The Australian Apple University Development Fund (AUDF) will provide approximately (AUD) $125,000 to to add to the base of more than 5,000 applications already available for the Macintosh and to provide new functionality. The AUDF, a joint venture set up by Apple Australia and the Apple University Consortium (AUC) to support and encourage development using Apple technology in education, was set up in recognition of the contribution and the creativity and skill of Macintosh developers on AUC campuses. stat('http://auc.uow.edu.au/index2.html')" onMouseOut="drop()">

The AUDF has been operating as a major benefit of the AUC for over 13 years
and has supported many important projects including the establishment of the
BAFTA Interactive MultiMedia Lab at the University of Wollongong.





Stephen Young, Chair of the AUC says that the "role of the AUDF is extremely important in fostering the large number of academics developing educational software in Australian
universities. The AUDF is now recognised as one of the major benefits of the
Apple University Consortium. It has been regularly updated to address the
requirements of the AUC in relation to grant allocation and promotion and
awareness of the grants. In 2003 the AUC will continue to focus on grants
that extend the usefulness of Mac OS X to the higher-education community and
in particular exploit some of Apple's new technologies coming in the new
version of the Mac OS X (Panther)."





The AUDF Committee in 2003 is looking to support development efforts aimed
at producing innovative and productive applications for Higher-Education
environments using technology such as; Bluetooth, Airport (WiFi), group
collaboration, Rendezvous, PowerMac G5, Xcode, MPEG4 and 3G phones. The
AUDF Committee also sees opportunities for greater collaboration between
AUC members in developing enterprise solutions for the benefit of many
members.



The AUDF Grants for 2003 are split into two tiers:

• Seeding Grants are aimed at programmers new to the Macintosh environment
  and include a loan Macintosh computer, CodeWarrior Professional programming
  environment, membership of Apple’s WorldWide Developer Program and support
  from local Macintosh developers. The grant is aimed at staff and students
  alike.




• Development Grants are designed to enable proof-of-concept projects, from
  staff and students with a strong preference for "pilot" products that are
  actually of some use in their own right. Funding up to $10,000 is provided
  for equipment, software, and other resources.
  
  

Applications for AUDF Grants open on the 11th August and close on the 3rd
October 2003. Applicants must be staff or students of an Australian AUC
member University.

by MacNN Staff