FAQs

The Australian Government’s Trailblazer Universities Program is an initiative designed to build advanced sovereign manufacturing capability aligned with Australia’s national manufacturing priorities. It facilitates the building of strong collaboration and partnerships between industry, higher education providers, government and the CSIRO to work on the problems that matter to the nation.

Through the Trailblazer Universities Program, the Australian Government has provided $50 million each to six trailblazing universities, including Deakin, to become leaders in research commercialisation, with dedicated investment in priority areas. Separately, the government has provided an additional $45 million to CSIRO to provide additional support to Trailblazer Universities and industry through access to cutting-edge equipment and infrastructure.

Deakin University is the administrator of the REACH Trailblazer Program, as defined in the Conditions of Grant Deakin signed with the Australian Government as a recipient of a Trailblazer Universities Program grant.

We are looking for businesses of all sizes to join our REACH clean and green advanced manufacturing ecosystem that are focused on transforming manufacturing or advancing opportunities in our clean energy and recycling industries.

Trailblazer co-funding is available for eligible selected projects to help businesses recover some of the out-of-pocket expenses of accelerating research-led innovation projects.

To be eligible for trailblazer co-funding through REACH your business’s total project value needs to be between $2 million and $50 million, including a research and innovation component between 20-30% of your total project value. The trailblazer co-contribution is paid in arrears on achievement of project milestones and will match your cash investment to 30% of your out-of-pocket expenses.

A project plan will be developed collaboratively to track milestones throughout the project’s lifecycle. The project duration can be variable; however, all projects should be completed before 30 June 2027.

Deakin’s REACH has business friendly intellectual property provisions built into its partnership model that establishes clear boundaries for sharing and owning intellectual property to ensure that all new technologies are commercialised by your business.

The REACH team can work with you during the assessment process to determine what equipment and expertise you require, linking you with researchers located within Deakin’s institutes, faculties and centres, as well as providing access to state-of-the-art equipment and facilities at our advanced manufacturing innovation hub located within the ManuFutures precinct, at our partner university Federation University and the CSIRO.

The proposals must be developed and led by an industry partner who has an ABN or ACN, based in Australia. One of the core objectives of the Trailblazer Program is to stimulate regional economic activity within Australia.