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Cybersecurity Report Threats, Challenges, Opportunities Download today at acs.org.au

IF YOU THINK YOUR WORLD IS SECURE, THINK AGAIN...

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www.afr.com | Tuesday 13 December 2016

Special Report

Edited by Jason Clout: jclout@fairfaxmedia.com.au

Digitalis boomingBut not all aresharing in growth S2

Cyber security:a fresh look

The digitaldisruptorawards

Reconnaissanceprobes a constantthreat S7

The top achieversfor 2016 S4-S5

ILLUSTRATION:GETTY IMAGES

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AFRTuesday 13 December 2016The Australian Financial Review | www.afr.com

S2 Special Report Reimagination 2016

Ability to make predictions has AI spawning new industries● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Technology● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Ian Grayson

Rapidly evolving artificial intelligencetechnology is spawning entire newindustries and will fundamentallychange existing business models.

Delegates at the Reimagination 2016event heard the swiftpace of AI develop-ment will catch many organisations bysurprise while early adopters stand toenjoy a significant market advantage.

‘‘AI will create completely new busi-nesses because of its ability for predic-tion,’’ said Professor MichaelBlumenstein, UTS’s head of the schoolof software in the Faculty of Engineer-ing and IT.

‘‘We are moving into the age of pre-dictive skills where we don’t needNostradamus to tell us what is going tohappen. The computing power and AIthat we have will be able to providebusiness and government with some-thing that they have not had before –very accurate insights into the future.’’

Blumenstein told a panel discussionon the topic that UTS students werebeing encouraged to take their AI ideasand explore how they could turn theminto start-up companies. ‘‘They under-stand they could create a start-up thatprovides insights that larger, more

established companies are unable todo,’’ he said.

Craig Dunn, Stone & Chalk chair-man, took a different perspective say-ing that, for a lot of start-ups, it is morea case of forging successful partner-ships with incumbents rather thancompeting with them.

‘‘This is happening, particularly inthe fin-tech space,’’ he said. ‘‘For manysmall technology firms, who mighthave pressures on their cash flow, it’s amatter of partnering with incumbentsand working on AI with them.’’

Pip Marlow, Microsoft Australia’smanaging director, said that, for largerorganisations wanting to embrace theopportunities offered by AI, it was amatter of ‘‘starting by dreaming big,prototyping small and then scalingfast’’.

‘‘The cost of the failure of a small pro-totype is far less than the cost of failureif you are trying to lift and shift theTitanic,’’ she said. ‘‘All innovationdoesn’t have to be on a grand scale.’’

Marlow said it was important formanagement boards to realise that, if aprototype AI project failed, it did notmean the whole management teamshould be fired. ‘‘In an innovation cycle,we know that that is going to happenand so you have to build that kind ofculture around it.’’

The panel also discussed how accessto AI was being democratised. Becauseany business can now make use oflarge, cloud-based computingresources with nothing more than acredit card, the barriers to entry whenit comes to testing and using AI toolshave been greatly reduced.

Kate Burleigh, managing director ofIntel Australia and New Zealand, saidAI democratisation was being aided by

the way in which large technologycompanies were opening up their tech-nology for others to build upon.

She pointed to Intel’s Nervana plat-form that had been designed to stimu-late AI development and make a libraryof algorithms available for wider ITindustry use.

‘‘Like all areas of IT, there are stillcompeting standards, but there are a lotof areas where you will find the big play-ers like Intel opening things up,’’ shesaid. ‘‘It is about the power of scale and

volume and if you try and close thingsdown too much around your own wayof doing things, AI won’t take off.’’

As well as access to large computerresources at relatively low price points,Burleigh said AI was also being drivenby the copious amount of data that wasnow available for analysis.

‘‘The third factor is the innovationexplosion,’’ she said. ‘‘There are enoughexamples appearing already that peo-

ple’s minds are exploding with ideasabout what they could do.’’

Panel members agreed the predict-ive power of AI would continue to betransformational for businesses. Withthe ability to sift through vast amountsof data in almost real time, companieswould soon be in a position to spottrends and make predictions that pre-viously simply would have not beenpossible.

As well as commercial applications,the panel discussed how the techno-

logy had a wide range of roles in otherareas.

UTS’s Blumenstein pointed to exam-ples such as understanding the worthof water. ‘‘We have been looking at howyou can ensure we build the best infra-structure for the provision of water,’’ hesaid. ‘‘We have been using deep learn-ing and predictive analytics to gothrough all the data in the NSW gov-ernment to predict the best places tobuild infrastructure.’’

Blumenstein said another projectinvolved using AI in fields like roboticsand drones. In one case, AI was beingused with drones to spot sharks nearpopular swimming locations. ‘‘AI has abroad range of applications and thethings we can do with it are endless,’’ hesaid.

Microsoft’s Marlow said regulationswould have to be examined and poten-tially changed as AI tools continue toevolve, becoming even more powerful.

‘‘For example, if you look at thingslike automated cars, the regulation inAustralia is different from that in theUS,’’ she said. ‘‘In a Tesla, you can usemore features in the US such as allow-ing the car to automatically stop for redlights. Here, you can’t do that and wehave to manually stop the car. Regula-tions will have an impact on the rate ofadoption of AI.’’

