Brisbane, Australia — SAP Research Brisbane is partnering with the Queensland node of the Co-operative Research Centre on Smart Services (Smart Services CRC) to develop the next generation of web services applications, the “Internet of Services”.
SAP Research in Brisbane is spearheading international research on the Internet of Services, leveraging expertise from 13 research locations around the globe and a sister initiative in Germany called THESEUS.
SAP Research in Brisbane will partner with Queensland universities and businesses, along with other commercial organisations and governments from around the country developing and testing new web services applications.
One such application is a One-Stop Personalised Financial Services prototype, being jointly developed by SAP, Suncorp-Metway, QUT and RMIT. The prototype provides individual financial forecasting, planning and modelling for use by consumers, delivered over the web.
“The Smart Services CRC aims to accelerate Australia’s transition into a globally competitive services economy,” said Dr. Karsten Schulz, vice president SAP Research. “It will play a key role in bringing our vision for the ‘Internet of Services’ to life and will lead the way in establishing industry best-practice.
“The mix of partners available to us in Queensland, including universities, government to local and multinational industries, puts the State in a prime position to achieve results that will have an impact on Australia and beyond,” said Dr Schulz
SAP is the largest industry contributor to the Smart Services CRC with more than $12 million over 7 years in funding, technology equipment and infrastructure. The Smart Services CRC that officially kicked off in Sydney on July 3, 2008 brings together 18 public and private sector organisations to position the Australian services sector as thought leaders. The goal of the Smart Services CRC is to develop technologies and business models that are open and flexible enough to meet the requirements of a modern services-based economy operating in a global context.
“Developing sophisticated technologies and combining them with the right set of business models is the key to the future” according to Prof. Lutz Heuser, Head of SAP Research.
“Service industries will need to adapt to change and competition faster than others. Their future success will be based on their becoming part of one or several business networks – which might have different business models”.
Prof. Heuser who is based in SAP’s headquarters in Germany and holds an Associate Professorship with QUT stated that his expectations are high: “I see the Smart Services CRC and the excellence of our research centre in Brisbane from an international perspective. The shift towards a web-based service economy is a global one and Australia can make a real difference in where this trend will be leading.”
SAP Research has been running operations as a corporate research centre in Brisbane since 2001 with growth going from one to about 50 staff including world-class researchers, students and sub-contracting Java development SME Workingmouse. Overall investment in Australian R&D and in particular local Universities like Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and the University of Queensland (UQ) has been several million AUD. Results of the centre’s research strategically contribute to global products and patent filing statistics with European and American Patent Offices exceeds 60.
About the Smart Services CRC
The Smart Services CRC is a $120m research collaboration between 12 leading industry participants, six leading universities and the Federal Government and NSW and Queensland Governments. The focus of the Smart Services research is in delivering new and improved services for the services economy. The CRC has a particular strength in understanding the service needs of customers, development requirements of ecosystems for service delivery and long-term trends for services of the future. Smart Services will draw on the background of its Participants to deliver initial demonstrators in the finance, government and media sectors.
About SAP Research
As the global technology research unit of SAP, SAP Research significantly contributes to SAP’s product portfolio and extends SAP’s leading position by identifying and shaping emerging IT trends through applied research.
Research
In contrast to SAP’s product groups, which work on new functions and releases, SAP researchers explore opportunities that haven’t yet been developed into products. We track technology trends, evaluate the potential impact on SAP solutions and customers, and generate breakthrough technologies.
Co-Innovation
The business model of SAP Research is based on co-innovation through collaborative research. Working with leading universities, partners, customers, and SAP product groups, SAP Research oversees the development of promising ideas and prototypes into market-ready software for maximum customer value.
