Twenty-eight universities have been awarded 155 research grants under the first round of Australia’s Economic Accelerator (AEA) Ignite.
Ignite grants support early-stage research commercialisation through competitive grants of up to $500,000 for a maximum period of 12 months.
AEA Ignite projects are focused on one or more priority areas aligned with the National Reconstruction Fund priority areas. The breakdown of awarded grants by priority areas is:
- 46 grants for medical science
- 34 for enabling capabilities
- 32 for renewables and low emission technologies
- 22 for value-add in the agriculture forestry and fisheries sector
- 14 for value-add in resources
- 4 for transport
- 3 for defence capability.
Successful projects include:
- reduce illegal fishing through satellite detection
- develop an AI enabled brain monitor to reverse paralysis
- prevent food poisoning with plasma activated water
- enhance sustainable diesel production
- develop a sensor for early detection of Alzheimer’s disease.
It was a highly competitive round, with 393 applications submitted across 35 universities. Approximately 40 per cent (61) of the successful projects are led by women researchers, an increase on the 24 per cent of successful grants led by women in the AEA Seed pilot.
AEA Ignite forms part of the Australian Government’s $1.6 billion investment in AEA which enables Australia’s leading entrepreneurial researchers to transform world-class research into the new industries, services and jobs of tomorrow.
The list of funding recipients is available at Funded Projects. For regular updates on the AEA, follow the AEA LinkedIn page.