Australia’s Economic Accelerator - Innovate - Research support

Key dates

The dates below are indicative and may be subject to change.

Proposals open in RMS: 23 July 2025
UQ Information Session: 28 July 2025
Notice of Intent due to UQ Research Office: 13 August 2025
Expressions of Interest due to UQ Research Office: 20 August 2024
Expressions of Interest close: End of August 2024
Full applications close: End of October 2025

Overview

Australia’s Economic Accelerator (AEA) will promote research translation and commercialisation capacity through the establishment of a new funding program 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.

The first round of grants will prioritise projects that align with one or more of the following focus areas:

critical and strategic minerals processing
sustainable fuels
digital agriculture
quantum
artificial intelligence (AI)
advanced manufacturing

About the AEA Innovate grant opportunity

Innovate provides mid-stage research commercialisation grants of up to $5 million and up to 24 months, for universities, in partnership with businesses, to build prototypes and pilot systems to establish proof-of-scale. Proof-of-scale is the point at which a prototype has been demonstrated to work, at a pre-commercial scale, in an operational environment.

UQ Information Session

Date: Monday, 28 July 2025

Time: 10 am to 11:30 am

Location: 08-212 - Goddard Building, Learning Theatre

Zoom link: https://uqz.zoom.us/j/84525638340

To assist the research community in preparing the AEA application, the Research Office has prepared an information session in the previous year. Slides and a recording of the Information session are available on our Presentations and slides page.

How to apply

Internal notice of intent process

Researchers intending to submit an application are required to submit a mandatory internal UQ Notice of Intent (NOI). NOIs will be collated centrally and distributed to Faculties and Institutes as well as UniQuest and the Research Partnerships Office in order to provide maximum support to the UQ research community.

Step 1. RMS updates and scheme reading

Update your full profile in RMS ‘Person Profile’. If any team members are new to RMS and need a login/password, start early.
Familiarise yourself with the key Department of Education and UQ documentation.

Step 2. Completing the application

Complete the Expression of Interest in the Department of Education RMS portal by the due date above, and complete a full application in the Portal by the due date. The EOI phase is mandatory, but progression to Full Application is automatic. Please note that the Education RMS portal is a different system to the Australian Research Council RMS.

Step 3. UQ R&I internal review and feedback

Ahead of internal review, ensure all online components are complete and valid, generate a whole Application PDF for your records and select 'Submit to Research Office' in RMS to submit the application.
To initiate review, email your completed Application Certification Form to UQ R&I at industrygrants@research.uq.edu.au
Internal review by UQ R&I/feedback provided (compliance/eligibility/grantscrafting).

Step 4. Final submission

Final submission by UQ R&I to the Department of Education.

Readership and researcher support

Before applying, we recommend you:

Contact your faculty or institute research manager for advice on peer readership programs.
Join the UQ R&I Mailer to stay up to date with round developments.
Access the UQ R&I Grants Library, a helpful resource of past successful proposals.

Key Documents

Department of Education

Scheme Guidelines, Templates and Frequently Asked Questions are available from the Department of Education website upon scheme opening.

UQ

Please note, the current resources are collated from the previous round, and will be updated from 23 July 2025.

Australia’s Economic Accelerator - Innovate