UNSW launches Defence 10x accelerator program

UNSW Sydney has launched a new accelerator program aimed at strengthening Australia’s sovereign defence capabilities.

The program, Defence 10x, will provide six local startups with seed investment, R&D capabilities and access to expert networks to help them accelerate the commercial development of defence innovations.

The program is currently the only defence-focused accelerator program in Australia, and is open to all Australian startups innovating in the sector. Each selected startup will receive $350,000 in seed funding.

The program will be run in two phases, a pre-accelerator and an accelerator program. Selected teams will commence a boot camp in August.

UNSW Director of Entrepreneurship David Burt said the program is seeking founders who have technology that will strengthen Australia’s sovereign capabilities in areas such as weapons, equipment, quantum, artificial intelligence, or systems that protect critical infrastructure including energy and water assets.

“Startups and a vibrant innovation ecosystem have a key role to play in boosting Australia’s national security and resilience. While large foreign defence firms are important for Australia to access scalable manufacturing and systems integration, locally based innovation and industrial capability are critical to developing solutions that are specific to Australia’s needs,” he said.

“It is necessary to support the emergence of next-generation defence contractors like High Earth Orbit Robotics and Silentium Defence who can tackle this gap.”

Burt said Australian defence startups often face obstacles commercialising their ideas and innovations due to difficult market dynamics. “Defence-specific expertise, funding and networks are needed to accelerate our ability to develop and translate great ideas into deployable products, to the benefit of our national security,” he said.

“That’s why we’ve developed Defence 10x. UNSW is uniquely positioned to support founders with extensive expertise and specialist equipment.”

The program forms part of the federal government-led Defence Trailblazer initiative, which aims to increase collaboration between Defence, academia and industry.

Under the initiative, UNSW and the University of Adelaide will collaborate on a range of research commercialisation initiatives, working alongside industry in both Defence and civilian market sectors to translate university research projects to innovation and manufacturing.

The government is contributing $50 million in funding to the initiative, which has been matched by $50 million from the University of Adelaide and UNSW and $10 million from CSIRO. Over 50 industry partners have also collectively committed more than $140 million in capital and in-kind contributions to the initiative.

Image credit: iStock.com/putilich