Alpha geekscan be the keyto prosperity

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Innovation● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Mark Eggleton

SOURCE: AUST GOVT DEPARTMENT OF EMPLOYMENT, DELOITTE ACCESS ECONOMICS

Economic contribution of the digital economy ($b)

Employment growth projections by sectors, 2014 to 2019 (’000s)

Surging digital

Within the IMT* Outside the IMT

* Information, media and telecommunications industry

2014 13

15

66 $79b

123 $139b2020

OtherArts and recreation

Health care and social assistanceEducation and training

Administrative Professional scientific and technical

Rental, hiring and reat estateFinancial and insurance

Information, media and telecomsTransport, postal and warehousingAccommodation and food services

TradeConstruction

Electricity, gas, water and wasteManufacturing

MiningAgriculture, forestry and fishing

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000-200

Andrew McAfee: Workers in the middle are seeing most change. PHOTO: DEAN SEWELL

The average [US]family is nowprobably a littleworse off since theyear 2000.Andrew McAfee, MIT

The world faces some extremely chal-lenging times, says Andrew McAfee,because we really do not know whatthe path to prosperity looks like in the21st century.

In a broad keynote address at therecent ACS Reimagination 2016Thought Leaders’ Summit, McAfee, theco-director, MIT Initiative on theDigital Economy and principalresearch scientist at MIT’s SloanSchool of Management, spoke abouthow the world is changing and who arethe current winners and losers.

While he was bullish about theopportunities presented to the globaleconomy during the digital age, hesounded a note of caution regardingthe turbulence coming towards us.

‘‘Technological advancementpresents challenges to some categoryof workers,’’ he said, ‘‘and it’s the work-ers in the middle who are seeing themost change.’’

McAfee drew on the experience of

the US economy, which has seen agreat hollowing out of the middle classsince the turn of the century.

‘‘The average family is now probablya little worse off since the year 2000.The age of prosperity we’ve experi-enced since the end of World War IIwas built on the middle class but whatwe’re now experiencing is the decoup-ling of GDP and productivity from fam-ily income and employment.

‘‘The big job losses have been in themiddle and we’re seeing a real expres-sion of dissatisfaction by people feelingmarginalised and left out. Thispresents a real challenge for a healthyand democratic society and it’s a trendwe need to be worried about.’’

On a more positive note, McAfeespoke of the new business titans risingin the digital age such as platformbuilders Apple and Uber. He also waspositive about the role of the ‘‘alphageek’’ and how these types of leadershave a real vision and they bring peoplealong for the ride. They create less hier-archical and more egalitarian organ-isations and take bold chances basedon evidence and data.

The upshot is these business leadersare getting more done with less and weare ‘‘walking more lightly’’ on theworld.

Commenting on the success ofReimagination 2016, ACS CEO AndrewJohnson agreed rapid digitisation andautomation are compounding theeffects of globalisation and creating alevel of dissatisfaction in communities.

‘‘In the recent US election, thecounties that Clinton won accountedfor 64 per cent of the nation’s economicoutput, while Trump’s counties pro-duced 36 per cent. Job certainty is animportant factor for a country’s citi-zens. We’ve seen Brexit, and in Austra-lia some commentators are saying thatagility and innovation don’t resonatewith the broader population.’’

Johnson said much of the discussionat Reimagination 2016 revolved aroundthe need to showcase how there can bebroad-based participation in the digitalfuture.

‘‘Pip Marlow, managing director ofMicrosoft Australia, said it best whenshe challenged attendees to create adigital dividend rather than digitaldivide. This is a shared responsibilitybetween all levels of government, busi-ness and education.

‘‘Intel Australia managing director

Kate Burleigh strongly advocated forensuring our children develop skillsearly that will maximise their ability toadd value to machines.’’

Another highlight for Johnson wasthe CEO of Snapcard, MichaelDunworth, sharing his experiences ofbunking down in accommodation sim-

ilar to the dorm room in the movieAnnie in order to break into the SiliconValley market.

‘‘Michael championed being a ‘cock-roach’, and never going away, as a keyingredient for success.’’

According to Johnson, we have22,000 Australians working in techcentres in Silicon Valley and across thewest coast of the US.

‘‘The traditional theory is that it isbeneficial to send your citizens over-seas to gain new experiences and skills,

which they then bring back to theirhomeland at a later date. Given the easeof registering businesses in Delaware,the ability to attract investment in theUS and short flight times betweencountries, this traditional view is nowopen for challenge.

‘‘We understand supply chains areglobal, so how do we create businessmodels that ensure a return for Austra-lia while opening up access to the largeoverseas markets? Start-ups and accel-erating the growth of small businessesmust be a focus.’’

For Johnson, one of the key themesto emerge from Reimagination 2016was the need to focus on attracting andretaining the right talent to accelerategrowth and he says there is a substan-tial role for government to play.

‘‘General government spending, rep-resenting over 36 per cent of GDP, is abig influencer on the broader Austra-lian economy. If we want to produceindustries higher up the value-addchain, there is a bigger role for govern-ment to play in technology adoptionand skills transfer across the citizenry.

‘‘As Australia moves away from areliance on mining, we must now seeour human capital as a strategic asset,critical to enabling the knowledge anddigital economies of the future.’’

