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Applications are now open!

Ready to take your research-powered venture to market? ON Accelerate applications are now open for our 2025 (Cohort 10) intake. This application round will close 11:59 pm (AEST) Sunday, 31 August 2025.

Start your application now

Register for an Applicant Briefing Session. We strongly encourage you to attend a session to understand how the program will be delivered and more information about submitting an application:

If you have questions about ON Accelerate, please contact the team via email: on@csiro.au

To be notified of all future rounds and other ON Program opportunities, please subscribe to our mailing list

ON Accelerate is a three-month free commercialisation acceleration program for entrepreneurial researchers who are ready to translate their great idea into a research-driven company.

Tailored to the translation of publicly funded research, this program focuses on business models, market validation, storytelling and capital raising. This includes access to venture capital partners and networks to help secure capital for business development.

All IP remains the property of the team or their sponsoring institute. Participants are required to sign non-disclosure agreements for IP protection.

What teams will get out of ON Accelerate

Through personalised coaching and group work, ON Accelerate will:

  1. Equip, empower and energise teams to tackle the research commercialisation journey.
  2. Support the whole team to develop entrepreneurial skills including networking, pitching and investor engagement.
  3. Assist teams with identifying their customer and the specific problem that they are solving.
  4. Build and validate investment ready, innovative, sustainable and scalable business models.
  5. Introduce teams to venture funding opportunities, helping them develop a network of experts, investors and supporters and preparing them to succeed.

Throughout the program, you will be connected to a network of experts and coaches who will support (and challenge) you. The domain coaches you may work with are specialists in the following areas:

  • performance coaching
  • IP
  • finance and contract management
  • investor relations
  • media management
  • team building.

Teams will also be able to access ongoing coaching post program for a duration of up to 6-months. Keen to know more? Discover how these 10 tips can supercharge your research team’s journey in CSIRO’s ON Accelerate program.

Watch the video below to hear directly from our alumni

Your video or audio is here! ID: {5959227B-B330-42D7-A5ED-23267551AEF7}

Incentive funding for teams

In addition to funding the total cost of participation (valued at over $150,000*), the ON Accelerate program offers non-dilutive funding to fast-track their market traction and venture creation during and post-program.

This figure includes:

  • $20,000 per team, provided to Tech Transfer Officers (TTOs) at the conclusion of Immersion
  • Up to $400,000 of funding to be distributed to high-performing teams within the cohort (max. funding of $80,000 per team)
  • Bespoke coaching with domain experts throughout the program, plus 6 months' additional coaching post-program funded for teams who fully meet the participation requirements.

*Value estimated based on calculations made over the course of 2024-2025 and takes into account the projected program budget for 2025-2026.

Who can participate in ON Accelerate and time commitment required for the program

To be eligible for ON Accelerate, your team must meet all the following criteria:

  • Team size: 3–6 members.
  • Team diversity: Include people with varied expertise, such as:
    • Colleagues from your organisation
    • Researchers from other Australian universities or publicly funded research organisations (PFRO)
    • Industry partners
    • Community representatives
    • University students or staff from research services, TTOs, or communications teams.
  • Location: All team members must be based in Australia for the program duration.
  • Time commitment:
    • At least three core members must attend all in-person workshops and coaching sessions.
    • Your team must commit the equivalent of one full-time person (shared across the team) to work on the venture outside of sessions.
  • Research involvement: Your team must include
    • A researcher at an Australian university or PFRO, OR
    • A PhD student or recent graduate (within the last 24 months) from an Australian university or PFRO.
  • Startups/SMEs: Teams from Australian startups or SMEs that have licensed or acquired IP from an Australian university or PFRO are eligible - but must include a member from the originating university or PFRO.
  • For venture capital readiness: Your team must be a registered company with authority to transact using the IP.

What’s a PFRO?
A Publicly Funded Research Organisation includes Australian higher education providers listed in the Higher Education Support Act 2003 and government departments or agencies that undertake publicly funded research. 

