Why R&D?
Cooperative research & development projects
RACE for 2030 is the cooperative research centre for the energy and carbon transformation. We have up to $350M of resources to invest in innovation in this space. By working with RACE you can make your product development and innovation funds go further, as we can leverage your investment 2-3+ times.
We do that through collaborative partner organisations, matching industry funding along with funding and in-kind contributions from research partners.
We can help you to access the best researchers across multi-disciplinary fields from 9 major institutions across Australia to deliver your research needs.
Please download our leverage calculator to explore how your innovation funds can be leveraged doing cooperative research. Your R&D funds will have funds from other industry partners, our research partners and RACE added to them.
Take a look at our current research partners.
Combined funding allows RACE to invest up to $350m of total resources through to 2030
AusIndustry Commonwealth Grant
$68.5m
Cash
$0
In-kind
Research Institution Partners to Date
$14m
Cash
$50m
In-kind
Industry Partners to Date
$30m
Cash
$125m
In-kind
R&D Project Pathways
There are three ways you can participate in RACE’s 5 programs of R&D to accelerate your energy transition:
- Develop your own R&D project
- Participate in a RACE Project as a partner or a pilot
- Be part of multiple R&D Projects
Project Pathways
1
Propose a project or use case pilot
2
Suggest organisations to collaborate with
3
Develop the research with our team
4
Submit your project full application
Benefits
Access research and development funds & capacity
Leverage your funds 3 times
Participate in applied real world projects
Create policy relevant outcomes to drive market transformation
Make connections. Increase your exposure to innovators
You develop your R&D project starting with an expression of interest, and then move through development, application and contracting. Please keep in mind:
- this can take 4-16 weeks depending on size of project
- projects approved quickly usually have a strong internal in-house team with clear research objectives. RACE and identified researchers can assist in developing these.
- The other key components are industry partners and an innovation budget identified.
R&D investment
Innovation with RACE starts with a meeting to discuss your objectives, possible projects and partners.
From there your partnership and your project development process occur in parallel as the image below shows.
The partnership process usually occurs with your commercial and legal team, whilst project development occurs with your operational, strategic, and innovation team.
Use our leverage calculator to see how an annual investment of $40,000 cash can turn into a $1 million cash + in-kind R&D project with one other industry partner. With three industry partners it can be a $2 million project.
Investment Process
Read More
Our Partners
Frequently Asked Questions
- Your R&D investment has funds and in-kind contributions added to it by RACE, research partners and other industry partners involved in your project.
- One quick example is if you invest $40,000 pa cash for a three year project and there is one other industry partner in the project, this could be a $1m research project (cash + in-kind) over 3 years.
- If you were to invest $40,000 pa for three years with three other industry partners this could become a $2m project.
- The more you invest, like most things, the more you leverage and the more return on your R&D you are able to realise for funding projects.
- Each project budget cash contributions will typically be a ratio of 20%:40%:40% research: industry: RACE. The research and industry components of this can comprise multiple organisations as relevant to accommodate the collaborative project partners.
- The project budget in-kind contributions aim to be double the project cash expenses.
In-kind contributions are non-cash contributions that partners provide to RACE for 2030 for use in the evaluation of projects and or use in projects. It could be staff, equipment, data, office space or Intellectual Property (IP).
In-kind contributions from research and industry partners makes up a large portion of our total funding. To ensure there is a proportional use of in-kind contributions, the aim is that all projects have in-kind contributions that are double the cash project expenses.
When an organisation joins RACE, it estimates the in-kind contributions it will contribute during the partnership period. This will be confirmed prior to projects commencing (if the in-kind is used in the project) and at the end of the year for audit purposes.
Interested in our PhD program? Visit our PhD page.
Each project has a project contract where Intellectual Property (IP) issues and specific project issues are set out and agreed together with project scope and funding for each project. At the start of the project, the team must submit an IP Utilisation plan where it clearly defines (at high level), what the team will do with the new IP. We provide a template for this. Applying for a patent is one of the steps to utilising the IP. If the IP Utilisation plan is not implemented within 3 years then the IP defaults to RACE.
RACE does not fund major capital expenditure. It can fund match $25k of industry CAPEX funding to a maximum of $50k CAPEX per project budget. RACE can fund match for reasonable operational expenditure.
The Federal Government’s Research and Development Tax Incentive program supports businesses undertaking research and development projects. Your contributions to RACE research could be eligible for an R&D Tax credit. Check if you are eligible here.
RACE has a full complement of nine Australian research organisations.
RACE funds research by industry partners: governments, associations and commercial organisations. The size of your contribution depends on your research interests and the contribution that is right for the strengths of an organisation. We are interested in talking with industry partners you are working with who might be a beneficial partner to your project or who has research interests aligned with RACE.
International organisations can join RACE as long as they meet the same eligibility criteria as our Australian industry and research partners. They do not need to have an Australian based office. Any research and demonstration projects must demonstrate benefit to Australia, support the Australian government initiatives and be in alignment with RACE’s aims. All associated IP ownership must remain in Australia.
