Eureka Prize Winner for Innovation in Computer Science 2010

This evening Professor Peter Stuckey from the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering at the University of Melbourne was announced as the winner of the inaugural Google Australia Eureka Prize for Innovation in Computer Science. Robotics pioneer, Prof Rodney Brooks, presented the prize.

Professor Stuckey was awarded the prize for his development of Lazy Clause generation, a software method for combinatorial optimisation which solves mathematical challenges of resource allocation significantly faster than any other existing method. Professor Stuckey’s innovation will have great benefit for solving big problems in society at lower cost from the classic Travelling Salesman Problem (every CS grad will remember this one - given a list of cities and the distance between every combination of cities, the task is to find the shortest possible tour for a salesman wishing to visit each city only once) through to train timetables, water usage allocation, and hospital staff rosters.

Professor Stuckey was joined at tonight’s Eureka Prize dinner by finalists who submitted excellent entries:

• Associate Professor David Moss, University of Sydney, for his invention of a laser optical source with multiple wavelengths that can be used to transmit information optically over existing silicon (CMOS) integrated circuits.
• The Cloudbus Project from the University of Melbourne, which has developed architectural principles and software technologies that enable high-performance, scalable, and energy-efficient Cloud computing.

I would like to thank all the people and teams who entered the prize and to congratulate Professor Stuckey for his work.

Google Australia is delighted to sponsor the Eureka Prize for Innovation in Computer Science. We’re passionately committed to promoting innovation in computer science here in Australia and we believe that the impact of computer science creates great benefits for society.


Posted by Alan Noble, Engineering Director Google Australia and New Zealand

Eureka! New Google Australia Eureka prize for computer science

I'm excited to announce the inaugural Google Australia Eureka Prize for Innovation in Computer Science. The $10,000 prize will be awarded annually to an individual or team of Aussies who demonstrate real innovation in computer science.

Each year, the Australian Museum Eureka Prizes reward excellence in research and innovation, science leadership, school science, and science journalism and communication. Google is delighted to sponsor a new category as part of the Eureka awards.

Here at Google we're passionately committed to innovation in computer science. We hope that by encouraging future generations to embrace the power of an IT education now, we'll foster our next generation of innovators. As part of our ongoing support, we have set up other grants including the 2010 Google Australia and New Zealand Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship which is aimed at helping Australian women become global IT leaders.

Entries in the Google Australia Eureka Prize for Innovation in Computer Science should be cutting-edge and represent a tangible advance in their field. The winning innovation will have the potential to improve the lives of many other Australians.

You can enter as an individual or as a team, and your submission can take the form of a research contribution, commercial product or completely private work such as an open source development.

Enter online here and submit your form along with your supporting documents before midnight AEST Friday May 7, 2010.

Best of luck!

Posted by Alan Noble, Engineering Director Google Australia and New Zealand