Digital Economy paper launched

Minister Conroy visiting the Microsoft booth displaying Surface technology

This week (July 14), the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy’s paper titled Australia’s Digital Economy: Future Directions was officially launched by Minister Stephen Conroy. The paper focused on ways of improving Australia’s economy through the better utilisation of technology. The paper cited several case studies including the combination of using public sector information and mapping technology to increase understanding of public policy issues. The Australian Diabetes Map, administered by Diabetes Australia hosted on Microsoft’s Virtual Earth platform was a case highlighted. As well as video conference technologies that can remove the need to travel and increase productivity, in this instance Microsoft’s Live Meeting and Roundtable were highlighted, among others.

The paper noted that “In February 2009, the Australian Government announced that telepresence technology105 would be deployed across 20 Australian Government and state government locations for use in intergovernmental meetings such as the Council of Australian Governments and Ministerial Councils. This will lower government travel costs and associated greenhouse emissions by reducing the need for face-to-face meetings.”

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