RMIT University recommends world-first Melbourne Digital Cities Research Centre

RMIT University has delivered a roadmap with ten recommendations to improve the quality of digital infrastructure and skills in Melbourne, including establishing a world-first Digital Cities Research Centre.

The research is part of the Digital CBD project, commissioned by the Victorian Higher Education State Investment Fund, produced with RMIT University research centres Blockchain Innovation Hub, the Centre for Cybersecurity and Innovation and the Digital Ethnography Research Centre.

According to the report, “Existing and emerging digital technologies can be used to fundamentally transform business and economic infrastructure. They make start-ups easier and create opportunities for new types of businesses. Digitalisation processes related to efficiency gains push automation deep into economic administration. They also disrupt existing businesses and structures of economic organisation.”

The top recommendation from the roadmap, the establishment of a Digital Cities Research Centre will allow for the trial and development of digital innovation according to Dr Alexia Maddox, research fellow on the Digital CBD Project.

“Our research has uncovered a clear pathway that could set the scene for cities across the world to not only become digital, but improve data utilisation, connect communities and engage people in the city centre,” said Maddox.

“The centre would provide research outcomes, undertake global digital benchmarking and collaborate with and advocate on behalf of, industry bodies, stakeholders and the digital community.” 

Other recommendations include establishing a digital skills academy, embedding secure and sustainable digital infrastructure into corridors between city and regional precincts, a data governance framework, virtual supply chain pilot, DAOs for data management, building sustainable data centres, an entrepreneurial digital twin pilot, gamification and immersion in the CBD and implementing and innovative migration program.

According to associate professor Chris Berg, the recommendations acknowledge the hybrid world that we live in where businesses and communities exist in virtual, digital and physical environments.

“In the blockchain space, where I focus my research, there’s a lot of discussion about the opportunities and challenges presented by what people call the ‘metaverse’. Metaverses are usually understood to be immersive digital worlds that allow for real interaction, real commerce, and real economic activity to take place,” said Berg.

“As we survey the Digital CBD research across its many domains – cybersecurity, decentralised communities, supply chains, skills and lived experiences – it is hard not to conclude that the metaverse isn’t something that needs to be built – we already live in it."