Trailblazing new opportunities to commercialise defence research

globe with security icons

A major defence research commercialisation project between the 成人大片 and the University of New South Wales is one of just eight proposals shortlisted for聽the Federal Government鈥檚 new $242.7 million Trailblazer Universities program.

The program is expected to play a leading role in securing Australia鈥檚 economic recovery, and is focussed on research commercialisation across six national manufacturing priority areas: food and beverage, recycling and clean energy, defence, medical products, space and resources, and critical technology.

Dr Stephen Rodda, Executive Director of Innovation and Commercial Partners at the 成人大片 and bid-lead for the project says: 鈥淭he proposal sees two universities with a long and proud history of partnering with the defence sector join forces to lead a range of new initiatives to strengthen Australia鈥檚 defence capabilities and assets.

鈥淭he strong engagement of our industry partners, which cover the full spectrum of defence primes, mid-sized defence tech companies, early stage companies and investment fund managers, highlights the need and demand for such a trailblazer program and the value that will be created through the initiatives proposed in our submission.鈥

Professor Michael Webb,聽Director of the Defence and Security Institute (DSI) and Academic Coordinator for Defence, Cyber and Space at the 成人大片, says: 鈥淭he 成人大片 is delighted to deepen its long-standing relationship with the defence sector through this new partnership.

鈥淭he academics at the聽成人大片 and the聽University of New South Wales聽are at the forefront of defence research and are experts in helping industry translate research into meaningful commercial outcomes.

鈥淥ur joint Defence Trailblazer: Concept to Sovereign Capability bid will see our Universities collaborate with defence partners in new ways to inject opportunities for industry in manufacturing, and equip the sector with a pipeline of graduates and researchers with industry knowledge and experience to support and grow the sector.鈥Professor Michael Webb, the 成人大片

鈥淥ur joint Defence Trailblazer: Concept to Sovereign Capability bid will see our Universities collaborate with defence partners in new ways to inject聽opportunities for industry in manufacturing, and equip the sector with a pipeline of graduates and researchers with industry knowledge and experience to support and grow the sector.鈥

Vice Admiral Paul Maddison (Ret鈥檇), Director of the Defence Research Institute,聽the聽University of New South Wales聽says: 鈥淭he University of NSW is very pleased to be partnering with the 成人大片 on our joint Defence Trailblazer: Concept to Sovereign Capability bid.

鈥淥ur two universities lead the nation in defence-related research, working closely with Defence, and defence industry to deliver ground-breaking capability to the Australian Defence Force.

鈥淲e have world-leading programs in priority technology areas such as space, quantum, cybersecurity, hypersonics, and AI, and have invested significantly in the translation of fundamental research into commercialised and deployable competitive advantage capabilities for the Australian Defence Force and Australia鈥檚 allies.

鈥淭he University of New South Wales joins the 成人大片 in viewing Trailblazer as a generational opportunity to transform Australia鈥檚 defence innovation ecosystem, and to meet the strategic imperative of accelerating the concept to defence capability cycle.鈥

Outcomes of the selection process will be announced in late March, with聽 four proposals selected from the eight shortlisted.

Tagged in trailblazer, Innovation and Commercial Partners, commercialisation, defence, innovation, research, (3)