If you try and close things downtoo much around your own wayof doing things, AI won’t take off.Kate Burleigh, Intel

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The Hon Philip Dalidakis MP Minister for Small Business,

Innovation and Trade

Adrian Turner Chief Executive Officer

of Data61 at CSIRO

Alex Scandurra Chief Executive Officer

of Stone & Chalk

Richard White Chief Executive Officer and

Founder of WiseTech Global

Dr Michelle Deaker Founder, Managing Director

and CEO of OneVentures

Dr Ian Oppermann Chief Executive Officer and Chief

Data Scientist at NSW Data Analytics Centre

Pip Marlow Managing Director

of Microsoft Australia

The Hon Victor Dominello MP Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation

– New South Wales Government

Peter James Chairman of Macquarie

Telecom, Nearmap, and Droneshield

The Hon Stephen Conroy Former Minister for Broadband,

Communications and the Digital Economy

Craig Dunn Independent Director of Westpac, Chairman of Stone & Chalk, and

Director of Telstra, Financial Literacy Australia Limited

and The Australian Ballet

Kate Burleigh Managing Director

of Intel Australia/NZ

Professor Andrew McAfee Co-Director – MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, and

Associate Director – Centre for Digital Business at the MIT Sloan

School of Management

See all of the Reimagination’16 Thought Leaders at reimagination16.acs.org.au

THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR THOUGHT LEADERS

AFR Tuesday 13 December 2016www.afr.com | The Australian Financial Review

S3Special ReportReimagination 2016

We need to sharpen appeal as IT hub● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Ecosystems● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Ian Grayson

Bridget Loudon ofExpert360 saysAustraliancompaniesstruggle to findskilled staff.PHOTO: DEAN SEWELL

Australia must position itself as anattractive destination for global techno-logy entrepreneurs, or risk losing out tocountries that do, a panel of experts haswarned.

Issues such as skilled migration visanumbers and access to venture capitalneed to be examined to ensure thecountry can compete with centres suchas California and Israel that havefostered large and successful IT indus-tries.

Speaking at the Reimagination 2016event in Sydney, Bridget Loudon, chiefexecutive of Expert360, said it could bechallenging for small Australian tech-nology companies to find the skilledstaff they needed. As a result, manywere being forced to relocate overseas.

‘‘Ultimately we need to go back to thefoundation of education and make surewe are training the people we need, butthat takes a long time,’’ she said. ‘‘In theinterim, if we are going to create com-panies in Australia, we need to look atour policies around 457 visas.’’

Victorian Minister for Small Busi-ness, Innovation and Trade PhilipDalidakis agreed, saying the same issuewas being examined all around theworld.

‘‘We need to make sure we are com-petitive but also realise that everyone isfacing the same shortage of skilled

labour,’’ he said. ‘‘I would like to see theIT industry be recognised as anindustry of need.’’

The panel also discussed the issue ofventure capital in Australia, conclud-ing that business access had improvedduring the past few years.

‘‘The landscape is changing andthere is a real focus on investing,’’ saidTim Power, chief executive andfounder of Inquisitive. ‘‘The Australianand US landscapes are really becomingmore aligned.’’

Power pointed to companies such asBlackbird Ventures which is encour-aging the Australian start-up ecosys-tem and backing it with significantinvestments. He believed this trend

would continue to provide a solidfoundation for the future growth ofsmall Australian technology firms.

Michael Dunworth, chief executiveof Snapcard, said small firms lookingfor funding had to constantly remindthemselves that the process was noteasy.

‘‘Some people read the headlinesabout a company being funded andthink that the money just falls from atree,’’ he said. ‘‘It actually takes a lot ofdetermination and hard work toachieve. You need tenacity and, hon-estly, to be a bit like a cockroach. Theynever go away and can survive justabout anything. You have to be willingto take the hits and be able to tell your-

self when you are wrong and need tochange. It takes years to become anovernight success.’’

Discussion participants also con-sidered the challenge of creating a crit-ical mass of IT start-ups in Australiathat would, in turn, attract others fromdifferent parts of the world.

Dalidakis highlighted Victoria’s suc-cess in the area of cyber security. Hepointed to agreements that had beenforged with Data61 and the NBN whichwould form the basis for a ‘‘cluster ofcyber security firms in Melbourne’’.

‘‘My vision is to be in the top fiveR&D cyber security centres within thenext five to 10 years,’’ he said. ‘‘We havealready seen hundreds of jobs created.’’

Dunworth applauded the effortsbeing made to increase the number ofsmall technology firms in Australia,but questioned whether there was aneed to try to replicate the success of aplace like California’s Silicon Valley.‘‘Silicon Valley is like a perfect storm. Ithas Stanford University, which has oneof the best computer science programsin North America, and a large numberof venture capitalists,’’ he said. ‘‘Thereare all these conditions that make itpossible for people to thrive and for theecosystem to grow.’’

Rather than trying to recreate thisenvironment, he said Australia’s gov-ernment and business leaders shouldfocus on practical issues such as taxbreaks for investors and other incent-ives to attract more capital.

Status quo hardto overcome

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Contracts● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Ian Grayson

The traditionally siloed structure ofgovernment and its culture of risk aver-sion are creating challenges for smallIT companies looking to sell theirproducts and services to the publicsector.

An expert panel at the Reimagina-tion 2016 event concluded changesneeded to be made to give Australiantechnology start-ups the opportunity tobe involved in the government pro-curement process. Failure to do socould slow their growth and lead tothem looking internationally foropportunities.

Stephen Conroy, former federalminister for broadband, communica-tions and the digital economy, said thechallenge of breaking through thestatus quo in government remainedsomething that was hard to achieve.

‘‘When I was minister, trying to con-vince my cabinet colleagues and drivechange through the bureaucracy wasa very significant challenge. Itrequired you to be paying attention allthe time to the various tricks that thesilos would use to protect theirpatches.

‘‘There is a culture of absolute riskaversion. The department or the[government] silo just wants to picksomething that is safe and this is achallenge that has to be overcome,’’says Conroy.

AFRGA1 S004

THE BIGGEST RISK TO YOUR BUSINESS? THE FUTURE.

