Brian Spak talks about his experiences with ON Prime

[Image appears of Brian Spak inside a building talking to the camera and text appears on his left: Brian Spak]

Brian Spak: I’m Brian Spak. I lead CSIRO’s work in grids and renewable energy integration.

[Text on the left of Brian changes to read: Fair Dinkum Batteries, apply knowledge and research, to see how the industry might respond]

So, at Prime I was part of a team called Fair Dinkum Batteries and we were looking at our ability to apply CSIRO’s knowledge and research into battery performance to see how the battery industry might respond to it and whether there was interest in applying our research to benefit industry.

[Image continues to show Brian talking to the camera and text on his left changes to read: a tonne of new insights and knowledge]

I had a great experience with ON Prime. I think our whole team did. It really provided us with a ton of new insight and knowledge about what the battery industry was after in terms of CSIRO, CSIRO’s research.

[Text on the left of Brian changes to read: Who was the right audience?]

A lot of the assumptions we came in to ON Prime with about who was the right audience for our research were proven to be wildly incorrect. And yet, we found another great audience for our research.

[Image continues to show Brian talking to the camera]

So, the actual experience I had with ON Prime and I think I speak for my team mates as well, it was great. It was a lot of fun.

[Text appears on the left of Brian: Better engage with industry]

The commitment wasn’t, wasn’t too much and I think we learned a lot, not just about batteries and battery research and how our research could have potential but more just about how to, on an ongoing basis better engage with industry to make sure that whatever we’re working on batteries or something else, that it finds a market.

[Image continues to show Brian standing in an office building talking to the camera]

So, if you’ve got an idea for a business or just for, for a research programme but you’re not sure how to let it grow in the world, just go for Prime. It’s really not a big commitment either to do the application or to do the full programme and you get a lot out of it. So, I think the, sort of the investment end versus what you come out on the other, the other side is really good. The juice is worth the squeeze.

[Image shows Brian smiling at the camera]

[Music plays and text appears on a blue screen: ON Powered By CSIRO, ONInnovation.com.au #ideastoimpact]