R&D commercialisation: a major economic lever for NSW

The NSW Government announced today that it is investing $3 million in NSW’s innovation ecosystem to accelerate products addressing the impact of COVID-19 to market. 

Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney Stuart Ayres said the 11 universities and CSIRO in NSW had already shared in a first injection of $1 million to kick start the Innovation Districts R&D Challenges, with $500,000 to follow. 

“NSW is home to world leading research and innovation which is why we are helping to connect our best and brightest to address the big challenges we’re facing,” Mr Ayres said.

“As part of this program, the universities and CSIRO will engage with their networks and invite submissions to find the most promising opportunities that address the many facets of the impact of COVID-19 on people’s lives. 

“An independent panel will assess the nominations, and those that are successful will share in a total of $1.5 million to support further development. 

“We know when businesses innovate they grow and create more resilient jobs.” 

The Hon. Gabrielle Upton MP, Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier, said commercialisation R&D is a major economic lever that creates jobs. 

“Now more than ever, we need scale-ups, universities and corporates coming together so their ideas become products and services that address COVID-19’s impact,” Ms Upton said. 

“The NSW Government will help design the nomination guidelines with universities and CSIRO. We’re supporting innovation right from the start by asking the universities and CSIRO to identify the COVID-19 challenges that resonate with the capabilities and unique nature of their innovation districts.” 

A consortium of eight leading reasearch-intensive universities across NSW and the ACT, the NSW Smart Sensing Network (NSSN), was founded on the premise that the economy and people of NSW face key challenges in energy, resources, manufacturing, the environment, transport, agriculture, space and health that cutting-edge research in smart sensing could play a critical role in solving.

The NSSN brings together the world class research taking place in universities with state government agencies and industry to develop innovative solutions to these key challenges and, at the same time, position NSW as a leader in sensing technology.

Working with the NSSN simplifies the process of engaging with universities by creating a single point-of-contact.

To learn more about NSSN capabilities, please contact us here.