Reducing food waste, community outreach via coding, a unique Bee radar and Australia’s next big superfood trend are just some of the new ideas that Australia’s researchers have submitted as part of their successful applications into the latest round of the CSIRO ON Prime program.
ON Prime is part of the ON accelerator, powered by CSIRO and designed to create connections between research, science and business.
Today I’m pleased to announce the list of successful research teams from all over the country who will be the latest to participate in this innovative accelerator experience.
More than 290 researchers in 99 teams from across Australia registered for ON Prime3 this July. Of these, 72 ON Prime teams will be armed with the skills to not only validate their science and technology ideas in the lab, but also in the marketplace.
For the very first time, ON Prime will also be executed in Northern Australia, developing ideas that will address some of the challenges in that region, including emerging innovations to help preserve the Great Barrier Reef, the promotion of new ways to manage common diseases, and the development of natural, local horticulture resources for economic and health outcomes.
Ideas that address key challenges in Defence and Cyber will also be advanced through this round of ON Prime.
Some of the big ideas in ON Prime 3 include:
- Discreet, self-powering, wearable medical technology
- Artificial Intelligence for beef farming efficiencies
- Modern teen mental health and resilience program designed for school curriculums
- Bee-dar: Bee tracking conservation device
- Mould reduction technology for food safety and waste reduction
- Diabetes management tool
ON provides an opportunity for Australian researchers to develop innovative products and services with genuine commercial or social good potential. ON embraces a get-out-of-the-building approach to learning, by encouraging hands-on, practical learning and business model development.
ON teams with the most innovative outcomes developed through ON Prime may be eligible to advance into the full time ON Accelerate program in 2018. Here they can further develop their proof of concepts and prototypes into real world outcomes or even commercial entities.
There are dozens of incubators in Australia – most of them digital – but ON is unique.
Dr Justine Lacey, CSIRO, said: “Participating in ON Prime has taken us a really long way in a short amount of time. We’ve worked together for eight weeks and in that time our product has changed, and we’ve had business interest coming in already.
“We couldn’t have anticipated that coming in to the ON Prime program.”
The success and popularity of ON demonstrates that Australian sci-tech research still has untapped potential, and we are well placed to develop and realise leading social and economic outcomes not just for our country, but for the world.
I’m delighted that these teams announced today will join over 100 graduates of ON Prime who have already been through this leading program.
These teams will commence their eight-week experience in one of eight ON Prime ‘hubs’ across the country from September, supported by funds provided through the National Innovation and Science Agenda.
A full list of the teams and their supporting institutes can be found at: http://oninnovation.com.au/