University of Adelaide wins $50m Trailblazer grant for defence research

The University of Adelaide has won the second $50m Trailblazer grant to commercialise research in Australia’s priority industries.

University of Adelaide vice-chancellor Peter Hoj.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced a $50m federal government contribution to a $250m University of Adelaide led project to commercialise defence research and build Australia’s sovereign capabilities in defence technology.

The project – in which the University of Adelaide will partner with the University of NSW and the CSIRO – will link with industry to create defence solutions using quantum technology, hypersonics, information and cyber technology, robotics and space technology.

It is the second Trailblazer project to be announced by the Coalition in the election campaign. On Tuesday the Prime Minister said Curtin University would lead a resources Trailblazer aimed at giving Australia competitive advantage in producing the minerals needed for batteries, renewable energy and other high technology applications.

Altogether, six Trailblazer projects are expected to be announced by the Coalition during the election campaign, including two reserved for regional universities.

The defence Trailblazer, called Concept to Sovereign Capability, will link with more than 50 industry partners around the country who will invest over $140m over the project’s four years. It is estimated the project will create 2500 jobs and bring economic benefits worth $1.5bn.

University of Adelaide vice-chancellor Peter Hoj said the project would “result in a profound and transformative change to our defence innovation landscape”.

“The University of Adelaide will apply its research expertise in defence-relevant areas, notably quantum materials, hypersonic countermeasures, information warfare, space and artificial intelligence, to help improve Australia’s sovereign capability,” he said.

According to the university, 80 per cent of the industry commitments to the program are from small and medium enterprises, underlining the opportunities for growth in the high technology defence industry.

The project will allocate $34m to industry and the universities to produce prototypes of disruptive technologies which are in-line with Australian Defence Force requirements. A $126m advanced innovation fund will be available to help commercialise the prototypes.

Christine Zeitz, general manager Asia Pacific for Northrop Grumman, will chair the defence Trailblazer. She said it would “transform the nature of the relationship between the academic sector, defence industry and the Department of Defence, compelling universities to pivot outwards towards entrepreneurial and commercial outcomes-driven collaboration”.

Susan Coyle, head of information warfare in the Australian Defence Force, said the defence Trailblazer “signals the start of a closer relationship between Defence, research organisations and defence industry that will see Australia’s sovereign defence capability significantly strengthened”.

Attila Brungs, vice-chancellor of UNSW, said the program would “drive a step change for Australia in the defence related industries”.

“University-industry collaboration is imperative to ensure that research gets translated into outcomes that benefit all of Australia,” he said.

The project intends to work at speed, so that university researchers and industry quickly grasp defence priorities and can rapidly obtain capital to develop ideas, build prototypes, commercialise the outcomes, and get new technologies into the hands of the defence force.

“Government, industry and universities will drive together in new ways to push concept demonstrators across the “valley of death” and into manufacturing,” the University of Adelaide said.

Both the University of Adelaide and UNSW belong to the research-intensive Group of Eight universities.

Go8 chief executive Vicki Thomson said the scale of industry investment demonstrated that Australia’s defence firms recognised the value of university collaboration.

“This partnership will develop our cutting-edge defence research to boost our national security in what is anincreasingly complex geopolitical environment,” she said.