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Primary supervisor

John Grundy

Co-supervisors

  • Mark Cooray, Linking Integrating Pty Ltd

This is one of our CSIRO Next Generation AI Graduates Honors projects:

https://www.monash.edu/it/ssc/raise/projects 

Note: You Must be a Domestic Student i.e. Australian or New Zealand Citizen or Australian Permanent Resident  

Project Description

This project is an R&D exercise aimed at working out where Australian small and medium businesses can actually use AI to lift performance. There is a clear AI hype cycle in the market, and plenty of businesses want to ride the wave but have no idea where to start. The goal is to cut through the noise and pin down practical areas where AI delivers real value.

Scope

  1. Market scan
    Look across a mix of Aussie SMBs in different industries to spot common pain points, repetitive tasks and operational gaps that AI could genuinely improve.
  2. Use case analysis
    Break down each theme, outline the potential AI applications, expected benefits, level of effort required, risks and likely business impact.
  3. Prioritisation
    Rank the opportunities based on commercial value, business efficiencies and how quickly a business can see results (time to market).
  4. Proof of concept, if time allows
    If there is enough time and capacity, put together a simple PoC for one high priority theme to prove the concept and show a clear benefit, using common AI tools available in the market.

Deliverables

  • A short findings report with a prioritised list of AI opportunities for SMBs. LI will use this as a White paper and acknowledge the program and researcher in it.
  • Clear recommendations for how SMBs can start adopting AI without wasting time or budget.
  • A basic PoC for one theme, if feasible within the timeframe.

Outcome
This R&D project will give us a realistic view of where AI adds value for Aussie SMBs, not just where the hype says it should. It sets us up to give sensible advice to clients and, if it makes sense, move into proper solution development down the track.

Scholarship Type:

An Honours Student (1 Year) of $7,500 from CSIRO RAISE programme.

Industry Partner:

Linking Integrating is offering professional services and solutions for businesses to increase efficiencies in operations, grow in existing and new channels, transform traditional to new style of business making business offerings more relevant to evolving markets Our purpose is to help businesses take advantage of new digital technology that can improve operational efficiencies, client engagement and business growth.

Required knowledge

Must be a Domestic Student - Australian or New Zealand Citizen or Australian Permanent Resident

Undertaking Honors degree in Software Engineering or Computer Science

Human-centric software engineering requirements, design, evaluation experience would be an advantage

Some GenAI experience/interest would be an advantage