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AFR

S4 S5Tuesday 13 December 2016The Australian Financial Review

www.afr.comSpecial Report Special ReportDigital Disruptors Awards 2016

Top achieversACSDigitalDisruptorsAwards2016

ProfessionaloftheyearDrKateRaynes-Goldie

YoungProfessionalFemaleCynthiaLee

YoungProfessionalMaleDavidBudden

EducatoroftheyearDrRichardDazeley

StudentoftheyearShaneHercules

ResearcheroftheyearGeoffWebb

ServiceTransformationfortheDigitalConsumer(notforprofit)TouchlineConnect

GovernmentAustraliaPost&WAPolice

CorporateBiteable

SkillsTransformationforWorkTeams:

Small:Qantas

Medium:Seek

Large:NAB

2016PearceyFoundationMedallistSteveBaxter

2016PearceyNationalEntrepreneurAwardAaronBirkby

PearceyFoundationHallofFameSteveBaxterRobinEckermannJimEllisOAM

Software skill makessomething out of nothing

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Start-ups● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Joshua Gliddon

When Aaron Birkby was 8 years old, hehad a lightbulb moment. Not long beforehe had been given a Commodore 64, apopular personal computer in the 1980s,and he was intrigued by it. Then his sis-ter’s boyfriend, in an off-the-cuff com-ment, noted it was an easy computer towrite software for.

‘‘I realised you could make somethingout of nothing, and that is where myinterest in tech started,’’ he says.

Since then, Birkby has been involved insoftware development, creating start-upsand making angel investments in newbusinesses. Earlier this year he was therecipient of the Australian Computer Soci-ety’s 2016 Pearcey National EntrepreneurAward, a prize he values because it is peerrecognition from the industry for thework he has done in encouraging start-ups and entrepreneurship.

Birkby, who was born in Australia,spent a short time in the US and thencame back, had his breakthroughmoment when he decided on a careerchange and went into the restaurantbusiness with his siblings.

To differentiate the restaurant, hedecided to write software enabling peo-ple to convert the dollars they spent in theshop into internet access time. ‘‘Eventu-

ally we were making more money fromselling the software than from the res-taurant, so we decided to turn it into abusiness, creating Arinda Internet.’’

He ran Arinda for eight years, and bythe end the software was used in ninecountries with 200 clients, 2000 locationsand a user base of 2 million people. Afterhaving his first child he decided to get outand made a trade sale to a competitor.

His next venture was an Internet ofThings play relating to coin-operatedmachines, which he sold to a competitor,and then in 2012 he set up a start-up hubon the Gold Coast.

Then he created Startup Catalyst, ofwhich he is chief executive. ‘‘I set it upwith investor Steve Baxter,’’ he says. ‘‘Hewas looking at the number of tech schoolgraduates and realised that we don’t haveenough of them going into tech, butinstead into consulting firms.’’

Every year Startup Catalyst takes 20young techies to Silicon Valley for twoweeks, the idea being that they fall in lovewith the start-up process and come backto start their own companies.

‘‘Everyone is in awe of Silicon Valley,but in Australia we are just as good, if notbetter tech-wise,’’ he notes.

As to the future, Birkby wants to getback into the start-up game. ‘‘I’ve spentfour years playing around with otherpeople’s start-ups,’’ he says. ‘‘I’d like to getback into it. I’d like to have a big impact.’’

How to buildtrue leadership

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Policy Change is comingand we can’t ignore it bybuilding a moat.

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Mark Eggleton

Dr Kate Raynes-Goldie, named ICT Professional of the Year, asks why we don’t take the gaming industry seriously. PHOTO: DEAN SEWELL

For winners at the recent AustralianComputer Society (ACS) Digital Disrup-tors Awards 2016, the general consensuswas Australia needs to do a lot more if itwants to be a leader in the new digitaleconomy.

Our problem is governments and busi-ness tend to enjoy saying the word dis-ruption and innovation but generally donot follow through.

ICT Professional of the Year, Dr KateRaynes-Goldie, asked why we do not takethe gaming industry seriously consider-ing it is a massive global industry anddoes not require huge research invest-ment.

Founder of PIPE Networks, serial start-up investor and the 2016 Pearcey Founda-

tion Medallist Steve Baxter agreed andasked why so much is invested inresearch we deem as worthy rather thanjust looking at the bottom-line.

‘‘Governments should be about jobs sowhat should they do? Do more researchor be more entrepreneurial?’’ he asks.

‘‘We constantly use throwaway termslike innovation and disruption butthey’re just a new way of doing things.The world is coming for us and we can’tignore it by building a regulatory moataround Australia. What we need to do isto communicate the importance ofchange without talking down to people.

‘‘Politicians are universally poor atexplaining things and so are our PhDresearchers."

Baxter, who is also one of the ‘‘sharks’’on Network Ten’s Shark Tank, believeswe just have to be more entrepreneurialand better teach young people a littleabout business acumen. ‘‘Universities arethe most unauthentic enterprise environ-ments out there so we need to give peoplesome more business skills.

‘‘We need to invest in start-ups and

increase the number of high-tech busi-nesses. We can’t expect research to be awellspring of economic activity,’’ he says.

Also speaking at the awards, NSWMinister for Innovation and Better Regu-lation, Victor Dominello, spoke of thechallenges inside government and howhe is confronting them through a rangeof initiatives designed to bring NSWforward as a smarter, more digitally-focused state.

One winner on the night who workedclosely with a government departmentwas cmee4 productions and its SoundScouts offering. Sound Scouts bagged theGold Disruptor Service Transformationfor the Digital Consumer (Corporate).

Developed in collaboration with theNational Acoustic Laboratories andsupported by NSW Health, Sound Scoutswill make hearing testing accessible to allchildren, ensuring they are ready, andable, to learn.

Sound Scouts utilises game play togather rich data that is analysed to deter-mine the state of a child’s hearing.

Played on a tablet with a set of

headphones it can be supervised by anyresponsible adult. Like a genie in a bottle,Sound Scouts is akin to an audiologist in atablet, the expertise is built in.

