The Turnbull Government is committed to bringing Australia’s best and brightest research minds together with the skills and capabilities of world-leading commercialisation experts who can help make their ideas a reality.
As part of this commitment, CSIRO has already partnered with 20 Australian universities to fast-track the commercialisation of their science and research.
“This will deliver real-world solutions for Australian businesses, such as high-yield eggs to increase vaccine production and smart-drone technology to monitor and protect our critical infrastructure,” Minister Hunt said.
“The Government is aiming to increase the entrepreneurial and innovative capacity of Australia’s research community and help convert science into commercially viable outcomes.”
“This is about creating more jobs and better jobs for all Australians, and driving productivity in Australian businesses”.
“Some examples of solutions that these partnerships will deliver are new facial recognition software that can better detect and assess pain in patients unable to communicate, and a natural feed additive that will dramatically reduce the carbon footprint of the world’s agricultural sector.”
These partnerships form part of CSIRO’s ON accelerator program, which was announced in July 2015 as part of CSIRO’s Strategy 2020.
ON is a structured, national sci-tech accelerator that brings together the experience and expertise of established researchers, entrepreneurs and inspiring mentors.
With support from the National Innovation and Science Agenda, in August CSIRO opened the accelerator to applications from Australian universities and publicly-funded research agencies, resulting in the new university partnerships announced today.
CSIRO Chief Executive Dr Larry Marshall said there are many digital accelerators in Australia, but science accelerators are rare anywhere. ON brings to bear CSIRO’s strength as a national, mission-directed agency to bridge the gap between industry and research and really catalyse innovation.
“There is no doubt Australia has an enviable pipeline of world-class research, but we can achieve more if we work together to fast-track more inventions from lab-bench to reality,” Dr Marshall said.
“That’s the role of ON. More than just commercial outcomes, ON is about connecting our university partners to Australia’s challenges to identify the real-world applications for their science to deliver positive social, economic and environmental impact for Australia.”
Applications for ON Prime, the pre-accelerator are open now and CSIRO is seeking applications from research teams across all Australian Universities and publicly-funded research agencies.
The 20 universities that have joined the ON program so far are: Australian National University; University of New South Wales; The University of Wollongong; Curtin University; La Trobe University; Swinburne University; The University of Melbourne; The University of Western Australia; Macquarie University; James Cook University; University of Newcastle; Victoria University; Queensland University of Technology; Monash University; Southern Cross University; University of Southern Queensland; University of Technology Sydney; The University of Adelaide; University of South Australia; University of Tasmania.
For more information visit: www.csiro.au/on
SOURCE: Minister for Industry Innovation and Science
