April 22, 2016

Cisco switched on to UOW opportunities

Partnerships and digital era opportunities were on the agenda when Cisco and UOW leaders met at the Innovation Campus.

Strengthening the relationship between UOW and Cisco Australia and New Zealand was the focal point of a visit to the Innovation Campus by a delegation of Cisco senior executives on Thursday 22 April.

The delegation was led by Cisco’s Vice President Australia and New Zealand, Ken Boal, who is also the Chair of the Business and Higher Education Roundtable focused on improving collaboration between industry and universities more generally.

The delegation toured commercial and research facilities on the Innovation Campus and discussed areas of mutual interest including the research and training in information technology and cyber security.

“While Cisco is an important technology supplier to the University and their equipment is critical to our teaching, research and administration functions, this was an opportunity for both of us to explore options to take our relationship beyond that of supplier and customer.

“A partnership between the University and Cisco, guided and supported by our research and training, provides an opportunity to ensure that we are able to capture the opportunities presented by digital”, Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Wellings said.

Of particular interest was the research in improvements to energy efficiency in IT and network equipment being undertaken at the Sustainable Buildings Research Centre; the innovation ecosystem developing around the iAccelerate start-up hub; and the cyber security training and research activities being undertaken by the Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences.

Opportunities for further engagement considered ranged from mentoring for tech-based start-ups through to guest lectures, research engagement and graduate employment.

“The Innovation Campus is an exciting environment and there is some interesting work being undertaken by the companies at iAccelerate and in the areas of energy efficiency, productivity and sustainability which Cisco and our customers can potentially benefit from.

“We look forward to working with UOW to ensure that they are equipped to respond to the digital disruption that is occurring in higher education and every other industry sector that the university is preparing people for”, Cisco Vice President Ken Boal said. 

“Dynamic organisations like Cisco are looking to partner with equally dynamic research driven organisations such as the University of Wollongong and connecting them further with the Illawarra’s innovation ecosystem has the potential to drive even more creative solutions from this region”, Professor Wellings said.

Cisco and UOW executives visiting the Sustainable Buildings Research Centre at the Innovation Campus.