Other winners on the night includedemployment services company Seek,which picked up a gong for Skills Trans-

formation for Work Teams (Medium),and Qantas, which picked up the SkillsTransformation for Work Teams (Small).

Qantas picked up its award for an appdeveloped to improve the critical processof baggage handling.

According to Qantas program man-

ager Blake Millard, the app automated alot of manual processes and has alsoprovided a number of reporting advant-ages that enabled Qantas to better alloc-ate resources and improve safety.

‘‘Drivers who would have previouslybeen idle and waiting for a delayed flight

could be redeployed to other tasksthereby reducing inefficiencies. As a res-ult, we drove down costs and safety issuesrelating to bag loading decreased sincethe introduction of the app,’’ Millard says.

The success of the app has led to itbeing marketed to other airlines.

Gaming perfect way to encourage women into tech● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

STEM● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Joshua Gliddon

It is no secret women are under-represented in the STEM (science, tech-nology, engineering and mathematics)disciplines, but Dr Kate Raynes-Goldiehas a theory as to why they are under-represented: it is all Nintendo’s fault.

Back in 1984, Nintendo had justlaunched its blockbuster Nintendo Enter-tainment System (NES). The equipmentis highly sought-after, and widely advert-ised. And in those ads? Well, there areonly boys. Not a girl in sight.

‘‘I was 12 at the time,’’ recalls DrRaynes-Goldie, ‘‘and it made me reallymad that there were no girls in the ads, noone I could relate to. I even wrote Nin-tendo letters.’’

The year 1984 was also significantbecause until then, female participationrates in STEM had been on the rise. Could

it be that all it took to turn back years ofprogress was a series of Nintendo ads? DrRaynes-Goldie thinks so.

Earlier this year she won the Austra-lian Computer Society’s Digital Disrup-tors Professional of the Year Award.‘‘There are only 10 per cent of women ingames and tech,’’ she notes. ‘‘This awardis a huge recognition of my work inadvocating for diversity in technology.’’

Dr Raynes-Goldie is a gamer, technolo-gist, speaker and writer. She runs a con-sultancy called Games We Play, and saysgaming and game development is theperfect way for women to becomeinvolved in the tech industry.

‘‘When I was younger, it seemed thatall computer science was solving prob-lems with code and mathematics, and Ifound that boring,’’ she says. ‘‘Gamingand games development is the perfectentry point for women in technologybecause you don’t necessarily need toknow those things.’’

There’s an often tossed around figureindicating the gaming industry is worth$100 billion worldwide. Gaming advoc-ates like to note it’s a figure makinggames bigger than Hollywood. AsDr Raynes-Goldie observes, it’s a perfectindustry for Australia because it does notinvolve massive investment, but it doesrequire government support. Unfortu-nately, with the exception of Victoria,where the games development industryis funded, and which is responsible for50 per cent of Australia’s gaming devel-opment, there is no other support.

She compares Australia to Canada,which has extensive funding for gamesdevelopment.

‘‘Canada is No.3 in the world when itcomes to games development, and it hasa similar population to us. The differenceis that in Canada the industry has govern-ment support, whereas that’s just nothappening here.’’

One of the killer trends in gaming is the

rise of virtual, augmented and mixedreality driven by the blockbuster successof Pokemon Go earlier this year. Raynes-Goldie predicts those trends will have amajor impact not only on gaming, butalso on the workplace.

The direction for work is increasinglyfreelance, she notes, with up to 40 percent of US workers taking part in what isknown as the ‘‘gig economy’’ over thenext five years. Australia will not lag farbehind.

The rise of co-working spaces has alle-viated some of the problems associatedwith isolation and collaboration when itcomes to freelance, but there is also theproblem of collaboration with peoplewho are not in the room, but are part ofthe gig of the moment.

By using augmented and virtual reality,says Raynes-Goldie, freelance workerswill be able to collaborate on jobs as ifthey are in the same room, rather thanworking on shared documents.

The push is on for corporate transformation● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Consulting● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Jonathan Porter

Deloitte’s CynthiaLee says it’s greatknowing you havemade an impact.PHOTO: DEAN SEWELLAdvising corporate heavyweights in

areas ranging from mining to financialservices and defence has earnedDeloitte’s Cynthia Lee recognition as oneof the nation’s top young disruptors.

She says that while there are greatchallenges in her work, there are alsogreat rewards.

‘‘It’s very rewarding keeping in contactwith our clients and hearing they haveimplemented what we have suggestedand that it’s working,’’ said Lee, whostarted at Deloitte as a summer internand was invited to join Deloitte’s gradu-ate program in 2010.

‘‘It’s great knowing that you have madean impact.’’

Lee accepted the Australian ComputerSociety’s Digital Disruptors Awards 2016Young ICT Professional of the Year

(Female under 30) award in front of morethan 500 thought leaders and disruptorsfrom around the globe at a gala dinnerand awards ceremony held at The Star inSydney.

‘‘I’m very surprised and very excited. Ididn’t even bring a big enough suitcase toget the award home and had to get itmailed to Melbourne.’’

She said her work is project-based andevery project means meeting a new teamand engaging with new stakeholders.

‘‘Every project is like a new job. You arealways learning who’s who and operatein different work environments,’’ saidLee, whose management consultingexperience spans seven years, rangingfrom IT operating model designs and ITstrategy reviews, to process definitionand mapping as well as large-scale trans-formation programs.

She said the award was confirmationshe made the right career decision.

‘‘I’ve met some amazing people, on this

journey,’’ said Lee, who has acted as amanagement consultant in fields asdiverse as mining, utilities, financial ser-vices, telecommunications, defence, pro-fessional services and the public sector.

