Australian universities secure public funding

Two Australian university-managed incubators are among those to have secured a share of A$2m ($1.4m) in government funding to strengthen the country’s entrepreneurial output in key segments.
University of Adelaide’s ThincLab and University of New England’s Smart Region Incubator (SRI) AgTech have both been chosen for the government’s $16.5m Incubator Support initiative, which aims to help emerging Australia-based businesses realise their potential and build up an international profile.
Adelaide’s ThincLab reportedly launched in 2017, when it was expected to initially host 50 businesses from sectors including healthcare, agriculture and automotive engineering. It has been awarded $357,000 of Incubator Support funding.
The initiative now has additional branches in Singapore and in Châlons, France, and will use the government grant to support its clients in targeting Asian and European markets.
University of New England’s SRI AgTech program has been awarded $229,000 to sustain its incubator for agricultural technologies originating from rural Australian regions – more commonly known by the shorthand “regional Australia.”
The initiative provides access to mentoring and opportunities to work alongside its corporate and community partners, as well as passage to using the university’s deep-data networking equipment and demonstration “smart” farm.
Australia’s Incubator Support scheme is offered by the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science to help develop entrepreneurial ecosystems in industries such as agtech, computer hardware development and advanced manufacturing.
In addition to the two university-run incubators, cash has also been committed to a hardware-orientated incubator called Arc run by Vektor Innovations to fund five cohorts over two years.
AgriStart’s Connect: Regional Innovation Hubs initiative is another regional Australia-focused agtech program to receive government funding.
Connect focuses on building agtech capacity in three rural areas of Western Australia by supplying participants with training and offering connections to investors.
Incubator Support will also pump money into Hunter Business Centre’s Start House, which aims to foster diversity in innovation in northern New South Wales to help reduce the chances of failure for up to 50 high-growth potential businesses.
The list was completed by Clinic Media, a startup incubator for businesses in the organic food space, including projects related to production, processing, distribution and consumer demand.