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I don't know what you heard about Data61, but as bad as the federal government is, they don't go around micro-managing ~10-person research groups of CSIRO busin
by saithound 5y ago
I don't know what you heard about Data61, but as bad as the federal government is, they don't go around micro-managing ~10-person research groups of CSIRO business units.
This is entirely on the current Data61 leadership. There's nothing more to it.
- danerd 5y agoIt used to be ~30-40 people AFAIK. But you're right, the government would not have said "axe this team". The government would have likely said "focus on AI research, and get rid of any team that does not align with it." Same outcome though, and same source of the decision.
- angry_octet 5y agoData61 was mostly gutted over the last few years anyway, the slide downhill started when it changed from NICTA. The politicians hate the idea of long term research funding, so they had the idea it would be self sustaining, but big Australian corporations spend nothing on external research, lowest in the OECD, and foreign corps don't reinvest in research overseas. Also, I remember Hugh Durrant-Whyte (robotics/SLAM pioneer, ACFR, former NICTA CEO) telling us that CSIRO culture would overwhelm Data61. So no surprise.