🚀 Great news for biomanufacturing in Australia!

Yesterday, the Australian government announced the successful applicants for the Australia’s Economic Accelerator (AEA) Ignite Program—a key initiative within the $1.6 billion AEA program designed to bridge the gap between academic research and commercial success.

Australia excels at producing world-class scientific research, but we’ve historically struggled to translate those discoveries into commercial outcomes. The AEA aims to change that, providing crucial support for academic researchers working in the seven priority areas of the National Reconstruction Fund.

The newly announced Ignite Program offers up to $500K for proof-of-concept projects at TRL 3–5—an essential step in moving cutting-edge research closer to real-world impact.

💡 Big congratulations to the 155 successful teams, who collectively received over $59M!

What’s particularly exciting? ~10% of the funding—over $5M—was awarded to biomanufacturing-related projects across areas like:

✅ Advanced manufacturing

✅ Digital agriculture

✅ Sustainable fuels

✅ Critical & strategic minerals processing

It’s fantastic to see federal support for biomanufacturing like this, and I can’t wait to see these projects progress toward commercialization.

To all the successful teams—well done! Looking forward to following your journeys. 👏