Business strategy

Lost in translation: why the issue with Australian science research isn’t funding

- December 22, 2025 3 MIN READ

When CSIRO announced it would shed hundreds of research positions, the narrative was predictable: another casualty of budget cuts, another blow to Australian science, another sign that we don’t value research. But perhaps the question shouldn’t be whether Australia invests enough in research, but whether we’re getting enough return from the research we already fund. Or have we been optimising for the wrong metric? The research scoreboard Australia’s research ecosystem has… Read more »

Ferronova CEO Stewart Bartlett
Funding

Adelaide cancer detection startup Ferronova tops up its long-running Series A with $6 million

- December 17, 2025 2 MIN READ

Medical startup Ferronova has raised $6 million in a top up of its five-year-old Series A to $17.5 million.  The fresh funding was led by existing investors Uniseed/UniSuper, South Australian  Venture Capital Fund, Artesian Venture Partners and Renew Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Singapore- based Ultragreen.ai. The Adelaide biotech,  founded in 2016 a spin-out from the… Read more »

Uniseed CEO Peter Devine and University of Newcastle's Warwick Dawson
Funding

Uniseed adds another $25m from UniSuper to commercialise academic research

- May 20, 2025 2 MIN READ

Veteran venture fund Uniseed has raised another $25 million from its exclusive institutional investment partner UniSuper to try and draw more startups from Aussie universities. Uniseed has been around 2000 and provides seed funding for early-stage research and technology startups to help commercialise technologies developed in Australia’s world-class research institutions. “We’re proud to have UniSuper’s… Read more »

Climate Tech

3 things Australian universities need from the Albanese government to commercialise research and help startups succeed

- May 9, 2025 5 MIN READ

The recent call for submissions into the Strategic Examination of Australia’s R&D system has revealed ideas and frustrations that have long been articulated on numerous discussion panels. However, through this recent consultation, it has felt like more practical solutions have surfaced across the ecosystem, and many of the ideas align.  So if we could request… Read more »

Funding

University of Sydney launches $25 million pre-Seed fund for its home-grown startups

- May 5, 2025 2 MIN READ

Startups developing new treatments for cardiovascular disease, type 1 diabetes, and technology to capture carbon dioxide in the air have been backed by the University of Sydney’s new Pre-Seed Launch Fund. The $25 million fund invests in ideas and people, turning academic research developed at the uni into high-growth startups, bridging the gap between proof-of-concept… Read more »

Business

ACS says the incoming government needs to put digital skills reform and research commercialisation at the top of its priority list

- April 16, 2025 3 MIN READ

Industry body the Australian Computer Society (ACS), which represents around 50,000 members in tech, said whoever forms government after the May 3 election needs to take urgent, coordinated action on digital skills reform and research commercialisation to secure the nation’s economic future.  The recent ACS 2025 Election Forum in Sydney brought together leaders from industry,… Read more »

Michelle Perugini at UniSA Enterprise Hubcomp
People

Serial entreprenuer Dr Michelle Perugini heads to University of SA to commercialise research

- November 19, 2024 2 MIN READ

Health and technology entrepreneur Dr Michelle Perugini has joined the University of South Australia as its new Head of Commercialisation. The cancer researcher turned artificial intelligence (AI) expert cofounded two successful AI startups with her husband Dr Don Perguni, who was a research scientist for the Department of Defence, developing AI technology ISD Analytics, founded in 2008,… Read more »

R&D, science, man looking in microscope
Accelerator

MTPConnect kicks off $28.5 million health tech accelerator targeting heart disease and diabetes 

- September 2, 2024 2 MIN READ

Life sciences accelerator MTPConnect has teamed up with health tech industry giants CSL and Roche Diagnostics to launch a new program backing startups tackling cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes. The $28.5 million Targeted Translation Research Accelerator (TTRA) is backed by the federal government’s $22 billion Medical Research Future Fund and will look to back promising drugs… Read more »

Other

CSIRO teams up with Murdoch Uni for $8 million Bioplastics Innovation Hub developing compostable plastics 

- September 2, 2024 2 MIN READ

Murdoch University and national science agency CSIRO have partnered to launch the $8 million The Bioplastics Innovation Hub in Perth to develop a new generation of 100% compostable plastic. CSIRO research program director Dr Andy Whiteley, said the Hub aims to bring together experts in microbiology, molecular genetics, synthetic biology, biochemical engineering, advanced manufacturing and circular… Read more »

Funding

Space tech accelerator iLAuNCH is offering $100,000 grants to commercialise uni research

- August 1, 2024 2 MIN READ

The iLAuNCH Trailblazer program has thrown another $1 million into the kitty to fund the commercialisation of university research for the space industry. The federal government-backed program will see the iLAuNCH Accelerator offer seed funding grants worth between $10,000 and $100,000 for proof-of-concept demonstrator technologies with commercial potential. Applications are now open for the fund,… Read more »

Mangoes basket
Ag tech

Science will tell you how long your mango has to live – and now it’s a startup idea to commercialise

- May 31, 2024 < 1 MIN READ

An algorithm developed in a partnership between the Queensland and Victorian governments and Hort Innovation Australia has the ability predict the shelf life of mangoes and stone fruit. Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) has now offered the technology up for expressions of interest to develop it commercially. DAF and Agriculture Victoria in the… Read more »

Uniseed CEO Peter Devine and University of Newcastle's Warwick Dawson
Venture Capital

Pioneering VC fund Uniseed doubles its backers as five universities, including Monash, UTS and Macquarie, chip in

- November 15, 2023 2 MIN READ

Australia’s oldest venture fund, university-backed Uniseed, has doubled its research partners from five to 10 as it looks to back more startups focused on research commercialisation. Joining its founding ‘sandstone’ uni group – Queensland, NSW, Melbourne, and Sydney, plus science agency CSIRO, are Monash as a full partner, alongside a collaboration partnership of four NSW universities… Read more »

R&D, science, man looking in microscope
Funding

Victoria is offering medtech startups $500k grants for their research projects

- October 23, 2023 < 1 MIN READ

Applications for the seventh round of the Victorian Medical Research Acceleration Fund (VMRAF) are now open. It offers both grants of up to $100,000 to support early-stage research projects with a practical application, as well as later-stage grants of up to $500,000 to help researchers bring their products and practices into clinical or health care… Read more »

R&D, science, man looking in microscope
Funding

Breakthrough Victoria pours $43 million into five universities to help turn research into startups

- September 19, 2023 2 MIN READ

The Victorian government’s $2 billion investment fund, Breakthrough Victoria has backed five Victorian universities to help them bring research to market in a deal worth $87 million.  Deakin, La Trobe, Monash and Swinburne universities have contributed $9 million funding matched by Breakthrough Victoria, with RMIT matching the $7.5 million it has received. Each partnership will… Read more »