How ON Accelerate is delivered

ON Accelerate provides individualised support for each team to meet you where you are and help you accelerate to market. Our end goal is that each team will leave the program with a solid business model, a well-defined path to commercialisation and a clear trajectory for success.

Timeline graphic showing the ON Accelerate program delivery

Bootcamp

Up to 20 teams are selected from the online application process to participate in a two-day selection bootcamp, delivered face-to-face. Bootcamp will be an opportunity for teams to demonstrate their product-market fit, customer interest and team strength.

As part of the bootcamp selection process, we'll bring together a network of investors from the Australian deep tech venture capital community.

The top teams from bootcamp will be invited to participate in a week-long immersion program.

Some quotes from past participants regarding 'The most valuable part of Bootcamp':

  • "The business knowledge and the connections we have made at Bootcamp are most valuable. We have follow-up conversations lined up after this week which is very exciting."
  • "Expert and investor conversations were definitely the most impactful, alongside the opportunity to experience peer-learning with other ON Accelerate Bootcamp teams."
  • "We were constantly being challenged in our thinking, uncovering assumptions ... forcing us to challenge our mindsets and expand our thinking. Stress testing the business model, poking holes in our pitches and getting some brutal and invaluable feedback throughout."

Immersion 

Immersion week will support teams to increase their knowledge of the entrepreneurial journey, develop skills, progress their initiative, and network with peers, mentors and startup experts. This will be delivered as a face-to-face session.

At the end of the immersion, the top teams will be invited to participate in the full three-month program.

Some quotes from past participants regarding 'The most valuable part of Immersion':

  • "CSIRO's ON Accelerate Immersion gave us a safe space to test out big ideas and get comfortable pitching to a live audience."
  • "We found the three days of our ON Accelerate Immersion activities to be highly useful in unifying our team behind an align mission and better refined program success metrics!"
  • "We learned heaps at ON Accelerate Immersion! So helpful for successfully spinning out our company. Extremely valuable, and would definitely recommend for others in the same position to do. Experts involved in the Program were perfect, friendly and helpful."
  • "Whilst Bootcamp was a good intro into the world of tech commercialisation, Immersion encouraged/forced us to implement what we have learnt through the process so far. We have identified key gaps in the past 3-days which we will tackle to help get us to our next value proposition inflection point."

See also, highlights reel from a recent Immersion week below

Your video or audio is here! ID: {49ED746C-0F6A-45DF-80A2-781AB2957F63}

Program: overall

Over three-months of the program, teams will meet regularly with facilitators and other teams in the cohort to share progress, key learnings and roadblocks, and hear from successful deep tech founders.

Teams will also have regular one-on-one sessions with domain coaches, investors, mentors and the ON Accelerate facilitators, who will both challenge your thinking and support your development. These sessions ensure the guidance and support is tailored to your team’s focus areas and challenges, to accelerate your venture faster.

We will work with teams that are accepted into the program to help identify additional capability that may be needed in your team, and work with you to bring in the additional skills needed.

The program culminates with an opportunity to showcase your team’s work to the ecosystem. 

Hear more from our Program Director and a coach/industry expert

Your video or audio is here! ID: {6603ADE8-D2C7-4595-B9C4-93510EBC4298}

How to apply

Applying to participate in ON Accelerate is a multi-step process:

  1. Submit an online application
    Each team is required to register via the online application portal then submit an application. Please note that this is an in-depth application, so feel free to download the pdf form to help prepare for the questions (see our application guide for more detail).
  2. Application review and evaluation
    At the closure of the application period, all applications will be reviewed by representatives of their lead organisation. This is to ensure that each team has engaged their sponsoring institute and has full support to participate in the program. Each application is evaluated by multiple experts from our extended network. The highest rated applications will be invited to participate in the two-day selection bootcamp.
  3. Participate in selection bootcamp and immersion week
    The top teams participate in a two-day selection bootcamp, before progressing to immersion week. After immersion week, the final cohort are selected for ON Accelerate.

