People

The best startups in South West Sydney

- August 26, 2025 2 MIN READ

South West Sydney’s brightest innovators were given a chance to tell their stories at Pitch Night South West at the Liverpool Powerhouse. The initiative was led by UNSW Founders and featured eight finalists who pitched their business and social change ideas tackling key societal challenges. They ranged from harnessing the benefits of AI and giving… Read more »

Funding

Sydney biotech Smart MCs and UNSW land $900,000 for next-gen cell manufacturing tech 

- July 10, 2025 2 MIN READ

Sydney biotech startup Smart MCs has secured $900,000 in funding through the Australian  Research Council’s (ARC) Linkage Program to scale its next-generation microcarrier technology for large-scale cell-based manufacturing.  The project is a partnership between Smart MCs and the University of New South Wales, led by Associate Professor Christopher Marquis and Professor Kristopher Kilian, working alongside… Read more »

Global tech

Sydney startups Diraq and Emergence Quantum collaborate on key quantum computing breakthrough

- June 26, 2025 2 MIN READ

Two Sydney quantum startups have combined forces to developed technology that effectively reduces the size of the circuits required to run a silicon-based quantum computer. Diraq and Emergence Quantum published details in Nature today. Quantum bits (or ‘qubits’) must be held at cryogenic temperatures, near absolute zero (–273.15 °C), to preserve their information. But they… Read more »

Funding

Contactile grabs $268,712 federal commercialisation grant for its ‘human touch’ robotic gripper

- June 23, 2025 2 MIN READ

Contactile, a deep tech startup giving robotics the subtlety of human-like touch, has scored $268,712 from the federal government under its Industry Growth Program The matched funding will go towards the the commercialisation of its tactile sensor-enabled smart robotic gripper. Contactile’s patented tactile sensor array has created a smart gripper measures 3D deflection, force, vibration, torque,… Read more »

UNSW Prof Veena Sahajwalla.
People

UNSW e-waste recycling founder Professor Veena Sahajwalla recognised in Australia Day honours

- January 26, 2025 3 MIN READ

University of NSW Professor Veena Sahajwalla, founding director of the Centre for Sustainable Materials Research & Technology (SMaRT) was named an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the Australia Day honours list in recognition of her distinguished service to science as an engineer and inventor, sustainable materials research and technology and waste management.… Read more »

ChatGPT chat bot screen seen on smartphone
AI/Machine Learning

UNSW inks OpenAI deal to keep its questions private

- December 16, 2024 2 MIN READ

UNSW Sydney will be the first Asia-Pacific university collaborating with the US-based OpenAI to deploy ChatGPT Edu. The deal will allow UNSW researchers, educators and students to use OpenAI’s artificial intelligence tools on a secure platform, which means academics can protect their intellectual property and keep their prompt questions private while using the generative AI… Read more »

Prof Shawn Kook and Goran Bozic
Climate Tech

Investible teams up with UNSW to back climate tech uni spin-offs

- December 4, 2024 2 MIN READ

Sydney early-stage VC Investible will partner with UNSW’s Trailblazer for Recycling and Clean Energy (TRaCE) program in a co-investment partnership to back climate tech startups emerging from the university. The Technology Commercialisation Venture Scheme will target Seed and Series A investments into UNSW climate-tech spin-offs and companies supported through TRaCE. The first-of-its-kind for an Australian… Read more »

David Burt
Accelerator

UNSW gets cracking on the federal government’s Startup Year idea

- November 29, 2023 2 MIN READ

The University of New South Wales (UNSW) has become the first tertiary institution to implement the federal government’s accredited Startup Year program for recent university graduates. Federal industry and science minister Ed Husic confirmed plans for the HECS-style loans program, an election promise designed to back university students to launch their own startups ideas, late… Read more »

Shawn Kook
Other

Here are the five amazing startups to emerge from UNSW’s Climate 10x accelerator program

- October 30, 2023 2 MIN READ

UNSW Founders held its annual 10x Demo Day this week with 25 startups taking part, spanning programs focused on synthetic biology (synbio), climate, health, defence and an all-industries cohort that includes the crowd-lending impact platform LendForGood. The Climate 10x Accelerator was set up as part of the $280 million Trailblazer for Recycling and Clean Energy (TraCE)… Read more »

Prof Andrew Parfitt, Victor Dominello, Prof Attila Brungs.
People

Former NSW minister Victor Dominello has a new university gig running tackling ethics and trust in digital life

- May 1, 2023 3 MIN READ

Former NSW digital government minister Victor Dominello has a new job after leaving politics at the March state election, signing on as the director of the university-based UNSW-UTS Trustworthy Digital Society Hub. The announcement comes on the same day Jihad Dib, the new Labor minister in charge of digital government marked Privacy Week, announcing the… Read more »

Prof Andrew Dzurak
Quantum Computing

Startup Daily TV: Sydney startup Diraq is rewriting the rules on quantum computing

- February 21, 2023 3 MIN READ

Australian engineers have found a new way of precisely controlling single electrons nestled in quantum dots that run logic gates. These new mechanism is less bulky and requires fewer parts, which could prove essential to making large-scale silicon quantum computers a reality. The serendipitous discovery, made by engineers at the quantum computing startup Diraq, which… Read more »