A meeting between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Joe Biden has resulted in an ‘innovation alliance’ and a handful of nods towards the role of IT between the two countries and in the region.
Apart from US$65 million for planned submarine cables between Australia and the US (to fund regional branches), the leaders’ statement, “Building an Innovation Alliance” included attention to artificial intelligence (AI), cyber security, and space.
The two leaders announced the signing of a Space Technology Safeguards Agreement to create “the potential for new space-related commercial opportunities while providing the legal and technical framework to protect sensitive US space launch technology and data in Australia consistent with our shared non-proliferation goals.”
Back in February, CSIRO and the National Science Foundation announced $US4.1 million in grants to groups working on responsible AI in several US-Australia university collaborations.
The leaders’ statement doesn’t say whether they are announcing new grant funding or an expansion to the existing program, but welcomes “the close partnership between the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and CSIRO, including … an AI partnership supported by a combined $6.2 million in grants to drive ground-breaking research.”
Regional cyber security is also on the leaders’ minds: “Together, the United States and Australia will engage Pacific Island nations to develop and deploy a pilot initiative in the region to increase national cyber resilience, to include upgraded data services and cloud-based backups,” the leaders said.
Defence technology trade controls will also be on the table under the AUKUS agreement.
“Australia acknowledges the US Administration’s significant steps in this regard, including the Biden Administration’s bold proposal to Congress that would transform export controls laws,” the statement said.
“Australia is also examining its export controls framework to streamline the flow of defence information and technology and is taking steps to realise this ambition.”
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