$60m Australian e-health initiative

Federal Communications Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy, called for proposals to deliver innovative digital services for regional, rural and remote Australia. "The $60 million Digital Regions Initiative will fund projects that deliver high-quality digital applications for education, health and emergency services supported by the National Broadband Network," Senator Conroy said.

At the Minister's address at the National E-Health Conference, he noted the healthcare sector is expected to be one of the major new employment and income drivers in the emerging digital economy.

According to IBM and Access Economics, the adoption of smart technologies in health, as well as electricity, irrigation, transport and high-speed broadband, will add more than 70,000 jobs to the Australian economy in 2014 alone.

Meanwhile, National ICT Australia, our world-class ICT research facility and PhD program, is also leading innovation in the e-health field.

One project of particular interest is the Human Performance Monitoring project, which could deliver some serious benefits for the way we understand the human body.

The system uses wearable and implantable devices connected by wireless and backed by smart processors to assess physical performance.

Information such as heart rate and breathing is captured and analysed instantly, helping doctors to identify patterns.

Senator Conroy invited "innovators who understand the transformative potential of digital technologies" to proposals forward.

The full press release is available, along with the Minister's speech and a news report covering the announcement.