She says her plans for next year include

working with the ACS executive commit-tee as well as implementing programswith the society’s national diversity andinclusion committee. She has also beeninvited to be a guest lecturer at a promin-ent yet unnamed university.

‘‘Longer term there is always some-thing to learn and I plan to fine-tune myknowledge of IT model design.

‘‘I’d like to give thanks to all the peoplewho have supported me and helped mewith advice and guidance – I would not bewhere I am today without them.

‘‘I’d also like to pay tribute to all theintelligent and driven women who havebeen there for me throughout my career,all the work and opportunities thatDeloitte have provided me.’’

The awards night followed a day ofpanel sessions at the ACS ReimaginationThought Leaders’ Summit.

With the digital economy tipped togrow to $79 billion by 2020, disruption isa key component in ensuring the contin-ued growth of the Australian economy,an awards spokesperson said.

‘‘The winners will play a key role inhelping develop Australia as a leadingdigital and knowledge economy in yearsto come.’’

Digital Disruptors Awards 2016

THE BIGGEST RISK TO YOUR BUSINESS? THE FUTURE.

A

S4 Tuesday 13 DThe Australian

www.Special Report Digital Disruptors Awards 2016

How to buildtrue leadership

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Policy Change is comingand we can’t ignore it bybuilding a moat.

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Mark Eggleton

Dr Kate Raynes-Goldie, named ICT Professional of the Year, asks why we don’t take the ga

For winners at the recent AustralianComputer Society (ACS) Digital Disrup-tors Awards 2016, the general consensuswas Australia needs to do a lot more if itwants to be a leader in the new digitaleconomy.

Our problem is governments and busi-ness tend to enjoy saying the word dis-ruption and innovation but generally donot follow through.

ICT Professional of the Year, Dr KateRaynes-Goldie, asked why we do not takethe gaming industry seriously consider-ing it is a massive global industry anddoes not require huge research invest-ment.

Founder of PIPE Networks, serial start-up investor and the 2016 Pearcey Founda-

tion Medallist Steve Baxter agreed andasked why so much is invested inresearch we deem as worthy rather thanjust looking at the bottom-line.

‘‘Governments should be about jobs sowhat should they do? Do more researchor be more entrepreneurial?’’ he asks.

‘‘We constantly use throwaway termslike innovation and disruption butthey’re just a new way of doing things.The world is coming for us and we can’tignore it by building a regulatory moataround Australia. What we need to do isto communicate the importance ofchange without talking down to people.

‘‘Politicians are universally poor atexplaining things and so are our PhDresearchers."

Baxter, who is also one of the ‘‘sharks’’on Network Ten’s Shark Tank, believeswe just have to be more entrepreneurialand better teach young people a littleabout business acumen. ‘‘Universities arethe most unauthentic enterprise environ-ments out there so we need to give peoplesome more business skills.

‘‘We need to invest in start-ups and

increase the number of high-tech busi-nesses. We can’t expect research to be awellspring of economic activity,’’ he says.

Also speaking at the awards, NSWMinister for Innovation and Better Regu-lation, Victor Dominello, spoke of thechallenges inside government and howhe is confronting them through a rangeof initiatives designed to bring NSWforward as a smarter, more digitally-focused state.

One winner on the night who workedclosely with a government departmentwas cmee4 productions and its SoundScouts offering. Sound Scouts bagged theGold Disruptor Service Transformationfor the Digital Consumer (Corporate).

Developed in collaboration with theNational Acoustic Laboratories andsupported by NSW Health, Sound Scoutswill make hearing testing accessible to allchildren, ensuring they are ready, andable, to learn.

Sound Scouts utilises game play togather rich data that is analysed to deter-mine the state of a child’s hearing.

Played on a tablet with a set of

headphones it can be supervised by anyresponsible adult. Like a genie in a bottle,Sound Scouts is akin to an audiologist in atablet, the expertise is built in.

Other winners on the night includedemployment services company Seek,which picked up a gong for Skills Trans-

formation for Work Teams (Medium),and Qantas, which picked up the SkillsTransformation for Work Teams (Small).

Qantas picked up its award for an appdeveloped to improve the critical processof baggage handling.

According to Qantas program man-

The push is on for corporate transformation● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Consulting● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Jonathan Porter

Deloitte’s CynthiaLee says it’s greatknowing you havemade an impact.PHOTO: DEAN SEWELLAdvising corporate heavyweights in

areas ranging from mining to financialservices and defence has earnedDeloitte’s Cynthia Lee recognition as oneof the nation’s top young disruptors.

She says that while there are greatchallenges in her work, there are alsogreat rewards.

‘‘It’s very rewarding keeping in contactwith our clients and hearing they haveimplemented what we have suggestedand that it’s working,’’ said Lee, whostarted at Deloitte as a summer internand was invited to join Deloitte’s gradu-ate program in 2010.

‘‘It’s great knowing that you have madean impact.’’

Lee accepted the Australian ComputerSociety’s Digital Disruptors Awards 2016Young ICT Professional of the Year

(Female under 30) award in front of morethan 500 thought leaders and disruptorsfrom around the globe at a gala dinnerand awards ceremony held at The Star inSydney.

‘‘I’m very surprised and very excited. Ididn’t even bring a big enough suitcase toget the award home and had to get itmailed to Melbourne.’’

She said her work is project-based andevery project means meeting a new teamand engaging with new stakeholders.

‘‘Every project is like a new job. You arealways learning who’s who and operatein different work environments,’’ saidLee, whose management consultingexperience spans seven years, rangingfrom IT operating model designs and ITstrategy reviews, to process definitionand mapping as well as large-scale trans-formation programs.

