Australia’s Economic Accelerator - Round 3 - Research support

Key dates

Proposals open in RMS: 15 December 2023
Notice of Intent due to UQ Research Office: 12 January 2024
Applications due to UQ Research Office: 12 January 2024
Applications close: 9 February 2024
Assessment of proposals and approval of outcomes: February - June 2024

Overview

Australia’s Economic Accelerator (AEA) is a new research funding program designed to shift the dial on Australian research by supporting the translation and commercialisation of world-leading research in the university sector.

The 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 consists of AEA Seed, which acts as a pilot for the stage one grants known as AEA Ignite, and stage two known as AEA Innovate (subject to passage of amendments to the Higher Education Support Act 2023), with opportunity for further funding through the CSIRO Innovation Fund Main Sequence Ventures, or other Investment Vehicles. 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.

Under the AEA, projects can exit after completing an AEA Seed project, with no obligation to proceed through the other stages. Additionally, projects can apply to AEA Innovate without having undertaken either AEA Seed or AEA Ignite.

About the AEA Ignite grant opportunity

Applications are now open for Tranche 3 of the AEA Seed grants which support proof-of-concept projects at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 3 to 5, based on the TRL descriptions available here (PDF, 305.6 KB).

Projects must be aligned with the priorities of the National Reconstruction Fund. Priority consideration will be given to projects addressing the following priority areas:

Transport
- Manufacturing any of the following products: aircraft, road vehicles, rail vehicles or ships;
- Manufacturing products for use in or in connection with aircraft, road vehicles, rail vehicles or ships.
- Not common use infrastructure such as roads or railways. It does include the products and components used in infrastructure, such as road surfacing materials or rail sleepers.
Defence Capability
- Manufacturing products that are wholly or primarily for use in or in connection with defence
- Fundamental inputs to defence capability.
Enabling Capabilities – Advanced manufacturing technologies for any NRF priority area, including:
- additive manufacturing,
- advanced composite materials
- high specification machining processes
- semiconductors
- advanced integrated circuit manufacture

Funding available

A total of $10 million in funding has been allocated across the AEA Seed grants.

Grants of between $50,000 and $500,000 are available per project.
Multiple grants may be awarded per project up to a maximum of $500,000 per project.
It is anticipated that most grants will be between $100,000 and $300,000 depending on the scope of the grant activity and its complexity.
Proposals seeking more than $200,000 must identify and cost at least two phases of work that break the project into distinct steps.

Projects must be completed between three to 12 months from the project’s commencement.

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 application in the Department of Education RMS portal. Please note that this is a separate RMS portal from 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.
If offered, attend UQ R&I information sessions and access PowerPoint presentations from presentations and slides.

Key Documents

Department of Education

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

Australia’s Economic Accelerator - Round 3