Australia’s national science agency CSIRO is inviting SMEs working on clean energy solutions to apply for the latest Innovate to Grow program.
The CSIRO has partnered with Trailblazer for Recycling and Clean Energy (TRaCE), an initiative of UNSW and the University of Newcastle and supported by the Commonwealth Government to facilitate clean energy transition, to deliver this year’s edition of Innovate to Grow, called the Innovate to Grow: Clean Energy program.
The free online program will provide Australian SMEs with a supportive environment with expert facilitators, experienced researchers, and self-paced deliverables to guide successful applicants through their technical or business challenges in implementing their clean energy solutions.
Professor Emmanuel Mastio, Executive Director of TRaCE said SMEs, scale-ups and start-ups are key to building sovereign supply chains on Australia’s path to a clean energy economy.
“We need to bring our universities into the fold and see a shift in our approach where SMEs and industry are provided greater support to commercialise their innovations and de-risk investment at speed,” Mastio said. “At TRaCE, we are extremely focused on emissions reductions and our path to Net Zero. We jumped at the opportunity to extend our ecosystem of support through CSIRO’s Innovate to Grow program’s Clean Energy series.”
CSIRO’s Director of Energy, Dr Dietmar Toubier said Australia is well positioned to establish itself as a global leader in clean energy.
“We have all the ingredients here in Australia for the critical energy minerals that are required to power the clean energy transition,” Toubier said. “There’s an International Energy Agency (IEA) analysis that shows Australia can have the lowest cost clean energy of all OECD countries – we want to help achieve that.”
Since its launch in 2020, Innovate to Grow has helped over 600 SMEs in providing them the knowledge and tools to explore research and development (R&D) opportunities and develop actionable R&D business and funding plans.
This year’s Innovate to Grow: Clean Energy is open to SMEs working in the following sub-sectors: Energy storage, Electrification, Energy modelling and integrated systems, Carbon management, Renewable energy, Renewable heat, Sustainable fuels, and other subsectors as determined by the program.
Applications will open until 23 June 2024.
