The SMART Infrastructure Facility is the national centre for infrastructure solutions in Australia. SMART stands for ‘Simulation, Modelling, Analysis, Research and Teaching’.

Overview

SMART consist of 27 laboratories which are connected by a central simulation centre. Around 200 higher degree research students and provides strategic advice, research and skills training across the whole infrastructure industry and in particular has four key focus areas:

• "National and whole of city planning and infrastructure management including scenario analysis, modeling and visualisation of infrastructure systems and human interaction
• Implications and consequences affecting liveability and the infrastructure systems as our cities grow and sustain higher population densities
• Large scale infrastructure investment, including better use of existing infrastructure through new technologies and sequencing of greenfield investments to best meet national priorities
• Enhancing infrastructure resilience to support continuity of service to the community and business. The SMART National Data Centre will seek to provide deeper knowledge and real time actionable intelligence of key interdependencies and connections in the infrastructure system"

The SMART National Data Centre is an e-research initiative for collaboration with infrastructure planners, designers and researchers for urban and regional development and model future growth of Australian metropolitan and regional communities. It is "designed to equip Australia to deal with future infrastructure planning in a systematic and scientific way, with holistic and evidence-based evaluation of infrastructure projects and training for professionals in the field".

The Facility undergoes a new branch of research called "integrated infrastructure planning and management" to "analyse the individual and combined effects of infrastructure systems and how they can better work together to serve the community".

History

The facility was created through collaborative funding from various sectors:

• $35 million from the Australian federal government (through the 2007 the Higher Education Endowment Fund);
• $10 million through Railcorp
  Rail Corporation New South Wales
  Rail Corporation New South Wales is a statutory authority of the New South Wales government. RailCorp owns, operates and maintains the Sydney suburban and interurban rail network which is marketed under the CityRail brand; in addition to operating rural passenger services under the CountryLink...
  
  ;
• $16 million from the University of Wollongong
  University of Wollongong
  The University of Wollongong is a public university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia, approximately 80 kilometres south of Sydney...
  
  ;
• approx $800,000 from state government authorities(Queensland Rail
  Queensland Rail
  Queensland Rail, also known as QR, is a government-owned railway operator in the state of Queensland. Under the control of the Queensland Government, Queensland Rail operates the inner-city and long-distance passenger services, as well as some freight operations and gives railway access to other...
  
  , Integral Energy
  Integral Energy
  Integral Energy is the second largest state-owned energy corporation in New South Wales, incorporated under the Energy Services Corporations Act 1995 from a merger between Prospect Electricity and Illawarra Electricity...
  
   and Geoscience Australia
  Geoscience Australia
  Geoscience Australia is an agency of the Australian federal government. It carries out geoscientific research.On a user pays basis it produces geospatial products such as topographic maps and satellite imagery.-History:...
  
  ), industry(BlueScope Steel
  BlueScope Steel
  BlueScope Steel is a flat product steel producer with operations in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, the Pacific and North America. It was spun off from BHP Billiton in 2002 as BHP Steel and renamed BlueScope Steel on 17 November 2003...
  
  , Cisco Systems Australia
  Cisco Systems
  Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...
  
   and Cognos
  Cognos
  Cognos was an Ottawa, Ontario-based company making business intelligence and performance management software. Founded in 1969, at its peak Cognos employed almost 3,500 people and served more than 23,000 customers in over 135 countries.Originally Quasar Systems Limited, it adopted the Cognos...
  
  ), and other research bodies(Australian Bureau of Statistics
  Australian Bureau of Statistics
  The Australian Bureau of Statistics is Australia's national statistical agency. It was created as the Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics on 8 December 1905, when the Census and Statistics Act 1905 was given Royal assent. It had its beginnings in section 51 of the Constitution of Australia...
  
   and CSIRO
  Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
  The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation is the national government body for scientific research in Australia...
  
  )

Notable Academic Staff

• Professor of Infrastructure Economics: Prof. Henry Ergas
  Henry Ergas
  Henry Ergas is a regulatory economist who has worked at the OECD, Australian Trade Practices Commission and the Australian Centre of Regulatory Economics Advisory Group...
  
  
• Professor of Modelling and Simulation: Prof. Pascal Perez
• Professor of Infrastructure Systems: Prof. Peter Campbell
• Professor of Infrastructure Governance: Dr Geoff Cohen
• Prof. Phil Broadbridge - La Trobe University
  La Trobe University
  La Trobe University is a multi-campus university in Victoria, Australia. It was established in 1964 by an Act of Parliament to become the third oldest university in the state of Victoria. The main campus of La Trobe is located in the Melbourne suburb of Bundoora; two other major campuses are...
  
  
• Dr John Schneider - Geoscience Australia
  Geoscience Australia
  Geoscience Australia is an agency of the Australian federal government. It carries out geoscientific research.On a user pays basis it produces geospatial products such as topographic maps and satellite imagery.-History:...
  
  

External links

• SMART Infrastructure Facility Official SMART website