Open Source Volunteers Are Like the Allen Key in a Flat-pack Bookcase: Vital But Unappreciated

Emma Davidson at EO26

Greetings from day three of Everything Open 2026 at University of Canberra. Emma is Program Director of IDEATE & started with a plea for industry to support their open source workers, describing them as like the allen keys in a flat-pack bookcase, pointing out that IKEA depends on open source software: She went onto propose 0.3% of the AUKUS funding be put into open source internships. Emma described AUKUS as a project for "imaginary nuclear submarines". She went on to praise the work of the Open Source Institute at University of Canberra, before outlining ANU Techlauncher program. Emma then moved on to the main theme of her talk about how to get a more diverse technology workforce and IDEATE's role in creating a more diverse university student body.

This being a Linux conference, apart from geopolitics,  Emma was asked which font she used for her slides. ;-)

My picks for the rest of the day:10:45AM  RepRapMicron - The Next Small Thing In 3D Printing, Vik Olliver

11:40AM So You've Decided to Build It Yourself, Leesa Ward

1:30PM Abstracting FPGAs in Python for fun and radio astronomy, Andrew Bolin

2:25PM Open Australia: Who we are, what we do, and what's in it for you., Donna Benjamin

3:45PM Everything Open Everywhere All At Once, Steven De Costa
4:45PM Lightning Talks

Broad Skills Needed for AUKUS

The Australian government has announced $128M for 4,001 STEM students with skills needed for the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine project. It should be noted most of the training, and jobs, will not be related to nuclear technology. The initial submarines will be purchased built from the USA and largely supported by US personnel. In my opinion, it is unlikely the followup AUKUS submarines will ever be built. By that time conventionally armed crewed submarines will have been rendered obsolete by drones. However the STEM skills the graduates learn in these courses will be critical to designing and building drone submarines as part of the evolved and expanded AUKUSJSK.

Professor Andrew Norton has criticized the level of funding, as it assumes a 25% attrition rate per year. He points out this is higher than is typical. This may reflect the demand for skills in industry. Universities may have difficulty keeping students in the program, when they could be earning in industry after only completing part of the program, especially those in the AUKUS courses who will be required to meet security vetting requirements. One approach would be to have nested work integrated programs, where students study while working on AUKUS, with their work being submitted for assessment. Students could complete the first part of the program, and be awarded a qualification to get them an entry level job. They would be then study while working for a promotion.

Broad Range of Skills Needed for AUKUS Submarine Project

On 4 Mar 2023 the Australian government announced a plan to acquire three US Virginia class nuclear-powered submarines from 2030, with modified UK Astute "AUKUS" class submarines built in Australia from 2040. Commentary on the announcement has pointed out that nuclear physics graduates will be needed to build, maintain, and operate the submarines. However, there will be many more specialists in engineering and computing needed. A submarine is essentially a metal tube full of computers. The weapons launched are similarly increasingly computer controlled.

Defence personnel operating, and operating from, the submarines, will also need high level skills in computing, and communications. There is a role for Australian higher education in training these personnel, and helping the Australian Defence Force in making best use of the submarines. As an example, in 2020 I coached a team in the Navy Warfare Innovation Workshop. Mixed teams of navy, public service and defence industry personnel worked on new ways to counter threats, many of which used drones.