Priming Grants worth $280,000 will help Australian
researchers and SMEs to initiate international partnerships.
Provided under the The Global Connections Fund, 23 researchers and 17 SMEs will each receive $7,000 to explore a diverse range of projects. They include developing new ways of detecting throat cancers to helping develop overseas markets for new turf varieties and new solar energy and energy solutions.
European partnerships were targeted by the majority (42.5%) of projects, and there the UK was with six proposed partnerships still the preferred destination. Partners in the US was (35%f) and Asia (22.5%).
The Priming Grants are part of a suit of measures under the National Science and Innovation Agenda that aim to provide industry and researchers with more responsive avenues of funding for collaborative projects.
(The new continuous funding process of the Linkage grants scheme is another example - see also Linked up).
However, Priming Grants are relatively small support for the partners to meet and explore collaborative ideas.
For those projects that go on developing an ongoing partnership, the Fund is providing larger Bridging Grants of up to $50,000.
The scheme is administered by the Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE), with the second round currently open for applications.