Explore the potential of your research with ON Prime

Program overview

ON Prime is a free, nine-week program that helps research teams turn great ideas into real-world impact. Open to all disciplines and project stages, Prime guides teams of two to five through customer discovery, communication skills and evidence-building.

With support from expert facilitators, you’ll identify who benefits most from your research and strengthen your ability to engage them. Sessions are delivered online every two weeks, with time in between to explore your ecosystem and test what you learn.

Eligibility

To participate in ON Prime, you must apply with a team of two to five people.

One person needs to be a researcher at an Australian university or a Publicly Funded Research Organisation (PFRO)**. The rest of your team may include anyone else you think will add value to your team, for example:

• your colleagues
• people from other research organisations
• community representatives
• industry partners
• university students
• someone from your organisation involved in research services, tech transfer, communications.

If you are a small team, think about who else you could involve in ON Prime to strengthen your group.

All team members should be based in Australia for the duration of the program.

Key dates

ON Prime runs twice a year: April–June and August–October.

The program blends in-person and online learning across six facilitated days over nine weeks. You’ll start with a two-day immersion in week one, followed by workshops every two weeks. Between sessions, you’ll have access to team coaching with your facilitator and one-on-one guidance from an innovation mentor to help you apply what you learn.

The program culminates in a week-nine showcase, where you’ll share your progress and connect with the broader community. Most showcases are held in person, with a virtual option available. Travel for required in-person sessions is supported.

Teams should allow around one day a week to fully engage. To graduate, you’ll need to meet attendance requirements and deliver your showcase presentation.

How to apply

Applying for ON Prime is straightforward.

When applications open, simply submit your team’s online application through our portal. After the round closes, your lead organisation will be asked to confirm its support. Your application will then be reviewed by multiple experts from the ON Program network. The highest-rated teams will be invited to join the program.

Pro tip: Assemble a strong team and review the evaluation criteria before applying. Applications are assessed on how clearly you articulate:

• the problem you aim to solve 
• your solution and value proposition 
• who your potential end-users or customers are 

This clarity helps the ON team understand the potential of your idea and sets your team up for success.

Successful applicants will be notified around four weeks after the closing date. If you’re not selected this round, you’ll receive detailed feedback to help strengthen your idea for future opportunities.

Benefits

Every team's pathway is different, so what your team gets out of ON Prime will depend on what you are seeking to achieve.

Outcomes from teams in recent years include:

• attracting new funding sources
• establishing new partnerships
• increasing industry engagement
• improving clarity around the impact and focus of their research
• increasing confidence communicating their research
• forming team bonds in a new project group
• licensing IP or creating a new start-up venture.

Participating teams can receive up to $5000 to reward engagement and learning velocity in the program.

Teams have to meet minimum attendance requirements as well as showcase presentation to graduate from the program.

What participants are saying about ON Prime

Explore insights and testimonials from those who've experienced the program first-hand:

• "It is great program, especially for scientists who mostly work in the lab and teaches new skills like engage with customers, mapping ecosystems etc."
• "It is great program, especially for scientists who mostly work in the lab and teaches new skills like engage with customers, mapping ecosystems etc."
• "This program is very useful for researchers to close the gaps and realise the differences between research and commercialisation, helping with road maps to align the technology development with the real market."
• "The insight, structure, expertise and methods of communication and teaching were incredibly insightful. We are so grateful for the knowledge imparted and lessons learnt."
• "Engaging directly with 100 industry stakeholders through ON Program was a game-changer. It helped us validate problems, conduct customer discovery and identify pivots. The enabled us to start focus on creating impactful solutions over nice-to-have ideas."
• "I attended ON Prime in 2019 and received the Facilitator Award. That Program opened up the translational research opportunities of my research. After that, one of my patents got licensed and I co-founded two deep-tech start ups in Clean Energy and Sensing."

Hear more: 📽️ ON Program testimonials - Vimeo showcase

What universities and PFROs are saying about ON Prime

Senior leaders from universities, research institutions and industry partners explain why they encourage their teams to take part in ON Prime.

Their insights reflect not only institutional commitment, but also the competitive advantage and cultural shift that participation brings - helping teams to engage with industry, sharpen impact thinking and move from discovery to real-world application.

• "I fully support their application to ON Prime and am confident this opportunity will provide them with valuable skills, networks, and insights to successfully advance the technology to the next stage of development." – Professor and Head of Department at Monash University
• "Flinders University recognizes the importance of the ON Prime Program in fostering innovation and commercialisation within the research sector." – Dean of Research and Director at Flinders University
• "The project is at a critical stage whereby conducting over 100 stakeholder interviews will be highly beneficial. This will help in better assessing the market potential, validating key hypotheses, and advancing its commercialisation goals."– Professor and Dean at Australian Catholic University

Have a question?

Watch a recording of our ON Prime information session. [NB. the session took place on 30 June 2025]

If you have any further questions, please reach out to our team at ON@csiro.au.

Program overview

ON Prime is a free, nine-week program that helps research teams turn great ideas into real-world impact. Open to all disciplines and project stages, Prime guides teams of two to five through customer discovery, communication skills and evidence-building.

