It’s hoped that new partnerships between the state government and universities will result in the commercialisation of research and innovation and more home-grown ideas being developed and manufactured locally.
Industry and Innovation Minister Ben Carroll has announced new co-investment partnerships with five Victorian universities as part of the $100 million Breakthrough Victoria, University Innovation Platform.
The announcement was part of his speech at the opening of the Global Entrepreneurship Congress, attended by 4,000 investors and entrepreneurs from around the world and hosted in Victoria for the first time.
The new partnerships totalling $87 million with Deakin University, La Trobe University, Monash University, RMIT University and Swinburne University will help commercialise critical research and unlock its market potential.
Each university will contribute up to $9 million in funding matched by Breakthrough Victoria to invest in startup and early-stage companies spun out of their own research, with typical pre-seed investments of around $500,000 each.
The government said investing in startups at this critical early stage will help fund product concepts, prototypes, and trials to support research with strong commercial potential move beyond the research and development phase.
There are now six university partnerships established under the Breakthrough Victoria – University Innovation Platform, with the University of Melbourne Genesis Pre-Seed Fund announced last year.
According to the government the partnerships will boost the development of local innovations and sovereign manufacturing capabilities, while building a pipeline of Victorian products and startup companies to invest in and help scale up globally.
In addition to the $2 billion Breakthrough Victoria Fund, the government is providing targeted industry investments to drive innovation through LaunchVic’s $15 million Alice Anderson Fund to support more women-led startups and the $15 million Industry R&D Infrastructure Fund to incentivise local business to increase their R&D activity.
Industry and Innovation minister Ben Carroll said, “We are backing the translation of unique research and development from our world class universities into commercial opportunities locally and globally.
“This partnership between Victorian universities and Breakthrough Victoria will ensure our brightest ideas grow locally.”
