals have been developed within the program scope:

Project 1 - Multimodal terrestrial data acquisition and feature extraction - Contact Prof Geoff West

Project 2 - Feature extraction for landform modelling and medium-scale topographic mapping – Contact Chunsun Zhang Chunsunz@unimelb.edu.au

Program 1 - Positioning - The proposed structure (pdf) has been circulated following a number of meetings and workshops. contact Phil Collier.

3] ANNUAL CONFERENCE
The CRCSI Annual Conference will be held in Melbourne on November 23 and 24. Conference attendance has traditionally been exclusively for employees of members of the CRCSI. It is likely that this practice will continue. We are planning on the official launch at this time as well.

4] FIG 2010
CRCSI materials prepared for this conference are available here.

Current CRCSI members: contact Mike Ridout if you have forgotten the website password.

Dear All

We have recently had confirmation from the Commonwealth that our extensive suite of contracts that we all worked on for the establishment of our new CRCSI  have been approved by the Commonwealth and their funding of us can now commence!

• The CRCSI Research Director – this position has gone from being part-time in the old CRCSI to full-time in the new and as such it was felt appropriate to advertise it.
• The CRCSI (NZ node) Director of Operations – to be based in New Zealand and hosted by Land Information New Zealand. This is a new position that reflects the growing importance of New Zealand.
• Finance Manager Samantha Bain has moved to a part time appointment and following a competitive recruitment process we welcome Nicola Hart who will be job sharing the role with Samantha.

All positions advertised or appointed will be noted in the news section of the CRCSI website www.crcsi.com.au
 
3] ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2010
The CRCSI Annual Conference will be held in Melbourne on 23 and 24 November. These dates were chosen to take into account the timing of other spatial events and the need to maximise benefit of attendees. In past years conference attendance has been exclusively for employees of members of the CRCSI. It is likely that this practice will continue.

4] Australian Space Activities Survey
For the first time in 14 years the Federal Government has decided to take an active role in space.  The Federal Government has allocated $40 million in seed funding for space research projects and $8.6 million over 4 years to form the Space Policy Unit (SPU) within the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (DIISR) to coordinate Australia’s Federal Space Activities.  The SPU is tasked with developing a National Space Policy and is seeking information about the size and current activities of Australia’s space sector.  They have engaged Asia Pacific Aerospace Consultants Pty. Ltd. (APAC) to identify Australia’s current space activities and conduct an economic assessment of the current value of space to the Australian community and associated trends as input to the National Space Policy development.

“Current space activities” includes the use of space derived data in products and services.  The spatial information industry is heavily involved in these space activities and this is your opportunity to make a contribution towards informing future Australian space policy.  APAC has prepared a survey to collect your information at www.surveymonkey.com/s/Australian_Space_Activites_Survey  The survey takes 15-20 minutes to complete.  

On Christmas Eve I signed off on the start of CRCSI-2 in Canberra with the Acting General Manager of the CRC Program Cathy McKay. I presented to Cathy a complete set of signed Essential Participant Agreements and a complete set of Termination Deeds for CRCSI-1. CRCSI-1 officially ceased operation on 31 December 2009 and CRCSI-2 officially commenced on 1 January 2010 for a period of eight and a half years.

The Commonwealth will now review all of the documentation that we have submitted to determine the timing of their first payment to us. Of particular interest is a reconciliation report that we submitted that shows the total amount of cash, inkind and people (measured as full time equivalents) that have been committed compared with the bid itself and the Commonwealth Agreement.

The Commonwealth have indicated their willingness to work with us in the New Year to satisfy the requirements of all parties. I hope this process moves swiftly to the point where the Commonwealth feel they can commence payment.

On behalf of the Management Team thank you all for your great support, and I look forward to an exciting 2010.

Peter Woodgate
CEO, CRCSI-2

The November roadshow of 43pl-2 & CRCSI-2 briefing sessions explained the context of the various contracts; summarised progress to date and principles of CRCSI-2 operation; and discussed issues raised.

The 43pl-2 presentation can be viewed at http://crcsi2.com.au/43pl/43pl-2-roadshow-nov09/ and the CRCSI-2 presentation at http://crcsi2.com.au/

1] Contracts  
2] Governance  
3]   Research Activities

1] CONTRACTS
As you know we will be the largest Cooperative Research Centre by partner numbers in the 20 year history of Australia’s CRC Program. The Australian Government has indicated that we must be ready to start operations on 1 January 2010. If we are not able to start then they reserve the right to begin to reduce the value of their grant. Accordingly we have moved as quickly as we can to prepare the agreements that will secure the involvement of our partners. 10 separate contracts are being developed to achieve the termination of CRCSI-1 and start up of CRCSI-2 (incl 43pl-2) Your various inputs to these are appreciated.

