Several manufacturing and defence projects are among 11 UNSW projects that received funding through Australia’s Economic Accelerator grants.
Eleven innovative UNSW Sydney research translation and commercialisation projects will receive $3.3 million from the Australian government.
Projects include research translation to reduce greenhouse emissions for commercial shipping, to create hydrogen fuel cells for the aviation industry and to develop robotic sensors with a sense of touch.
Australia’s Economic Accelerator (AEA) funding is part of the Australian government’s support for the development and commercialisation of research in the university sector.
The following projects received grants:
- Associate Professor Kevin Laws, from UNSW Science, will lead the project ‘Scaling of advanced ammunition manufacturing’. (Awarded $60,000)
- Dr Matthew Priestley, from the Division of Research & Enterprise, will lead ‘Developing a novel high-efficiency micro-electric vehicle motor’.
- Dr Quentin Meyer,from UNSW Science, will lead ‘New hydrogen fuel cell for aviation transportation’. (Awarded $193,000.)
- Associate Professor Shane Keating, from UNSW Science, will lead ‘A new method for commercial ship route optimisation using real-time ocean intelligence’ which aims to commercialise research on cutting emissions in the shipping industry by using ocean currents. (Awarded $198,000.)
- Dr Zhao Sha, from UNSW Engineering, will lead the project ‘Integrated rocket motor case and nozzle using nano-engineered phenolic composite’ with UNSW’s Professor Chun Wang and Associate Professor Jin Zhang, and Dr Fabian Rogg from project partner Thales. (Awarded $479,000.)
- Associate Professor Robert Nordon, from UNSW Engineering, will lead a project with partners Genesys Electronics Design and CSL: ‘Pilot-scale manufacture of microfluidic bioreactors for the biotech industry’. (Awarded $491,000.)
- Dr Fei Deng, from UNSW Engineering, will lead ‘Pioneering portable labs: user-friendly molecular level COVID test strips’ with partner Biopoint. (Awarded $491,000.)
- Dr David Tsai, from UNSW Engineering, will partner with Contactile, a UNSW spin-out, on ‘Miniaturising and up-scaling of robotic tactile sensors with CMOS photonic pixel arrays’. (Awarded $418,000.)
- Professor Ronald Van der Meyden, from UNSW Engineering, will lead ‘Development of a commercial version of a software model checker’. (Awarded $325,000.)
- Associate Professor Jarryd James Pla, from UNSW Engineering, will lead ‘Commercialising a wideband quantum microwave amplifier’. (Awarded $250,000.)
- Dr Honghao Chen, from UNSW Engineering, will partner with Jennmar Australia on ‘Commercialisation of an anti-corrosion coating technology for underground mine application’. (Awarded $197,000.)
The AEA has established pilot programs as the full suite of programs is developed, and UNSW has received 11 of the 36 AEA Seed grants announced in tranche 3.
“The number of UNSW projects funded is a sensational result for the University and reflects our commitment to Australia’s innovation and commercialisation ecosystem,” said deputy vice-chancellor Research & Enterprise, professor Bronwyn Fox.
“I congratulate each of the grant recipients. Expertise in terms of research translation and commercialisation has been fostered at UNSW over many years now, and these grants will further enable our researchers to bring their expertise to bear on industry-changing technologies and capabilities.”
Tranche 3 focuses on transport, defence capabilities, and enabling capabilities, such as data science, AI and robotics.