WyndhamAI for Business Program application form

Scope

a) This program is part of a broader initiative between RMIT University, Wyndham City Council, and local businesses to foster enterprise-level AI and Analytics capability in the region. The aim of the program is to support local businesses in their AI transformation journal through a 10-day sprint designed to achieve a variety of outcomes.

b) There are a limited set of activities that businesses can participate in as part of the 10-day sprint, including but not limited to

i) AI and analytics strategy development
ii) AI readiness assessment, including risks and governance
iii)Workforce planning to ready the business for AI transformation
iiiv)AI solution prototyping and proof-of-concept
v) Developing an implementation plan for Australia's AI guardrails 

c) Other requests outside of the set of activities mentioned in (b) will be assessed on a case-by-case basis in consultation with Wyndham City Council and the business.

d) The aim of the 10-day sprint is limited to one or more of the following outcomes:

i) Engage with the participant to understand their goals, challenges, and data maturity
ii) Facilitate a discovery process to map AI concepts to the participant’s business specific context(s)
iii) Identify AI opportunity areas aligned with current business operations or strategic goals
iv) Provide expert-led advisory on data readiness, responsible AI use, and solution types
v) Deliver tailored capability uplift sessions, including guided exploration of AI use cases and tool demonstrations (PoC or MVP)
vi) Share access to RMIT's learning environments, case studies, and relevant AI resource
vii) Prepare a summary roadmap outlining potential next steps for AI adoption
viii) Evaluate and recommend suitable AI technology stack in the implementation of the participant’s AI transformation plan

e) The scope of the 10-day sprint excludes (and is not limited to) the following

i) Delivery of production-ready AI solutions or prototypes
ii) Custom AI development or coding beyond illustrative examples
iii) Procurement or implementation of third-party tools or platforms
iv) Long-term consulting or ongoing support post-sprint
v) Deep dives or details beyond the reasonable access of the business details over the duration of the sprint
vi) Running costs of AI services, servers, and tools beyond the period from our technology sponsors (if available for a specific sprint)

Assumptions

a) To make the most out of the sprint, participants are encouraged to understand or discuss the assumptions with RMIT University before commencing a sprint. 

b) These assumptions include but are not limited to the following:

i) The participant can identify a challenge or opportunity that is suitable for further exploration with AI.
ii) To enable a fruitful and meaningful discussion, the participant is prepared to share appropriate, relevant, and non-sensitive information, including datasets (where applicable), strategic goals, and existing workflows.
iii) The participant knowledges the sprint is a collaborative effort so staff involved should endeavour to be available and takes responsibility for internal follow-ups to progress the sprint in a timely manner.
iv) The participant understands that a sprint does not result in a full-scale production grade or commercial grade outcome. The sprint however will allow businesses to move towards a production grade solution in subsequent phases that can be supported by external vendors and/or RMIT University.
v) By extension of (iv), the sprint does not consider cybersecurity, AI regulatory requirements, and other regulatory requirements in Australia and overseas that a business operates in. Consideration for these matters can be established as a phase post-production phase.
vi) The participant understands that the outcome of the sprint in this program does not guarantee them any return on investment for their business. 

c) Participants have a realistic understanding of what AI can deliver and understands that the degree of impact of an AI solution can be affected by the data, details of the workflow and the context of the AI solution within the existing IT systems and infrastructure of the participant’s business.

Risks

a) The effectiveness of the 10-day sprint is dependent on various factors outside the control of the Wyndham City Council and RMIT University. This includes

i) Data maturity level and availability of the participating organisation
ii) Alignment of AI capabilities to business needs, within and/or outside of the sprint
iii) Alignment of technical interoperability with expected AI outcomes, including but not limited to participant’s infrastructure readiness, investment level, workforce readiness, legislative responsibility, data use policy, etc.
iv) Staff availability to participate in the sprint at agreed times
v) Changes to external environment during the sprint that may impact progress

b) Scheduling changes during the sprint that may impact the ability to continue or complete the sprint within the 10-day period. Should this occur, all parties agree to negotiate an agreeable timeframe in which all activities outline in the 10-day sprint is to be completed.

c) Further to scheduling changes, participants may require additional time to progress a step within the sprint due to (but not limited to) unavailability of information, or the need to discuss internally within the business, in which all parties agree to negotiating an agreeable timeframe to progress through all activities outline in the 10-day sprint.

d) In working towards an outcome listed in 1(b) or 1(c), the participant would agree to the need for the RMIT University team to access participant’s data and to host them temporarily in AI environments, including but not limited to RMIT’s computing infrastructure, the Business & Technology Studio at SPARK Hub.

Acceptance criteria

a) Wyndham City Council and RMIT University both reserve the right to evaluate each EOI with a decision to accept or decline a request to participate in the sprint.

b) Consideration will be given on a range of factors, including but not limited to a desk assessment of a business’ readiness for AI transformation versus the specific request outlined in the EOI, the availability of expertise in relation to the specific outcome and timeframe requested, the potential ROI achievable in the sprint, qualifying parameters, and so on.

c) EOI are assessed as they are received and both Wyndham City Council and RMIT University reserve the right to start a sprint with an accepted participant ahead of the closing date for EOI to be submitted.

d) In finalising a decision to accept or decline, Wyndham City Council and RMIT University may request additional information from a business to finalise a decision. 

