This has been a milestone year for ACS. From hosting several inaugural events, to moving into collaborative offices, 2017 has laid a solid foundation for the year to come.

This was the first year we've taken our annual university event, Big Day In, internationally to Sarawak, Malaysia. As part of our digital transformation agenda, ACS also awarded 50 students in Sarawak with memberships, and faculty at Sarawak’s Swinburne University of Technology with Certified Professional status.

Moving further north, we were invited to attend China’s Computer Federation as a guest speaker, and ICT Educators Program Chair Therese Keane was invited to present her findings in Dublin at the World Conference on Computers in Education.

Our international relations have also extended to Silicon Valley, facilitated by our current Vice President, Yohan Ramasundara. Ramasundara hosted a breakfast panel in San Francisco focusing on the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and along with current President Anthony Wong and Director of Membership, Sales and Marketing, Daniel Reihana, visited a host of US-based collaborative spaces.

Reimagination, our flagship event of the year, saw international guests joining ACS. From Jane McGonigal to Adrian Grenier, ACS was graced with Hollywood and tech royalty over the course of the event. Both McGonigal and Grenier’s keynotes on gaming and social change, respectively, were well received and ignited conversations about moving Australia forward in these sectors.

Throughout ACS’ many breakfast panels and NSW events, we had the pleasure of hosting notable Australian figures in the tech industry. Special Advisor to the Prime Minister on Cyber Security, Alastair MacGibbon; National Treasurer Scott Morrison, and; Shadow Minister for Digital Economy, Ed Husic were a few of our many distinguished guests, delivering speeches on Australia’s progress in the digital age. Giving a fresh perspective on the NBN, leading tech entrepreneur Bevan Slattery presented at this year’s Charles Todd Oration.

Our post-Reimagination Digital Disruptors Awards went off with a bang, with Dr Jordan Nguyen taking out the top prize of ICT Professional of the Year. ACS was also a partner of the inaugural Digital Excellence Awards night in the Northern Territory, and this month joined forces with Data61 to sign a Memorandum of Understanding.

Our Heritage Project series, which began in 2016 and authored by IT journalist Graeme Philipson, continues to detail the history of the Australian computing industry, and was complimented with the release of our tome A Vision Splendid: The History of Australian Computing. The book details the many facets and stories of the Australian tech sector, from Australia’s first computer to pioneers in the field.

ACS also released its third Australia’s Digital Pulse at CeBIT in May, and launched the Data Sharing Frameworks technical white paper in September.

Our collaborative spaces became a reality this year, with ACS Tasmania moving to its very own start-up hub, and our Sydney office move to Barangaroo, complete with an accelerator hub set to open in early 2018. Our new collaborative offices will cater to ACS members and allow for more accessibility between staff and members.

We released our world-first certification in cyber security, with the launch of the new Certified Professional (Cyber Security) and Certified Technologist (Cyber Security) certifications, at a special event with the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Cyber Security, Dan Tehan. We also congratulated our first-ever ACS Diploma of IT class on their graduation. In what capped off an extremely successful year, we were honoured to appoint ACS FACS Fellow and cyber security government expert Jill Slay as our first Director of Cyber Resilience Initiatives.

2017 brought many opportunities, members and ideas to ACS, and we look forward to what 2018 brings!