THE Western Australian credited with creating the country’s first internet-connected community has received one of the ICT industry’s highest honours – the 2012 Pearcey Medal.
Mal Bryce, who was state minister for technology and economic development in the 1980s, was a champion of the ICT sector and responsible for creating Ipswich as Australia’s first online community in 1993.
His achievements also include establishing Australia’s first government department of computing and information technology, Technology Park at Bentley, Small Business Development Corporation, Scitech Discovery Centre, and introducing legislation to establish the Technology and Industry Advisory Council.
Mr Bryce (pictured) told WA Business News his 40 years in the industry were often difficult.
“I noticed (while on a trip to the US) in the 1970s that the ICT industry was going to change the world, and it was vitally important that Australia be part of that,” he said.
“But back home in Western Australia it wasn’t easy to get an appreciation by other people; many of my colleagues thought I was, maybe, a little unhinged.”
Mr Bryce was honoured to receive the prestigious Pearcey Medal, which is named after Australian ICT pioneer Trevor Pearcey.
Mr Bryce said the benefits the ICT sector provided were comparable to those attributed to the iron ore industry.
Despite the swift uptake of the internet and associated technology, Mr Bryce said more needed to be done to ensure it continued to bring value to WA.
“After the mining and a lot of the developments associated with it are gone, we need to have a very important foundation for the next chapter in our economy,” he said.
The National Broadband Network was one example business needed to take full advantage of, but Mr Bryce said the level of understanding of its benefits needed to be improved.
Mr Bryce is now chairman of the Pawsey Supercomputer Project which, when completed in 2013, will be Australia’s most sophisticated supercomputing facility.