She said the award was confirmationshe made the right career decision.

‘‘I’ve met some amazing people, on this

journey,’’ said Lee, who has acted as amanagement consultant in fields asdiverse as mining, utilities, financial ser-vices, telecommunications, defence, pro-fessional services and the public sector.

She says her plans for next year include

working with the ACS executive commit-tee as well as implementing programswith the society’s national diversity andinclusion committee. She has also beeninvited to be a guest lecturer at a promin-ent yet unnamed university.

‘‘Longer term there is always some-thing to learn and I plan to fine-tune myknowledge of IT model design.

‘‘I’d like to give thanks to all the peoplewho have supported me and helped mewith advice and guidance – I would not bewhere I am today without them.

‘‘I’d also like to pay tribute to all theintelligent and driven women who havebeen there for me throughout my career,all the work and opportunities thatDeloitte have provided me.’’

The awards night followed a day ofpanel sessions at the ACS ReimaginationThought Leaders’ Summit.

With the digital economy tipped togrow to $79 billion by 2020, disruption isa key component in ensuring the contin-ued growth of the Australian economy,an awards spokesperson said.

‘‘The winners will play a key role inhelping develop Australia as a leadingdigital and knowledge economy in yearsto come.’’

AFRGA1 S006

Individual Award WinnersICT Professional of the Year Dr Kate Raynes-Goldie Games We Play/FTIICT Young Professional of the Year (Female) Cynthia Lee Deloitte AustraliaICT Young Professional of the Year (Male) David Budden Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyICT Student of the Year Shane Hercules University of MelbourneICT Educator of the Year Dr Richard Dazeley Federation UniversityICT Researcher of the Year Geoff Webb Monash University Team Award WinnersSkills Transformation of Work TeamsSmall Medium LargeQantas SEEK NAB Service Transformation for the Digital ConsumerCorporate Government Not for ProfitBiteable Australia Post & WA Police Touchline Connect For the full list of finalists visit disruptors.acs.org.au

Gold Partners

Media PartnersEvent Partners

Advancing IT through Education and Research

Platinum Partners

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR AWARD WINNERS

THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROUS SUPPORT

#reimagination reimagination16.acs.org.au

#disruptors disruptors.acs.org.au

6 Tuesday 13 December 2016 | The Australian Financial Review | www.afr.com

AFRGA1 S007

Join ACS today at acs.org.au

BECOME A MEMBER • 28,000 DIGITAL LEARNING ASSETS• GROUND BREAKING THOUGHT LEADERSHIP REPORTS• ACS LIMITED LIABILITY INSURANCE COVERAGE• PLAN FOR SUCCESS WITH ACS TOOLS AND RESOURCES

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S7Special ReportReimagination 2016

Common language required to build culture, drive success● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Directors● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Ian Grayson

Growing businesses need to be focusedon solving customer problems ratherthan on developing a particularproduct or service with no regard formarket demand.

Delegates at the Reimagination 2016Technology Strategy: A CompanyBoard’s Perspective panel sessionheard having a strong managementboard that can provide a level ofmentoring can be critical to ensuringan organisation remains on track and

relevant in a constantly changing mar-ketplace.

Peter James, chairman of MacquarieTelecom, Nearmap and DroneShield,told the conference that heads of start-up IT companies were often first-timemanagers and, as such, needed to beprepared to acknowledge their ownlimitations – and boards had a role toplay in achieving this.

‘‘Boards are there to assist thegrowth of the company,’’ he said. ‘‘It’sabout driving culture. Boards of listedcompanies are really entrepreneurs forgrown-ups.

‘‘Too often, we look internally at our

products and we have our developersin the back room designing products inthe hope that someone wants them. Mymantra as a chairman is to get peopleout talking to customers. You need toflip the organisation so it is customer-centric.’’

Dr Ian Opperman, chief executiveand chief data scientist at the NSWData Analytics Centre, said it was goodfor young CEOs to think of boards aspeople ‘‘who are very smart and verystrategic but are speaking a totally dif-ferent language from you’’.

‘‘Boards consist of people and it isabout building trust with the board in

order to get a strategic relationship,’’ hesaid. ‘‘You need to understand how toposition technology in a way that isactually understood and actionable bya board.’’

Richard White, chief executive andfounder of WiseTech Global, told del-egates it was vital that a strong relation-ship existed between a company’sboard and its senior management.

‘‘Ultimately it is about using thepower of the machine that you have, bymaking sure the board is right, theexecutive management is right, andmaking sure all the talent that sitsunderneath that is right.’’

White said there had been much dis-cussion in Australia about the chal-lenge of finding the best talent forgrowing technology companies andthis held true when it came to theboard.

Opperman agreed, saying it was alsoimportant to understand the frame-work in which a board operated andtheir appetite for risk. ‘‘The best rela-tionship is not to present to them but towork with them and build the relation-ship,’’ he said. ‘‘You need to speak in acommon language, developing thingstogether and working together asclosely as possible.’’

Lone wolves and data dumps a problem● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Cyber security● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Jonathan Porter

Sometimes internal risks are greater than external.

The two greatestattacks we have seen ofdata theft from insidewere from Manningand Snowden.Philip Dalidakis, MP

Constant reconnaissance probes bynation states, attacks by computer net-work robber barons and lone wolvesand data dumps from disgruntledworkers – that is digital Australia’sbleak picture painted for a cyber secur-ity forum in Sydney recently.

And without constant vigilance andfine-tuning of our cyber defences, theproblem will only get worse.