The clarity of your application will be assessed based on the following key points:

  • the solution and value proposition for their product or service
  • evidence of the problem that their solution addresses
  • the identified target market and customer segments of their product or service
  • strength and coverage of relevant skillsets within the team
  • demonstration of commercially relevant traction or uptake of their technology
  • alignment between the team goal and objectives of ON Accelerate
  • evidence that a startup venture is the most appropriate pathway to impact. 

Want to know more?

Watch a recording of our ON Accelerate information session. [NB. the session took place 10 July 2024.]

Interested in our alumni teams?

A collage featuring diverse individuals in professional business attire, showcasing various poses and expressions.

Visit our ON Program Alumni website to find out more.

Applications are now open!

Ready to take your research-powered venture to market? ON Accelerate applications are now open for our 2025 (Cohort 10) intake. This application round will close 11:59 pm (AEST) Sunday, 31 August 2025.

Start your application now

Register for an Applicant Briefing Session. We strongly encourage you to attend a session to understand how the program will be delivered and more information about submitting an application:

If you have questions about ON Accelerate, please contact the team via email: on@csiro.au

To be notified of all future rounds and other ON Program opportunities, please subscribe to our mailing list

ON Accelerate is a three-month free commercialisation acceleration program for entrepreneurial researchers who are ready to translate their great idea into a research-driven company.

Tailored to the translation of publicly funded research, this program focuses on business models, market validation, storytelling and capital raising. This includes access to venture capital partners and networks to help secure capital for business development.

All IP remains the property of the team or their sponsoring institute. Participants are required to sign non-disclosure agreements for IP protection.

What teams will get out of ON Accelerate

Through personalised coaching and group work, ON Accelerate will:

  1. Equip, empower and energise teams to tackle the research commercialisation journey.
  2. Support the whole team to develop entrepreneurial skills including networking, pitching and investor engagement.
  3. Assist teams with identifying their customer and the specific problem that they are solving.
  4. Build and validate investment ready, innovative, sustainable and scalable business models.
  5. Introduce teams to venture funding opportunities, helping them develop a network of experts, investors and supporters and preparing them to succeed.

Throughout the program, you will be connected to a network of experts and coaches who will support (and challenge) you. The domain coaches you may work with are specialists in the following areas:

  • performance coaching
  • IP
  • finance and contract management
  • investor relations
  • media management
  • team building.

Teams will also be able to access ongoing coaching post program for a duration of up to 6-months. Keen to know more? Discover how these 10 tips can supercharge your research team’s journey in CSIRO’s ON Accelerate program.

Watch the video below to hear directly from our alumni

[Music plays and an image appears of an index finger drawing an O on a blue screen, and then the image morphs into text: ON Accelerate]

[Images move through to show a CSIRO logo on a screen, a room with the Accelerate team videos playing, and Dr Michelle Hill talking to the camera, and text appears: Dr Michelle Hill, CSIRO ON alumna, Founder of ProSeek Bio]

Dr Michelle Hill: There's so many aspects of the program that's really, really valuable.

[Images move through to show views of colleagues interacting throughout the event, Michelle talking to the camera, and then the Elemental Therapeutics team posing a for a photo]

The coaches, their lived in experience in our field was really super helpful and we've learned a lot of skills such as financial planning, marketing strategies and building up a business plan.

[Images move through to show a lamp beside the Amorfoil sign and product, a laptop showing images and a video, Brennen Mills talking to the camera, and the I-VADE team interacting, and text appears: Dr Brennen Mills, CSIRO ON alumnus, Director & Co-Founder of I-VADE]

Dr Brennen Mills: The ability to find validation in what you're actually trying to do, you know, it's great and easy in the research community alone, to bring it out into the world and get that validation that, wow, we've actually got something here outside of academia alone.

[Image changes to show Brennen talking to the camera]

That's the big thing that I feel like I've got out of it.

[Images move through to show views of colleagues interacting throughout the event beside different pop-up booths, and views of Dr Bliss Cunningham talking to the camera, and text appears: Dr Bliss Cunningham, CSIRO ON alumna, Head of R&D of Elemental Therapeutics]

Dr Bliss Cunningham: From start to finish, just seeing the transformations that everyone has made, especially in things like their communication and the way they're delivering their messages. Everything has transformed and it's done a complete 180, it’s been amazing to see.

