The Systemic Infrastructure Initiative was announced by the

Government of Australia The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national Executive (government), executive government of Australia, a federalism, federal Parliamentary system, parliamentary con ...

in January 2001 as part of

Backing Australia's Ability Backing Australia's Ability (BAA) was a five-year innovation plan launched by the Howard government in January 2001. Previous policy Previous policies for this group of portfolios under the Howard government were: * ''Investing for Growth'', De ...

– ''An Innovation Action Plan for the Future''. The Government announced that $246 million would be allocated over five years "to upgrade the basic infrastructure of universities, such as scientific and research equipment, libraries and laboratory facilities" to support research and research training. Those eligible to apply are restricted to universities and other higher education institutions specified in Table A of the

Higher Education Support Act 2003 The ''Higher Education Support Act 2003'' (Cth) (HESA) is an Act of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia which governs funding for universities in Australia. The Act determines categories of providers eligible for public funding, est ...

Bond University Bond University is Australia's first private university, private not-for-profit university and is located in Robina, Queensland, Robina on the Gold Coast, Queensland. Since its opening on 15 May 1989, Bond University has primarily been a teachi ...

and the

University of Notre Dame Australia The University of Notre Dame Australia (known simply as Notre Dame; ; French language, French for 'Mary, mother of Jesus, Our Lady') is a Private university, private Catholic university with campuses in Perth, Sydney and Broome, Western Austr ...

Early committees

In 2002, as part of the SII funding, the Minister committed $250,000 to two committees, the ''Higher Education Information Infrastructure Implementation Steering Committee'' (HEIIAC) and ''Higher Education Bandwidth Advisory Committee'' (HEBAC). These committees were to formulae further broad projects to be considered for SII funding in the following year. Th
Final Report of the Higher Education Information Infrastructure Advisory Committee
was completed in November 2002.

Australian Research Information Infrastructure Committee

As part of SII the Minister for Education, Science and Training, Dr Brendan Nelson, MP established the ''Australian Research Information Infrastructure Committee'' (ARIIC) in August 2003 to advise the Government on the information infrastructure requirement

http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/higher_education/programmes_funding/programme_categories/research_related_opportunities/systemic_infrastructure_initiative/sii_funded_projects.htm]

2002 round

* IMS Global Australia - Core Funding * IMS COLIS Testbed * Business Intelligence Lab (BIT Lab),

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1949. The university comprises seven faculties, through which it offers bachelor's, master's and docto ...

* Clinical Trial Data and Information Network, ''Flexetrials'',

NHMRC The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) is the main statutory authority of the Australian Government responsible for medical research. It was the eighth largest research funding body in the world in 2016, and NHMRC-funded res ...

Clinical Trials Centre,

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

* Australian Academic & Research Library Network,

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora, Victoria, Bundoora. The university was established in 1 ...

* Joint Academic Scholarships On-line Network (JASON) * Dataset Acquisition, Accessibility and Annotation e-Research Technology Project (DART) *

BIAcore Biacore was a life science products company based in Sweden. In June 2006 Biacore was sold for $390 million and became a product brand under GE Healthcare life Sciences, which became Cytiva in April 2020. Biacore products measure biomolecular i ...

3000 for Discovery & Characterisation of Novel Pharmaceuticals * Australian Research Libraries Collection Analysis Project * Australian Partnership for Advanced Computing (APAC) 2004-2006 * Towards an Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories (APSR)

Facilities and equipment

* Acquisition of next generation instruments in micro- and nano-analysis of solids and fluids in the geosciences and materials sciences, located in a purpose designed shared lab located at

Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a Public university, public research university in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the Sydney metropolitan area. ...

* High Sensitivity, High Accuracy

Mass Spectrometry Mass spectrometry (MS) is an analytical technique that is used to measure the mass-to-charge ratio of ions. The results are presented as a ''mass spectrum'', a plot of intensity as a function of the mass-to-charge ratio. Mass spectrometry is used ...

for Advanced Molecular and Biomolecular Research,

* Establishment of a

nanofabrication Nanolithography (NL) is a growing field of techniques within nanotechnology dealing with the engineering (patterning e.g. etching, depositing, writing, printing etc) of nanometer-scale structures on various materials. The modern term reflects on ...

facility at the

Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

at the

University of Wollongong The University of Wollongong (UOW) is an Australian public university, public research university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, approximately south of Sydney. , the university had an enrolment of more than 33,000 s ...

* Establishment of an Advanced Materials Manufacturing and Performance Centre,

Deakin University Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974 with antecedent history since 1887, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia and a founding father of Australian Fede ...

* Provision of high through-put

DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...

analysing machines for Population Biology Research and Research Training at La Trobe, the

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

and

Monash University Monash University () is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Named after World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the ...

* Spatial and Sonological Information Laboratory,

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (abbreviated as RMIT University) is a public research university located in the city of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia., section 4(b) Established in 1887 by Francis Ormond, it is the seventh-o ...

. Digital Design Precinct * Integrated Microfabrication Facility,

Swinburne University of Technology The Swinburne University of Technology (or simply Swinburne) is a public university, public research university in Melbourne, Australia. It is the modern descendant of the Eastern Suburbs Technical College established in 1908, renamed Swinburne ...

* Large Scale Experimental Building Fire Facility,

Victoria University of Technology Victoria University (VU or Vic Uni) is an Australian public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It is a dual-sector university, providing courses in both higher education and technical and further education (TAFE). The university h ...