‘‘A lot of nation states and militariesare investing in capabilities that can beused to target utilities; power, waterresource and energy providers,’’Major-General Stephen Day, formerhead of cyber at the Department ofDefence who was the inaugural headof the Australian Cyber SecurityCentre, told the Australian ComputerSociety Cyber Forum in Sydney.

‘‘There is no question reconnais-sance is going on right now.’’

The glimpse behind the curtain atAustralia’s cyber defenders cameduring the question and answerperiod at the end of the forum,attended by some of the world’s lead-ing experts in the field.

An attendee put to the panel thatan emerging risk was not lone wolfattackers ‘‘but of a state-sponsoredcyber-attack sometimes fromfriendly countries we consider allies’’and asked what was being done tomitigate the risk.

Day agreed that state-sponsoredattacks were a ‘‘significant risk’’, par-ticularly if people looked down thetrack a few years.

He added that there was also a‘‘significant challenge with organ-ised crime’’.

‘‘We looked at the sectors thatmattered most to our nation eitherfrom an economic prosperity per-spective or from a national securityperspective and put them in a prior-ity order and looked at those sectorsthat were likely to be targeted byorganised crime or by nation statesand then we directed our organisa-tional energy to help those sectors.

‘‘So if, for example, you are in theutilities sector or critical infrastruc-ture sector you will have had moreexperience of government contact-ing and working with you than theretail sector or the banking sectorwhere you are likely to meet thepolice more than the nationalsecurity base.’’

Victorian minister for Small Busi-ness, Innovation and Trade PhilipDalidakis said that while Day’s state-ments were ‘‘sexy’’ and would gener-ate headlines ‘‘the one thingeveryone in the room has to beextremely cognisant of is that theoverwhelming majority of attacksoccur from within’’.

‘‘Yes, we need to be able to stop

attacks from the outside of the fire-wall but the fact of the matter is thetwo greatest attacks we have seen ofdata theft from inside were fromBradley Manning and (Edward)Snowden,’’ he told the forum.

‘‘There are a range of companiesthat will swear black and blue that

they have got algorithms that willhelp flag anomalies within the sys-tem – people accessing certain typesof data that they haven’t done forages – (or) if you have got your net-works categorised under differentsecurity levels – people trying toaccess levels [other] than their secur-

ity classification. Ultimately it comesdown to people and training, eachorganisation has to have people whoare trained appropriately who candeal with it when – it’s not a matter ofif – it occurs.’’

Some of the greatest risks in organ-isations were the IT divisions them-selves, he says.

‘‘People who have the administrat-ive access rights and passwords aresometimes the ones who are under-taking a whole range of activities thatpeople on the rest of the network arebanned from doing – includingdownloading huge amounts of illegaldata. Which is, of course, one of theways people get in.

‘‘So don’t go away from this think-ing that if you focus on external youare protected because your internal[network] is 80 per cent of your risk.’’

On the intelligence side, he said hecould speak more freely than otherpanel members because he was not arepresentative of the federal govern-ment.

Dalidakis said the nation was wellserved by the Five Eyes agreement onsignals intelligence sharing with theUS, Canada, New Zealand and theUnited Kingdom.

Fellow panel member SandraRagg, assistant secretary for cyberpolicy in the Department of thePrime Minister and Cabinet, said thenation did need to improve its cyberdefences.

‘‘The first thing we can do isimprove our cyber defences.

‘‘People focus on state-sponsoredthreats but cybercrime is a hugepiece of the threat to our economy.’’

AFRGA1 S008

Thank you to the global experts joining our Ministerial Forums

from the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP)

Panel Session: Does the Internet of Things,

Algorithms and Artificial Intelligence of Everything

promise Utopia?

(l-r) Mr Mike Hinchey, President IFIP; Mr Ray Long, President British Computer

Society; Ms Ulandi Exner, President, Institute of IT Professionals South Africa;

Adrian Schofield, Vice Chairman Standards and Accreditation/Chief Assessor

IP3; Professor Michael Fraser AO; Ms Brenda Aynsley OAM, Chairman of the

International Professional Practice Partnership (IP3)

Panel Session: Government

as an influencer of innovation,

technology adoption and economic

growth

Driverless cars, Artificial Intelligence,

Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, IoT – the

commercial applications have come a long

way in a short period of time, and we are

seeing an explosion in technology innovation.

Why is it then that developed economies

have yet to see any real GDP impact?

(l-r) Mr Ray Long President British Computer

Society; Ms Ulandi Exner, President, Institute

of IT Professionals South Africa ; The Hon Victor

Dominello NSW Minister for Innovation & Better

Regulation; Mr Anthony Wong President ACS

(l-r) Professor Yuko Murayama, IFIP Vice President

& Information Processing Society of Japan, Mr

Ray Long President British Computer Society; Ms

Ulandi Exner, President, Institute of IT Professionals

South Africa ; The Hon Victor Dominello NSW

Minister for Innovation & Better Regulation.

Panel Session: Global approaches to building

resilience, the cyber security ecosystem and staying

on top of old and new threats.

(l-r) Ms Sandra Ragg, Assistant Secretary Cyber Policy Office of the Cyber

Security Special Adviser, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet; Ms

Elly van den Heuvel, Secretary to the Dutch Cyber Security Council; Major

General Stephen Day, former Head of Cyber at the Department of Defence and

inaugural Head of the Australian Cyber Security Centre; Miho Matsubara, CISO

Palo Alto Asia Pacific; Mr Mike Hinchey, President International Federation for

Information Processing; Dr Nick Tate President SEARCC; Hon Philip Dalidakis,

Victorian Minister for Small Business, Innovation and Trade acs.org.au

8 Tuesday 13 December 2016 | The Australian Financial Review | www.afr.com