Australia's national science agency, CSIRO, is holding a free eight-week program to support small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) developing solutions in digital technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) as part of its Innovate to Grow program.
The Innovate to Grow series of educational courses has had over 650 early-stage companies participate since launching in 2020, under a range of topics. In 2022, Innovate to Grow focused on advanced manufacturing skills, 2023 featured agrifood, and the 2024 round built on food innovation and technology.
It’s been a strong year for the program so far, with CSIRO holding Innovate to Grow: Queensland, delivered as part of the Queensland Government funded Regional University Industry Collaboration (RUIC) program, and Innovate to Grow: Western Australia, with support from the Western Australian Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD).
Expressions of interest are now open for the digital technology round, which gives selected businesses free access to R&D experts, industry mentors and self-paced learning modules to help them turn an early-stage idea into an actionable research plan and funding roadmap.
As Australian manufacturers in the food and beverage sector are increasingly working to onshore manufacturing and investing in automation, this is the perfect time for new technology development.
CSIRO Innovate to Grow program manager, Michelle Armistead, said Australian SMEs are at the frontier of the country’s digital and AI opportunity.
“Whether you’re training large-language models, deploying robotics on a factory floor or hardening cyber-defences, the pace of innovation is relentless,” said Armistead.
“Our role is to connect founders with the science, data and people they need to turn good ideas into investable R&D projects.”
Innovate to Grow: Digital Technologies and Artificial Intelligence is open to SMEs working in the following subsectors:
- Artificial intelligence
- Digital manufacturing
- Quantum computing
- Cybersecurity
- Robotics and autonomous systems
Applications for CSIRO's Innovate to Grow: Digital Technologies and Artificial Intelligence program close on 1 June, and the program starts 26 June 2025. For more information and to apply, head to csiro.au.