* Improvements to the equipment and instrumentation level of the

hypersonic In aerodynamics, a hypersonic speed is one that exceeds five times the speed of sound, often stated as starting at speeds of Mach 5 and above. The precise Mach number at which a craft can be said to be flying at hypersonic speed varies, since i ...

s facility at the

* A

SHRIMP A shrimp (: shrimp (American English, US) or shrimps (British English, UK)) is a crustacean with an elongated body and a primarily Aquatic locomotion, swimming mode of locomotion – typically Decapods belonging to the Caridea or Dendrobranchi ...

Ion Microprobe Facility for Earth Sciences,

Curtin University of Technology Curtin University (previously Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology) is an Australian public research university based in Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. It is named after John Curtin, Prime Minister ...

* ACIGA-

LIGO The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is a large-scale physics experiment and observatory designed to detect cosmic gravitational waves and to develop gravitational-wave observations as an astronomical tool. Prior to LIG ...

High Optical Power Test Facility * 3D-Imaging of Intact Root Systems in soil,

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...

* Upgrade of UV Radiation Monitoring Capabilities,

University of Tasmania The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is a public research university, primarily located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1890, it is Australia's fourth oldest university. Christ College (University of Tasmania), Christ College, one of the unive ...

* Upgrade facilities at

Siding Spring Observatory Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia, part of the Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics (RSAA) at the Australian National University (ANU), incorporates the Anglo-Australian Telescope along with a coll ...

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

Network

Over the course of the SSI program, many improvements to the national backbone were funded: *

Tasmanian Research and Education Network The Connect Tasmania Core is the name used by the Government of Tasmania to refer to a fibre optic communications network linking all major cities of Tasmania to Victoria and the rest of Australia. The government intends to offer access to the net ...

* Victoria Education and Research Network (VERN) * Marine Research and Education Network * Australian Research and Education Network (AREN) ** contribution towards accessing the AREN from the Charles Sturt University campuses at

Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 57,003 as of 2021, it is an important agricultural, m ...

and Bathurst ** interim solution (for 3 years) for high bandwidth connections from the Sunshine backbone to campuses in five regional centres in Queensland (JCU Cairns, CQU Mackay and Gladstone, USC Sippy Downs and USQ Hervey Bay) ** high bandwidth links between the AREN and Murdoch University's three campuses at South Street, Rockingham and Mandurah ** AREN Regional Light Up * 2.5 Gbit/s backbone network from

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

James Cook University James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cair ...

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

* South Australian Broadband Research and Education Network (SABRENet) *

AARNet AARNet (Australian Academic and Research Network) provides Internet services to the Australian education and research communities and their research partners. AARNet built the Internet in Australia. In 1995, the Australian Vice-Chancellors' C ...

** improved broadband access from

to Sydney ** 155 Mbit/s link between Adelaide and

Charles Darwin University Charles Darwin University (CDU) is an Australian public university with two campuses in Darwin and six satellite campuses in metropolitan and regional areas of the Northern Territory. It was established in 2003 after the merger of Northern Ter ...

** Contribution towards the cost of access from

Australian Maritime College The Australian Maritime College (AMC) is a tertiary education institution based in Launceston, Tasmania, established by the ''Maritime College Act 1978'' (Cth). Tertiary education is provided and organised by the University of Tasmania (UTAS) a ...

** Dual 10 Gbit/s transpacific link to carry research and education traffic for an initial period of five years * 1 Gb inter-university network in Adelaide over the

Electricity Trust of South Australia The Electricity Trust of South Australia (ETSA) was the Government of South Australia, South Australian Government-owned monopoly vertically integrated electrical power industry, electricity provider from 1946 until its privatisation in 1999. ...

bandwidth for 15 years * provide access to two fibre pairs on the

Nextgen Networks Nextgen Networks is a wholly owned subsidiary of Vocus Group. Nextgen's Network is based on a geographically protected national network, with the Brisbane to Melbourne link utilising self-healing Synchronous optical networking, SDH two-fibre rin ...

for the Australian higher education sector and wider research communityAARNet 20 Year Book Chapter 6
/ref>

FRODO projects

In 2003, ARIIC funded four ''Federated Repositories of Online Digital Objects'' (FRODO) project

Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories
(APSR)
Meta Access Management System Project
(MAMS

* Australian Repositories Online to the World, Australian Research Repositories Online to the World (ARROW)
Australian Digital Theses Program Expansion
(ADT)

MERRI projects

On 22 August 2005 the Hon Dr

Brendan Nelson Brendan John Nelson (born 19 August 1958) is an Australian business leader, physician and former politician. He served as the federal Leader of the Opposition from 2007 to 2008, going on to serve as Australia's senior diplomat to the European ...

announced funding for nine projects collectively known as the ''Managed Environments for Research Repository Infrastructure'' (MERRI) projects, involving over 30 Australian universities. The funded projects ar

BlueNet
Australian Marine Science Data Network

Mapping the Global Financial System
Molecular Medicine Informatics Model
(MMIM): A Multi-Institutional, Multi-disciplinary Research and Training Platform for Clinical Research
Australian Service for Knowledge of Open Source Software
(ASK-OSS)
Middleware Action Plan and Strategy
(MAPS)
Open Access to Knowledge
(OAK-LAW) (Legal Protocols for Copyright Management: Facilitating Open Access to Research at the National and International Levels (LPCM)) * EFR: e-Security Framework for Research, University of Queensland
Regional Universities Building Research Infrastructure Collaboratively
(RUBRIC)

References

Science and technology in Australia Internet in Australia