World's Greatest Programming Language

Entry 29, the co-working space at the Canberra Innovation Network Incubator, held a debate this evening on what is the "World's Greatest Programming Language". It was a little like Big Bang Theory meets pub trivia night. Dr. Lachlan Blackhall, CTO of Reposit Power was the moderator and kept the witty banter flowing.

• David Peterson, CTO of ImageBrief representing functional programming and delighted the audience with an almost erotic description of the joys of FP.
  
• Mike Leonard, Fivium, put the case for Google G.O., which could have just been "Its from Google", but was so much more.
  
• Dr Ali Salehi, SensorFront Co-Founder, wrapped Python around us.
  
• Marcus Dawe, HealthHorizon Co-Founder , kept use sharp with C and C#.

There were some acronyms and a lot of laughs from the metaphors and something about how many monkeys you could wash). This reminded me a little of Dr Richard P. Gabriel and Dr Guy Steele presenting "50 in 50: 50 Programming Languages in 50 Years", with mention of Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid.

The next debate is swinging the dial all the way to  11 on business. I have suggested the topic be "What Color Should your Business Plan Be?".

New Technology Course for New Entrepreneurs

The Australian Computer Society has an on-line course which might be of interest to new entrepreneurs with a technical background: "New Technology Alignment", starting 19 January 2015 (I am the tutor). This may be of interest to  former public servants taking part in the Public Sector Landing Pad program (PSLP) at Entry 29 co-working space in Canberra, and those in other co-working spaces around the world.

Course content

New Technology Alignment has an emphasis on opening your mind to new technical trends, and how they align with business today.

It includes four modules, which explore:

1. Frameworks for measuring the impacts of technology on business performance
2. Fostering innovation and encouraging adoption
3. Technology assessment and integration
4. Promotion and realising benefits.

Learning outcomes

• Knowledge and understanding of emerging technologies.
• Ability to identify new and emerging information technology trends and assess their relevance and potential value to the organisation.
• Ability to strategise for and promote emerging technology awareness among staff and management. 

Turning Research into Companies

Greetings from Entry 29,  the co-working innovation space next to the Australian National University, where David Keightley is talking about starting companies based on research.  He launched Mediaware Solutions, based on imagery technology from CSIRO. His latest venture is Ecospectral Pty Ltd, with smart sensors for energy saving.

Innovation in Higher Education

Greetings from the Startup Demo/Pitch Session at the Entry 29 Canberra Co-working Space, in Canberra. Entry 29 opened in May and was set up with the help of ANU to provide a place where staff, students and the Canberra community could get together to set up new business ventures. Entry 29 is similar to "Conceptnursery.Com", which I visited at the  Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT) in Colombo and Fishburners in Sydney. I am talking to the group on how I set up "Higher Education Whisperer" as a commercial venture to help academics.As well as the website, I am considering software, a book and consulting to universities to help put courses on-line. What I have found it there is a large unmet demand for advice to academics.

Canberra Innovation Startup Demo/Pitch Session

A Startup Demo/Pitch Session will be held at the Entry 29 Canberra Co-working Space, in Canberra, Friday, 19 July 2013. Entry 29 opened in May and was set up with the help of ANU to provide a place where staff, students and the Canberra community could get together to set up new business ventures. Entry 29 is similar to "Conceptnursery.Com", which I visited at the  Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT) in Colombo and Fishburners in Sydney.

There is also the annual "Innovation ACT" program sponsored by the ACT Government to encourage higher education students to take their ideas further.On the program students prepare business plans and practice their pitch. This provides an interesting counterpoint to the sort of documents and presentations which academics are trained to give.