You will soon be receiving a specific update on the required tmeframes for the execution of each of these contracts.

2] GOVERNANCE

DIRECTORSHIPS
1. The CRCSI-2 Colleges are encouraged to nominate up to 8 candidates from each college for the Board of Directors of CRCSI-2. The Colleges will each determine how they will seek names of candidates from their constituents. A request for nominations will be soon issued.

There is no requirement to contact the person in advance of the nomination. The Steering Committee will shortlist suitable candidates and following endorsement by the Essential Participants will work back through the nominator to contact the candidates to determine their availability and confirm their suitability, noting more information may be sought at this stage.

The CRCSI-2 Board will be skills based . The following skills sets will be highly regarded:
1. Establishment
1.1 As at the Commencement Date, the Board will initially comprise no more than seven Directors, including an independent Chair and an Executive Director (CEO), and at least two of the Directors will be independent (in addition to the Chair and the Managing Director), as follows:
(a) An independent Chair with considerable experience in managing boards, with financial, governance and stakeholder management experience;
(b) 5 Directors covering the following selection of skill sets:
(i) strong experience in corporate governance, audit and risk management, and finance, and preferably with experience in one or more of the Centre’s application areas;
(ii) extensive federal or state government experience and knowledge
(iii) Intellectual Property management and capital raising experience and experience in one or more of the Centre’s application areas
(iv) current involvement and commercial experience in the spatial information industry, ideally with a current role in surveying, imagery-related activities, spatial infrastructure, software development and/or web services
(v) extensive experience in the academic sector and national and international research
(c) An Executive Director (CEO and Managing Director) covering an appropriate selection of the skill sets above.

By now you should be aware of the activities of the College in which you are in - Government; SME (43pl); or Government. Feel free to reply email any queries in this regard. If you are not aware we will put you in touch with relevant people in your College.

3] RESEARCH ACTIVITIES - more on these at the crcsi2.com.au website - remember the password for CRCSI-2 participants is “capfitz”

You are encouraged to contact relevant people to pursue engagement in CRCSI-2 activities.

Program 1 - Positioning
A one day workshop was held at the CRC offices in Melbourne involving key researchers in the Positioning Program. The objective of the workshop was to plan the process for developing and refining the research program over the next few months, with a view to implementation by mid 2010. Individuals attending the workshop were Peter Teunissen, Will Featherstone, Chris Rizos, Yanming Feng, Kefei Zhang and Phil Collier. Members of the CRC Executive team, including Peter Woodgate and Graeme Kernich also participated. The workshop developed an implementation plan that will include a series of workshops, scheduled for February 2010. These workshops will be run in Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and possibly Sydney/Canberra and Wellington. The objective of the workshops is to engage CRCSI partners and to use their input and feedback to ensure that the research directions and proposed outputs are genuinely “user-driven”. To facilitate this process, a briefing document is being prepared for circulation to partners prior to the workshops. This document will set out the basic principles for engagement and will outline the broad research agenda that is being pursued. It is hoped that the briefing document will allow participants to contribute constructively to the development of the research program, through the workshops. For more information contact Phil Collier (03 8344 125 or pcollier@crcsi.com.au).

Program 2 - Automated Spatial Information Generation
Workshops, supported by a discussion paper, have been held by Clive Fraser in Melbourne and Perth and the next one is in Brisbane on 15 December - details at http://crcsi2.com.au/research-programs/data-capture-processing/dafe-documents/ [enquiries to cfraser@crcsi.com.au]

Program 3 - Spatial Data Infrastructures
An open session was held at the WALIS International Forum in November. [enquiries to Dan Paull 02 6295 7033 dan.paull@psma.com.au ; Kylie Armstrong 08 9273 7518 kylie.armstrong@landgate.wa.gov.au; Bruce Thompson]

Program 4 - Applications - http://crcsi2.com.au/market-applications/
4.1 - a program meeting will be held early in the new year around the biomass business and other proposals in this program. Contact Kim Lowell & Dave Lamb and keep an eye on the website crcsi2.com.au
4.2 & 4.3 - considered within Program 2 above. Contact Clive Fraser and keep an eye on the website crcsi2.com.au
4.4 - a program meeting will be held early in the new year. Contact Narelle Mullan and keep an eye on the website crcsi2.com.au
4.5 - a program meeting will be held early in the new year. Contact Peter Newman and keep an eye on the website crcsi2.com.au