The Australian Government is rolling out new grants to help turn great ideas from Australia’s brightest minds into commercial opportunities that can foster greater collaborations between universities and industry.
The Australia’s Economic Accelerator (AEA) Seed Grants is a $10 million scheme available for projects seeking to confirm proof-of-concept on research ideas pursuing a commercial outcome through the AEA pilot Seed Grants program.
Grants of up to $500,000 will be invested in higher education research with identifiable commercialisation potential that meets with the Government’s research priorities.
Financial support from the AEA comprises three stages – AEA Seed Grants, AEA Ignite Grants and AEA Innovate Grants. The AEA Seed Grants and AEA Ignite Grants offer funding to support proof-of-concept projects with grants of up to $500,000 for up to 12 months. AEA Innovate will offer funding of up to $5 million to support proof-of-scale projects in their transition to market, with the expectation that projects will have industry partners.
The AEA Seed Grants will accept applications across two rounds, which will each be open for six weeks. The first tranche will open from 6 February 2023, and the second tranche will open in late-March 2023. Further details on the application process are provided in the program guidelines.
The AEA Ignite and Innovate Grants are expected to launch in the second half of 2023. More information on the program and grant applications are available on the Department of Education website.
For more information about the grants, click here.