Australia’s Economic Accelerator - Ignite - Research support

Key dates

Proposals open in RMS: 17 July 2024
UQ R&I Information Session: 17 June 2024
Notice of Intent due to UQ Research Office: 7 August 2024
Applications due to UQ Research Office: 14 August 2024
Applications close: 28 August 2024

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 Ignite grant opportunity

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.

Please note that any AEA Seed funding previously awarded to projects will count towards the total $500,000 project cap on AEA Ignite grants.

UQ Information Session

To assist the research community in preparing the AEA application, the Research Office will hold an information session Monday 17 June 2024. Slides of the Information session are available on our Presentations and slides page.

Date: Monday 17 June 2024
Time: 1:00pm to 2:00pm
Location: 01-E212 - Forgan Smith Building (East Wing), Seminar Room, St Lucia

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 - Ignite