With support from expert facilitators, you’ll identify who benefits most from your research and strengthen your ability to engage them. Sessions are delivered online every two weeks, with time in between to explore your ecosystem and test what you learn.

Eligibility

To participate in ON Prime, you must apply with a team of two to five people.

One person needs to be a researcher at an Australian university or a Publicly Funded Research Organisation (PFRO)**. The rest of your team may include anyone else you think will add value to your team, for example:

• your colleagues
• people from other research organisations
• community representatives
• industry partners
• university students
• someone from your organisation involved in research services, tech transfer, communications.

If you are a small team, think about who else you could involve in ON Prime to strengthen your group.

All team members should be based in Australia for the duration of the program.

Key dates

ON Prime runs twice a year: April–June and August–October.

The program blends in-person and online learning across six facilitated days over nine weeks. You’ll start with a two-day immersion in week one, followed by workshops every two weeks. Between sessions, you’ll have access to team coaching with your facilitator and one-on-one guidance from an innovation mentor to help you apply what you learn.

The program culminates in a week-nine showcase, where you’ll share your progress and connect with the broader community. Most showcases are held in person, with a virtual option available. Travel for required in-person sessions is supported.

Teams should allow around one day a week to fully engage. To graduate, you’ll need to meet attendance requirements and deliver your showcase presentation.

Linear overview of the session schedule

It runs from left to right. Reading from the left the boxes read Week 1 Immersion, Week 3 Session 2, Week 5 Session 3, Week 7 Session 4, Week 9 Showcase. Between each boxes is marked Mentor.

Show image description

How to apply

Applying for ON Prime is straightforward.

When applications open, simply submit your team’s online application through our portal. After the round closes, your lead organisation will be asked to confirm its support. Your application will then be reviewed by multiple experts from the ON Program network. The highest-rated teams will be invited to join the program.

Pro tip: Assemble a strong team and review the evaluation criteria before applying. Applications are assessed on how clearly you articulate:

• the problem you aim to solve 
• your solution and value proposition 
• who your potential end-users or customers are 

This clarity helps the ON team understand the potential of your idea and sets your team up for success.

Successful applicants will be notified around four weeks after the closing date. If you’re not selected this round, you’ll receive detailed feedback to help strengthen your idea for future opportunities.

Benefits

Every team's pathway is different, so what your team gets out of ON Prime will depend on what you are seeking to achieve.

Outcomes from teams in recent years include:

• attracting new funding sources
• establishing new partnerships
• increasing industry engagement
• improving clarity around the impact and focus of their research
• increasing confidence communicating their research
• forming team bonds in a new project group
• licensing IP or creating a new start-up venture.

Participating teams can receive up to $5000 to reward engagement and learning velocity in the program.

Teams have to meet minimum attendance requirements as well as showcase presentation to graduate from the program.

What participants are saying about ON Prime

Explore insights and testimonials from those who've experienced the program first-hand:

• "It is great program, especially for scientists who mostly work in the lab and teaches new skills like engage with customers, mapping ecosystems etc."
• "It is great program, especially for scientists who mostly work in the lab and teaches new skills like engage with customers, mapping ecosystems etc."
• "This program is very useful for researchers to close the gaps and realise the differences between research and commercialisation, helping with road maps to align the technology development with the real market."
• "The insight, structure, expertise and methods of communication and teaching were incredibly insightful. We are so grateful for the knowledge imparted and lessons learnt."
• "Engaging directly with 100 industry stakeholders through ON Program was a game-changer. It helped us validate problems, conduct customer discovery and identify pivots. The enabled us to start focus on creating impactful solutions over nice-to-have ideas."
• "I attended ON Prime in 2019 and received the Facilitator Award. That Program opened up the translational research opportunities of my research. After that, one of my patents got licensed and I co-founded two deep-tech start ups in Clean Energy and Sensing."

Hear more: 📽️ ON Program testimonials - Vimeo showcase

What universities and PFROs are saying about ON Prime

Senior leaders from universities, research institutions and industry partners explain why they encourage their teams to take part in ON Prime.

Their insights reflect not only institutional commitment, but also the competitive advantage and cultural shift that participation brings - helping teams to engage with industry, sharpen impact thinking and move from discovery to real-world application.

• "I fully support their application to ON Prime and am confident this opportunity will provide them with valuable skills, networks, and insights to successfully advance the technology to the next stage of development." – Professor and Head of Department at Monash University
• "Flinders University recognizes the importance of the ON Prime Program in fostering innovation and commercialisation within the research sector." – Dean of Research and Director at Flinders University
• "The project is at a critical stage whereby conducting over 100 stakeholder interviews will be highly beneficial. This will help in better assessing the market potential, validating key hypotheses, and advancing its commercialisation goals."– Professor and Dean at Australian Catholic University

Have a question?

Watch a recording of our ON Prime information session. [NB. the session took place on 30 June 2025]

If you have any further questions, please reach out to our team at ON@csiro.au.