[Music plays as image changes to show a blue screen as a hand appears and the index finger taps the power button on, and then the button merges into text: Switch your idea ON]

[Image changes to show a white screen with the CSIRO logo above text: Australia’s National Science Agency]

Transcript

Incentive funding for teams

In addition to funding the total cost of participation (valued at over $150,000*), the ON Accelerate program offers non-dilutive funding to fast-track their market traction and venture creation during and post-program.

This figure includes:

  • $20,000 per team, provided to Tech Transfer Officers (TTOs) at the conclusion of Immersion
  • Up to $400,000 of funding to be distributed to high-performing teams within the cohort (max. funding of $80,000 per team)
  • Bespoke coaching with domain experts throughout the program, plus 6 months' additional coaching post-program funded for teams who fully meet the participation requirements.

*Value estimated based on calculations made over the course of 2024-2025 and takes into account the projected program budget for 2025-2026.

Who can participate in ON Accelerate and time commitment required for the program

To be eligible for ON Accelerate, your team must meet all the following criteria:

  • Team size: 3–6 members.
  • Team diversity: Include people with varied expertise, such as:
    • Colleagues from your organisation
    • Researchers from other Australian universities or publicly funded research organisations (PFRO)
    • Industry partners
    • Community representatives
    • University students or staff from research services, TTOs, or communications teams.
  • Location: All team members must be based in Australia for the program duration.
  • Time commitment:
    • At least three core members must attend all in-person workshops and coaching sessions.
    • Your team must commit the equivalent of one full-time person (shared across the team) to work on the venture outside of sessions.
  • Research involvement: Your team must include
    • A researcher at an Australian university or PFRO, OR
    • A PhD student or recent graduate (within the last 24 months) from an Australian university or PFRO.
  • Startups/SMEs: Teams from Australian startups or SMEs that have licensed or acquired IP from an Australian university or PFRO are eligible - but must include a member from the originating university or PFRO.
  • For venture capital readiness: Your team must be a registered company with authority to transact using the IP.

What’s a PFRO?
A Publicly Funded Research Organisation includes Australian higher education providers listed in the Higher Education Support Act 2003 and government departments or agencies that undertake publicly funded research. 

How ON Accelerate is delivered

ON Accelerate provides individualised support for each team to meet you where you are and help you accelerate to market. Our end goal is that each team will leave the program with a solid business model, a well-defined path to commercialisation and a clear trajectory for success.

Overview of ON Accelerate delivery:

  • November 2025 - Bootcamp
  • February 2026 - Immersion 
  • March to June 2026 - Program delivery with a mix of face-to-face and virtual workshops (week 1 - 15) 
Bootcamp in November 2025, Immersion in February 2026, followed by the main program running from March to June 2026 (Weeks 1 to 15), which includes a mix of face-to-face and virtual workshop sessions.

Bootcamp

Up to 20 teams are selected from the online application process to participate in a two-day selection bootcamp, delivered face-to-face. Bootcamp will be an opportunity for teams to demonstrate their product-market fit, customer interest and team strength.

As part of the bootcamp selection process, we'll bring together a network of investors from the Australian deep tech venture capital community.

The top teams from bootcamp will be invited to participate in a week-long immersion program.

Some quotes from past participants regarding 'The most valuable part of Bootcamp':

  • "The business knowledge and the connections we have made at Bootcamp are most valuable. We have follow-up conversations lined up after this week which is very exciting."
  • "Expert and investor conversations were definitely the most impactful, alongside the opportunity to experience peer-learning with other ON Accelerate Bootcamp teams."
  • "We were constantly being challenged in our thinking, uncovering assumptions ... forcing us to challenge our mindsets and expand our thinking. Stress testing the business model, poking holes in our pitches and getting some brutal and invaluable feedback throughout."

Immersion 

Immersion week will support teams to increase their knowledge of the entrepreneurial journey, develop skills, progress their initiative, and network with peers, mentors and startup experts. This will be delivered as a face-to-face session.

