Defence Cooperative Research Centres Program

⁠⁠⁠The Defence CRC Program links industry with researchers to deliver game changing Defence capabilities. Find out how to participate in a Defence CRC.

What do you get?

Opportunities to participate in a Defence Cooperative Research Centre (Defence CRC) to develop next generation defence and national security technologies.

Who is this for?

To apply to become a participant in a Defence CRC you must be either:

• a company incorporated in Australia – industry participant.
• an Australian research organisation – research participant

Overview

Defence CRCs aim to develop technologies that:

• improve Australia’s defence and national security capability.
• address priorities under the Next Generation Technologies Fund

Defence CRCs use program funding to partner with researchers and industry – particularly small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Each Defence CRC develops project proposals based on its priorities. It then invites Defence CRC participants and other organisations to apply for each project.

Your organisation may also apply to participate in a Defence CRC when it forms or any time after.

Eligibility

What are the eligibility criteria?

To become an industry participant in a Defence CRC you must be a company incorporated in Australia.

To become a research participant, you must either be:

• a publicly funded research organisation
• an organisation incorporated in Australia that does research and development.

Participants must also:

• be prepared to enter into a participant agreement.
• accept the terms of the Defence CRC project agreement template.
• be prepared to actively participate in the Defence CRC
• be willing and able to pay the annual fee.

Applying

How do you apply?

When the Defence Minister announces the establishment of a new Defence CRC, you can find opportunities to participate on the Research collaboration vehicles page. This provides information on how to apply to become a participant of the Defence CRC. Before you apply, you should read the program guidelines and other key documents.

You may also find opportunities to participate in the existing Defence CRC for Trusted Autonomous Systems by visiting their website.

How we assess your application

To be successful, your application must rate highly against all merit criteria. The merit criteria are equally weighted.

What are the merit criteria?

You’ll need to meet these merit criteria:

• Research excellence and significance of contributions in a technology area of relevance to the Defence CRC’s goals and objectives.
• Capacity to contribute to the achievement of the Defence CRC’s goals and objectives.
• Capacity and capability to effectively contribute to a collaborative team.