Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354839
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$10,000.00
Summary
Transforming Knowledge Spaces: Open Technologies for Research Collaboration and Research Communication
. Technology has the potential to transform the means for scholarly collaboration and communication. Our proposal will achieve this potential, by deploying open source infrastructures to create new communication platforms. The Initiative will itself use collaborative writing systems to construct and energise the Network, which will match researchers requiring these new technologies with thos ....Transforming Knowledge Spaces: Open Technologies for Research Collaboration and Research Communication
. Technology has the potential to transform the means for scholarly collaboration and communication. Our proposal will achieve this potential, by deploying open source infrastructures to create new communication platforms. The Initiative will itself use collaborative writing systems to construct and energise the Network, which will match researchers requiring these new technologies with those who have the skills to build them. The outcomes will be an increase in the efficiency of traditional research collaborations as well as new kinds of collaboration and communication, for researchers and consumers of research across a range of disciplines.Read moreRead less
Gene Patents in Australia: Options for Reform. Controversies over the upsurge in gene patenting, access to pharmaceuticals, biopiracy, and ownership of genetic resources, lead many to question whether patent law is appropriate for biotechnology. Do patents thwart access to beneficial technologies such as drugs, research tools and new crops, while hampering policy options for health care and agriculture? This project addresses the urgent need for a comprehensive study of the impact of biotech pat ....Gene Patents in Australia: Options for Reform. Controversies over the upsurge in gene patenting, access to pharmaceuticals, biopiracy, and ownership of genetic resources, lead many to question whether patent law is appropriate for biotechnology. Do patents thwart access to beneficial technologies such as drugs, research tools and new crops, while hampering policy options for health care and agriculture? This project addresses the urgent need for a comprehensive study of the impact of biotech patenting, critically reviewing overseas developments, setting biotechnology in the broader policy context of intellectual property law, and empirically analysing patterns rather than relying on the anecdotal and piecemeal studies that dominate this area.Read moreRead less
Promoting Plant Innovation in Australia: maximising the benefits of intellectual property for Australian agriculture. The development of new plant varieties is crucial to the ongoing competitiveness and sustainability of Australian agriculture. It also has wider social, cultural and economic consequences. Intellectual property laws have the potential to promote and hinder the developments of new plant varieties. In recent years there has been a shift towards the use of patents to protect plant i ....Promoting Plant Innovation in Australia: maximising the benefits of intellectual property for Australian agriculture. The development of new plant varieties is crucial to the ongoing competitiveness and sustainability of Australian agriculture. It also has wider social, cultural and economic consequences. Intellectual property laws have the potential to promote and hinder the developments of new plant varieties. In recent years there has been a shift towards the use of patents to protect plant innovations: a trend which has the potential to transform existing research and development arrangements and industry practices in Australia. By providing policy-makers and stakeholders with recommendations on how to respond to and manage these changes, the project will promote plant breeding in Australia and also enhance the sustainability and competitiveness of Australian agriculture.Read moreRead less
Unlocking IP - Expanding public rights and the public domain in Australian copyright. This research investigates how Australia's digital commons, comprising both the public domain and public rights created by open content and open software licensing, can be expanded and protected. It focuses on 'self help' actions within the existing statutory context, in Australia's distinct legal and cultural context, and on comprehensiveness. Its significance is that healthy commons-based production of inform ....Unlocking IP - Expanding public rights and the public domain in Australian copyright. This research investigates how Australia's digital commons, comprising both the public domain and public rights created by open content and open software licensing, can be expanded and protected. It focuses on 'self help' actions within the existing statutory context, in Australia's distinct legal and cultural context, and on comprehensiveness. Its significance is that healthy commons-based production of information is essential to Australia as an innovative country and a democracy. The principal outcomes will be better understood and more efficient public rights licences, incentives to copyright owners to create them, and technical aids to allow users to find commons content.Read moreRead less
Melanesian Popular Music, Local Recording Industries and Copyright. Australia has recently begun to express heightened concern for the social and economic sustainability of its Melanesian regional neighbours. Along with providing aid and peace-keeping forces, we are now exploring the distinctive forms of local socio-economic practices. These practices resist easy incorporation into Australian or broader Western norms. The project aims for informed dialogue and debate to better understand local c ....Melanesian Popular Music, Local Recording Industries and Copyright. Australia has recently begun to express heightened concern for the social and economic sustainability of its Melanesian regional neighbours. Along with providing aid and peace-keeping forces, we are now exploring the distinctive forms of local socio-economic practices. These practices resist easy incorporation into Australian or broader Western norms. The project aims for informed dialogue and debate to better understand local cultural and industrial practices. It will be of significant benefit to Australia in its engagement with the cultures of Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji. Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0346446
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$312,000.00
Summary