At the end of the immersion, the top teams will be invited to participate in the full three-month program.

Some quotes from past participants regarding 'The most valuable part of Immersion':

  • "CSIRO's ON Accelerate Immersion gave us a safe space to test out big ideas and get comfortable pitching to a live audience."
  • "We found the three days of our ON Accelerate Immersion activities to be highly useful in unifying our team behind an align mission and better refined program success metrics!"
  • "We learned heaps at ON Accelerate Immersion! So helpful for successfully spinning out our company. Extremely valuable, and would definitely recommend for others in the same position to do. Experts involved in the Program were perfect, friendly and helpful."
  • "Whilst Bootcamp was a good intro into the world of tech commercialisation, Immersion encouraged/forced us to implement what we have learnt through the process so far. We have identified key gaps in the past 3-days which we will tackle to help get us to our next value proposition inflection point."

See also, highlights reel from a recent Immersion week below

[Music plays and a split circle appears and photographs of various CSIRO activities flash through on either side of the circle, and then the circle morphs into the CSIRO logo]

[Image changes to show Riccardo Natoli talking to the camera]

Riccardo Natoli: I think for the first time I feel like what it must be like to go back to kindergarten. 

[Images move through to show groups collaborating at tables, and then the audience listening to various speakers on stage]

I had to really learn knowledge that I hadn’t really had the chance to learn previously, and new skills sets and meet new people. 

[Images move through to show Riccardo talking with two males who are shaking hands, and then Riccardo talking to the camera]

So, for me it’s really like going back to school and I’m loving the process.

[Images move through to show Dr Anthea Roberts talking to the camera, the audience listening to a speaker, participants at a table, Anthea talking to the camera, and various ON signs]

Dr Anthea Roberts: There is nothing like this in a university context to start to give you these ideas about how you actually would take ideas from the university into market.

[Music plays and images move through to show participants seated at tables listening to a panel, a close view of the panel, and audience members listening and nodding]

[Image changes to show Joanne Jacobs talking to the camera, a female talking to a group of participants, a group of participants at a table, and Joanne talking to the camera again]

Joanne Jacobs: So this week we’re at ON Accelerate Immersion and all the teams are really getting into the groove of what it takes to actually build a start up and create something that has longevity, sustainability, investability.

[Music plays, and images move through of the audience listening to a speaker, a close view of an audience member listening, and participants talking together at a table]

[Image changes to show Dr Ben Leita talking to the camera]

Dr Ben Leita: You’ve got the idea, now you’ve got to create the company out of it. 

[Images move through to show a speaker at the podium, various groups of participants collaborating together, panel members on the stage, and participants at a table]

So, you’ve come in, you’ve got an intense week of learning all these tools, how we piece this jigsaw puzzle together to make a company a reality.

[Image changes to show Anthea talking to the camera, a panel seated on the stage, a close view of various panel members talking, and a male being handed a microphone]

Dr Anthea Roberts: The most enjoyable part of Immersion week so far is that I’m an innovation junkie so I just love hearing all of the speakers talk about the innovations there is and actually get to enjoy them while being part of a company that’s taken part in this sort of approach.

[Images move through to show the male talking into the microphone, Joanne talking on stage, and audience members listening and applauding]

[Images move through to show a male talking on stage, audience members laughing, Ben talking to the camera, Ben talking with participants, various groups in conversation, and Anthea talking on stage]

Dr Ben Leita: To come here as an expert and help give my skills, my experience to the teams, you see just every day they grow in confidence, they grow in their understanding, they grow the company into something that could be a reality one day.

[Image changes to show Joanne talking to the camera, and then the image changes to show a female giving a presentation]

Joanne Jacobs: Over the 14 weeks, they have to prioritise what matters to their business. 

[Image changes to show a distance view of the female giving the presentation, and then the image changes to show Joanne talking to the camera]

They need to think about what’s going to be their investment pathway and how they’re going to take their ideas to the world.

