Projects with the potential to revolutionise Australian industry will share in $8 million under the second round of the Coalition Government’s Global Innovation Linkages program.

Nine projects featuring universities and businesses from five states will receive funding to work with global partners on leading-edge research and development projects over the next four years.

Announcing the grants today, Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews said connecting Australian researchers with others around the world would pay dividends for all Australians by growing the economy and creating local jobs.

“The grants will be provided as seed funding to support international partnerships in the development of high quality products, services or processes that will address a range of industry challenges here in Australia,” Minister Andrews said.

“Encouraging this sort of cooperation between businesses and researchers helps drive economic growth and the creation of high quality jobs.”

The projects are aligned with industry growth sectors including advanced manufacturing, food and agribusiness, medical technologies and pharmaceuticals, mining equipment technology and services, and oil, gas and energy resources.

The grant recipients and their projects are:

• Swinburne University of Technology and Quickstep Holdings Australia Pty Ltd together with global partners in Austria, Germany and Israel – awarded $1 million to develop a highly automated, flexible, Industry 4.0 approach to manufacture advanced carbon fibre composites to meet the growing demands from automotive and aerospace industries.
• Curtin University and ITP Thermal Pty Ltd, together with a global partner in Sweden – awarded $1 million to develop a thermal battery for concentrated solar power systems.
• Kico Knee Innovation Company Pty Ltd and Flinders University, together with a global partner in the United States – awarded $1 million to develop a market-leading precision computer assisted robotic delivery system for hip replacements in a patient specific manner with unprecedented accuracy.
• Omni Tanker Pty Ltd and the University of New South Wales together with global partners in Germany – awarded $1 million to develop more durable lightweight tank container products for the European chemical transport market.
• University of Wollongong and National Personnel Group Pty Ltd together with a global partner in China – awarded over $900,000 to develop a battery electric transporter with Internet-of-Things technology incorporated for underground coal mining applications.
• Synchron Australia Pty Ltd and the University of Melbourne together with global partners in the United States – awarded over $900,000 to refine a minimally invasive implantable brain device that can interpret signals from the brain for patients with paralysis and enable control over movement and locomotion.
• Central Queensland University and Datamuster Pty Ltd, with global partners in Argentina – awarded over $750,000 to develop value-added automated livestock management technologies for Latin American markets to help producers make better farming decisions.
• University of Wollongong and various Australian industry entities and research organisations with global partners in China and Germany – awarded over $720,000 to develop novel harmonic measurement and network assessment techniques to maintain power system security for electricity networks.
• Queensland University of Technology and Illumina Australia Pty Ltd, together with a global partner in Switzerland – awarded over $710,000 to employ precision medicine techniques and genomics for diagnostic clinical use to optimise drug doses and avoid adverse drug reactions in patients.

The Coalition Government recognises the importance of research, science and technology to our economy and jobs of the future and these grants are part of our $1.1 billion National Innovation and Science Agenda. Investing in these sectors will help boost Australia’s economic growth and help to create an extra 1.25 million jobs over the next five years.

The program is an element of the Global Innovation Strategy and helps build Australia’s research capacity, forge strategic alliances and increase the commercialisation and application of research outcomes, boosting our international competitiveness.

Media contact: Minister Andrews' office 02 6277 7070