New technology in education sector printing

The University of Queensland’s latest start-up company Lucia Publishing Systems Pty Ltd is commercialising software technology which will revolutionise printing in the education sector.

The software utilises the Internet and digital printing, reducing waste for suppliers and providing customers with cheaper, high quality printing, as well as protecting against copyright theft.

It was developed jointly by UQ Press and Bookshop and the UQ Printery in response to a consistent decline in textbook sales and demand from students for an efficient printing solution for course notes, online resources and handouts.

Lucia Publishing Systems CEO Dean Mason said the software allowed institutions to dramatically improve the print or electronic quality of student learning resources, while maximising the opportunities provided by online learning systems.

"In every university, students and academics want to print online material, and for the first time Lucia Publishing enables them to print the section they want, when they want it, with the highest quality images at the lowest price per page," Mr Mason said.

Lucia Publishing also offers textbook publishers an alternative route to capitalise on author copyright.

According to Mr Mason, publishers stand to realise greater long-term revenue streams if they allow students to buy books by the chapter – something which Lucia Publishing can facilitate.

With their initial focus on the education market, Lucia Publishing has entered a strategic alliance with McPherson`s Printing Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of the listed McPherson’s Limited.

McPherson`s Printing will participate in a software and business development program to take Lucia Publishing System`s podEXPRESS and TextInfoNet systems to universities and other large enterprises.

The alliance with McPherson’s was negotiated by UQ’s main commercialisation company, UniQuest Pty Ltd, which established Lucia Publishing Systems.

UniQuest Managing Director David Henderson said Lucia’s software had generated immense interest overseas and in Australia.

“UniQuest is in advanced negotiations with an international distributor to implement the software globally and is talking with several Australian universities to install Lucia`s software solutions,” Mr Henderson said.

“In the short term, Lucia will be targeting the higher education sector but, in the long term, we hope to provide complete education resource publishing management solutions in education and corporate environments.”

Media: Dean Mason, CEO, Lucia Publishing Systems (03 9398 6262, 0402 846 696, dean.mason@luciapublishing.com), Julia Renaud, Communication Manager, UniQuest (07 3365 4037, 0438 436 179, j.renaud@uniquest.com.au)