Australian Fund Seeks a Few Good Programers

The Apple University Development Fund (AUDF) is seeking applications for its software development grants. The AUDF is a 14-year-old joint venture set up by Apple Computer Australia and the Apple University Consortium that supports independent software development on the Mac platform. The fund plans to spend AU$150,000 (about US$115,000) in grants to foster new software development.

The AUDF Grants for 2004 are split into three tiers:

1) 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.

2) 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 AU$10,000 (about US$7,700) is provided for equipment, software, and other resources.

3) Challenge Grants are new for 2004 and will provide resources to encourage staff to work up proposals for Macintosh-based applications for which they see a particular need but donit have the skills or expertise to develop a solution; the program will match those proposals with individual developers or specialist groups in AUC universities. ?Developers will be provided with resources to bring the concepts to fruition.

The AUC said in a statement that it is "keen to support development efforts aimed at producing innovative and productive applications for Higher-Education environments using technology such as; Bluetooth, Airport, group collaboration, Rendezvous, PowerMac G5, Xcode, MPEG4 and 3G phones and the forthcoming Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)."

Applications for AUDF Grants close on the February 4, 2005. Staff and students of AUC member Universities are eligible to apply, as well as anyone doing software development with Macintosh technology in an academic environment. More information about the AUDF Grants, including application forms, can be obtained by visiting the Apple University Consortium.