10-day sprint

a) Participants may elect to undertake the sprint in two parts (5 day each) to better suit their schedule and operational needs.

b) All parties agree to negotiate the time to commence a sprint based on the shared understanding of participant’s operating constraints and staff availability, resourcing lead-times, expertise availability, and more. Notwithstanding these constraints, any amendment to the commencement date may be impacted by one or more of these factors.

c) Each sprint will be different based on a number of factors, including challenge or opportunities identified, structure of the participant’s business, data quality, success measures and outputs expected. Hence and in addition to Section (2), there is no one single template of what the sprint will look like for everyone.

d) The term “10-day sprint” is not a hard qualification of the number of days for many factors and conditions outside of the control of all parties. It captures the essence of the key interactions and activities required to achieve a MVP, PoC or other artefact with the participating business.

Condition of participation

a) A business who wants to participate in this sprint will need to agree to the terms and conditions of this initiative established by the Wyndham City Council and RMIT University.

b) The business must submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) for which the Wyndham City Council and RMIT University will evaluate the business’ suitability to participate in the sprint. As such, Wyndham City Council and RMIT University reserve the right to not progress a sprint with a business who submitted an EOI.

c) A selected business will need to enter an agreement with the Wyndham City Council before starting the 10-day sprint, including fulfilment of the costs outlined to participate in the program.

Intellectual property

a) The outputs from the sprint (Project IP) will vest with the participant.

b) The participant will grant RMIT University and Wyndham City Council a world-wide, non-exclusive, irrevocable, perpetual, sub-licensable, non-transferable, royalty-free licence to use its Project IP (excluding any confidential or commercially sensitive information) for the purposes of undertaking the sprint and for activities outlined in Section (11) but not for Commercialisation.

c) The Project IP will be used in accordance to Section (11) and managed in consultation with the participant to ensure appropriate representation and protection of any commercially sensitive information.

Data privacy and security

a) The participant agrees that the disclosure of data and any other information may be required in some instances to progress the development of one or more outcomes listed in 2(b) and 2(c).

b) By participating in the sprint, the participant accepts responsibility to put in place suitable safeguards and management protocols (including privacy and security) as the pre-requisite steps prior to starting the program. This can include de-identification of sample data sets and or the use of synthetically generated data for the purpose of the sprint.

c) RMIT University and Wyndham City Council will not be liable or be responsible for any data privacy or security issues that may arise out of the sprint. However, all parties agree that utmost care will be taken in the handling of data from participants to facilitate the progress of the sprint.

Commitment

a) The participant will need to commit to an agreed amount of face-to-face time at the Business & Technology Studio to undertake the various activities over the 10-day sprint.

b) The amount of face-to-face time required will vary based on the outcome sought over the 10-day sprint. Consequently, the type of outcome sought in 1(b) or 1(c) will determine the specific activities the participant will undertake over the period of the sprint.

Indemnity, warranties, liability and insurance

a) This will be developed specifically for each sprint based on the detailed expected activities and outputs expected.

Publication and promotion

a) Participant agrees to provision selected elements of the sprint’s outputs (excluding any confidential or commercially sensitive information) to support Wyndham City Council and RMIT University in one or more activities below:

i) Public communication and promotional materials (video, printed, etc)
ii) Education and research activities, including but not limited to the publication of articles, research papers, case studies, etc.
iii) Reporting to governance and management of Wyndham City Council and RMIT University
iv) Showcasing regional innovation and economic development outcomes by Wyndham City Council and RMIT University
v) Material support awards application and other forms of activities that uplift the profiles of Wyndham LGA, Wyndham City Council and RMIT University and its partners.

Special conditions

a) Cap on liability The total and cumulative liability of each party to the other party under or in connection with this agreement is capped at the participant’s cash contribution amount. This limitation of liability excludes liability for: (i) death or personal injury of any person; (ii) act or omission amounting to fraud, negligence, dishonesty, reckless or wilful misconduct; (iii) breach of any provision of this Agreement in relation to Intellectual Property, applicable privacy laws, Confidential Information or Modern Slavery; (iv) breach of any applicable privacy laws; (v) breach of any applicable labour hire laws; (vi) infringement, or alleged infringement of a person’s Intellectual Property and/or Moral Rights. In addition, this entire clause survives the expiry or termination of this sprint.

b)Export Controls The parties must comply with all applicable Australian and international export controls (such as the export controls applicable to defence and dual-use goods), and counter-proliferation and counter-terrorism regulations, e.g. the Defence Trade Control Act 2012 (including as amended by the Defence Trade Controls Amendment Act 2015), the Defence and Strategic Goods List, and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.