Embedding industry experience within university programs is critical to translating research into real-world outcomes. It ensures graduates can deliver against commercial timelines, performance targets and market needs.

We explore 3 examples from across the country, covering the basics to fully integrated industry collaboration.

AI takes on IVF

In 2016, Adelaide-based Presagen developed ‘Life Whisperer’, an IVF tool. Blending artificial intelligence with digital imagery, it can assess whether a Day 5 embryo is viable and its chances of leading to a pregnancy.

Presagen was cofounded by Dr Michelle Perugini and Dr Jonathan Hall, both University of Adelaide graduates.

All the research took place within the company, which made attracting investment easier, says Perugini.

Presagen took on early career researchers, developing their entrepreneurial skills on the job. It must have worked, as at least 3 of the researchers went on to start their own companies.

“We gave them experience outside of the university, in industry, as budding entrepreneurs, understanding how business works, and they’ve gone on to create their own ventures.” That was 2016 to 2018, she says.

Closer university–industry collaborations are now much more common. Graphene Manufacturing Group (GMG) is just one example.

Methane plasma brings graphene to batteries

Sourcing graphene from methane plasma sounds like science fiction, but Brisbane company GMG does just that for cathodes in its fast-charging graphene-aluminium ion batteries.

The company is now scaling up and finding applications in partnership with the University of Queensland (UQ) Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) and UniQuest.  

Engagement with UQ postgraduate researchers has been critical, says Craig Nicol, GMG’s CEO.

But the university research ethos and business sometimes clash. “You need people who’ve got the smarts, but you’ve got to teach them how the real-world works. So, you have this dance,” he says.

“For the university, the science is the answer, but for the business, the product is the answer, and the science is a way to get there.” The keys are in communication and how to get stuff done, says Nicol.

Biotech is all the rage

A third and increasingly common approach is being taken by Dr Kevin Pfleger, Director of Biomedical and Health Innovation at The University of Western Australia (UWA).

Pfleger is the scientific cofounder of Rage Biotech, a biotechnology company focused on commercialising health and medical research.

The company spun out of UWA, Monash University, Murdoch University, the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute and the Perron Institute.

Pfleger also chairs UWA’s Biodesign Australia, which runs iPrep, aimed at connecting PhD researchers to industry. It includes training programs, boot camps, 3-month industry immersion programmes, the whole package.

“We find that actually students and early career researchers really embrace the brave new world of actually getting a product to market and actually helping people genuinely,” says Pfleger.

Searching for problem solvers

“We equip students with basic tools”, says Dr Colin Davies, Head of Physical Sciences at UQ and Manager of Uniquest’s Physical Sciences Commercialisation Team.

The real test often comes in the guise of problem-solving labs run by big corporations partnering with universities, says Davies. They want to see students in action and recruit the best.

That’s when the real industry learning begins.