Australia’s Economic Accelerator (AEA) promotes research translation and commercialisation capacity through the establishment these funding programs to invest in priority-driven objectives aligned with the National Reconstruction Fund. The AEA is part of the Australian Government’s University Research Commercialisation Action Plan and will initially run over ten years from 2023 to 2032. The AEA is designed to build a pipeline from discovery research through to commercialisation, ensuring Australia reaps the benefits of investment in research within the university sector.
AEA Ignite supports early-stage (TRL 3 to 5) research commercialisation through competitive grants of up to $500,000, for between three and 12 months, for universities to complete laboratory testing to establish “Proof-of-Concept”. This is the point at which basic research is complete, and testing has verified the concept, process, or prototype, at the laboratory scale. An industry partner is preferable but not required for the Ignite program.
AEA Innovate supports commercialisation of projects that already have proof of concept and seek to demonstrate proof of scale or develop and test prototypes of products, processes or services (TRL 5 to 7). This highly competitive scheme provides up to $5million for up to 24 months. AEA Innovate requires an industry or investor partner who provides matching cash (at least 50% co-funding) and in-kind contributions.
The objectives of the AEA are to:
The intended outcomes AEA are to support:
If you are interested in applying for these grants, please see the ECU Info Sheet which explains the process and next steps.
Please note: Commercial and Investment Services will assist and will require further document to assess for suitability.
Contacts: CIS Team cis@ecu.edu.au and Pre-Award Team research-preaward@ecu.edu.au
We are currently awaiting details surrounding the dates for the next round.