Australian Creative Resources Archive. The facility will digitise wasted cultural materials to create an accessible archive that meets the needs of Australian researchers, artists, entrepreneurs, and the public, specifically in order to stimulate broadband content development. This unique facility and associated research will: (1) provide a rich resource for broadband content development; (2) provide a platform for productive research collaborations with Australian content producers; (3) develop ....Australian Creative Resources Archive. The facility will digitise wasted cultural materials to create an accessible archive that meets the needs of Australian researchers, artists, entrepreneurs, and the public, specifically in order to stimulate broadband content development. This unique facility and associated research will: (1) provide a rich resource for broadband content development; (2) provide a platform for productive research collaborations with Australian content producers; (3) develop innovative classification systems and associated software for content development; (4) develop new intellectual property and new business models; (5) develop new ways to develop and deliver Australian broadband content; and, (6) develop new understandings of creative production processes.Read moreRead less
The Future of Television: Australian Legal Protection of Digital Broadcast Content. Free-to-air broadcasting performs central democratic, economic and cultural functions, with a key place in Australia's media. But technological changes pose fundamental and urgent challenges for broadcasters. By investigating mechanisms to protect digital content, the project will advance understanding of a crucial issue in the digital economy. The project will increase understanding of options for protecting bro ....The Future of Television: Australian Legal Protection of Digital Broadcast Content. Free-to-air broadcasting performs central democratic, economic and cultural functions, with a key place in Australia's media. But technological changes pose fundamental and urgent challenges for broadcasters. By investigating mechanisms to protect digital content, the project will advance understanding of a crucial issue in the digital economy. The project will increase understanding of options for protecting broadcast content to promote innovation in content production and distribution, while not restraining reasonable content uses nor hindering innovative consumer electronics. Australian policies should foster an innovative and diverse broadcasting sector to serve Australian public interests. The project promotes this vital objective.Read moreRead less
Protection of Botanical Innovation: A legal analysis of the scope and operation of national and international plant breeder's rights. Plants play a crucial role in Australian society: they are a major source of nutrition, shelter, clothing, fuel, medicines and aesthetic pleasure. They also make an important contribution to the Australian economy. The legislative regime established under the 1994 Plant Breeder's Rights Act was designed to promote research, investment and innovation in Australian ....Protection of Botanical Innovation: A legal analysis of the scope and operation of national and international plant breeder's rights. Plants play a crucial role in Australian society: they are a major source of nutrition, shelter, clothing, fuel, medicines and aesthetic pleasure. They also make an important contribution to the Australian economy. The legislative regime established under the 1994 Plant Breeder's Rights Act was designed to promote research, investment and innovation in Australian plant breeding. A lack of familiarity and widespread misunderstanding mean that the system is under-utilised with adverse consequences for plant innovation and Australia's economy. This groundbreaking research will provide a comprehensive analysis of plant breeder's rights in Australia to maximise understanding and awareness amongst key stakeholders.Read moreRead less
Discovery Indigenous Researchers Development - Grant ID: DI0989457
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$48,000.00
Summary
Digitisation and Indigenous Communities: A study of the development of online collections. The interface between international institutions and Australian Indigenous communities. The preservation and protection of Australian Indigenous knowledge in the digital age is in the National interest. This research may offer much valued insight into the ways in which Indigenous people are engaging in the protection of traditional knowledge in Australia in the digital age. At the international level has ....Digitisation and Indigenous Communities: A study of the development of online collections. The interface between international institutions and Australian Indigenous communities. The preservation and protection of Australian Indigenous knowledge in the digital age is in the National interest. This research may offer much valued insight into the ways in which Indigenous people are engaging in the protection of traditional knowledge in Australia in the digital age. At the international level has seen the start of development at the World Intellectual Property Organisation into the International legal mechanisms concerning the protection of traditional knowledge and the intellectual property aspects of access to and benefit-sharing from such knowledge. This study will explore these important developments which are in Australia's national interest. Read moreRead less
...and by opposing, end them: A Comparative Examination of Opposition Processes in Patent Law. Patent law is central to the key Australian economic aim of encouraging an innovative culture. One aspect of patent law, the opposition process, is directly linked to two important issues currently facing our patent system: improving patent quality, and minimising predatory behaviour by powerful firms. This project will assess the operation of the opposition process here, and the practice of equivalent .......and by opposing, end them: A Comparative Examination of Opposition Processes in Patent Law. Patent law is central to the key Australian economic aim of encouraging an innovative culture. One aspect of patent law, the opposition process, is directly linked to two important issues currently facing our patent system: improving patent quality, and minimising predatory behaviour by powerful firms. This project will assess the operation of the opposition process here, and the practice of equivalent international procedures in other jurisdictions, in order to inform Australian policy in current and ongoing negotiations towards global harmonisation. Material from this project will lead directly to proposals for improving the Australian patent system, and ensuring that it promotes, and does not retard, innovation. Read moreRead less