The world’s most powerful supercomputing facility dedicated to life sciences will continue to operate in Victoria thanks to a $6.65 million state government grant.
The grant has ensures the Victorian Life Sciences Computation Initiative (VLSCI) maintains its competitive edge in the life sciences industry.
Victorian technology minister, Gordon Rich-Phillips, said the grant was important to the on-going development of the industry locally and to sustaining Victoria’s competitiveness in global life sciences.
“A new $6.65 million grant will see the VLSCI facility pursue a renewed focus on generating commercial opportunities and producing outcomes to grow Victoria’s health and biotechnology industry, in close alignment with Victorian Government priorities," he said.
“The VLSCI provides high-performance computer infrastructure and expertise to life sciences researchers, supporting the growth of Victoria’s biotechnology capacity and global reputation,” Rich-Phillips said.
The IBM Research Collaboratory, which has been co-located with the VLSCI since 2010, has enabled collaboration between Victoria’s life sciences and medical researchers and IBM’s computational biology experts.
This has enhanced Victoria’s reputation as a global centre for excellence in life sciences research capabilities, according to Rich-Phillips.
The Victorian Government’s funding commitment enables the VLSCI to continue its operations at its research hubs presently located at the University of Melbourne (Parkville), Monash University (Clayton) and LaTrobe University (Bundoora).
Rich-Phillips said he was pleased that the VLSCI was committed to ensuring its facilities and expertise would be accessible to more Victorian businesses operating in the life sciences sector.
“Victoria’s life sciences-related businesses will now have greater access to the world’s most advanced life sciences research facilities, enabling them to tap into the expertise of our leading computational biologists to help grow and improve their businesses,” he said.
The government has also secured a further commitment from the University of Melbourne to guarantee the continued operation of its Centre for Energy-Efficient Telecommunications (CEET) at Parkville.
CEET was established in partnership between the Victorian Government, the University and Alcatel-Lucent in 2010.
Its research supports global efforts to improve the energy efficiency of telecommunications networks and the Internet.
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