[Music plays, and images flash through of various groups of participants talking and laughing, the audience watching the panel onstage, and audience members listening]

[Images continues to flash through of various participants giving presentations at the podium, and then a photograph of the group of participants waving to the camera]

[Image changes to show the CSIRO logo and text: CSIRO, Australia’s National Science Agency]
Transcript

Program: overall

Over three-months of the program, teams will meet regularly with facilitators and other teams in the cohort to share progress, key learnings and roadblocks, and hear from successful deep tech founders.

Teams will also have regular one-on-one sessions with domain coaches, investors, mentors and the ON Accelerate facilitators, who will both challenge your thinking and support your development. These sessions ensure the guidance and support is tailored to your team’s focus areas and challenges, to accelerate your venture faster.

We will work with teams that are accepted into the program to help identify additional capability that may be needed in your team, and work with you to bring in the additional skills needed.

The program culminates with an opportunity to showcase your team’s work to the ecosystem. 

Hear more from our Program Director and a coach/industry expert


[Music plays and an image appears of an index finger drawing an O on a blue screen, and then image changes to show a lamp and an ON Accelerate sign  on a table, and text appears: ON Accelerate]

[Image changes to show colleagues talking beside the TopiCure pop-up booth, and then the image changes to show Warren Bingham talking to the camera, and text appears: Warren Bingham, Program Coach, CSIRO ON Accelerate]

Warren Bingham: If you're a researcher, an academic, a scientist, an innovator, you have an idea. One of the things you need to do is get tapped into the CSIRO ON Accelerator program.

[Images move through to show a seated audience interacting together, views of colleagues interacting, Warren talking to the camera, and then Warren talking and laughing with Tennille Eyre]

Why? Because it is really about connecting you to people who know the pathway you're about to walk. We'll help you, we'll coach you. We'll be on the journey with you.

[Image changes to show Tennille talking to the camera, and then the image changes to show colleagues talking beside the ProSeek Bio Pop-up booth, and text appears: Tennille Eyre, Program Director, CSIRO ON Innovation]

Tennille Eyre:  We're here to support publicly funded Australian researchers translate their research from lab to market. We're different in that we are national.

[Image changes to show Tennile talking to the camera]

We don't take equity in the technology. We don't take any interest in the IP.

[Images move through to show a lamp beside an epiblox sign on a table, colleagues talking and laughing together, and then colleagues interacting at an ON Accelerate event]

We are just here to make sure we equip and empower Australian researchers with the tools and skills to create impact.

[Music plays and an image appears of a blue screen and a hand appears and the index finger taps the power button on, and then the button merges into text: Switch your idea ON]

[Image changes to show a white screen with the CSIRO logo above text: Australia’s National Science Agency]

Transcript

How to apply

Applying to participate in ON Accelerate is a multi-step process:

  1. Submit an online application
    Each team is required to register via the online application portal then submit an application. Please note that this is an in-depth application, so feel free to download the pdf form to help prepare for the questions (see our application guide for more detail).
  2. Application review and evaluation
    At the closure of the application period, all applications will be reviewed by representatives of their lead organisation. This is to ensure that each team has engaged their sponsoring institute and has full support to participate in the program. Each application is evaluated by multiple experts from our extended network. The highest rated applications will be invited to participate in the two-day selection bootcamp.
  3. Participate in selection bootcamp and immersion week
    The top teams participate in a two-day selection bootcamp, before progressing to immersion week. After immersion week, the final cohort are selected for ON Accelerate.

The clarity of your application will be assessed based on the following key points:

  • the solution and value proposition for their product or service
  • evidence of the problem that their solution addresses
  • the identified target market and customer segments of their product or service
  • strength and coverage of relevant skillsets within the team
  • demonstration of commercially relevant traction or uptake of their technology
  • alignment between the team goal and objectives of ON Accelerate
  • evidence that a startup venture is the most appropriate pathway to impact. 

Want to know more?

Watch a recording of our ON Accelerate information session. [NB. the session took place 10 July 2024.]

Interested in our alumni teams?

Recent alumni teams from ON Accelerate 10

Visit our ON Program Alumni website to find out more.

ON Accelerate Application Portal

ON Accelerate is a structured, full-time accelerator for research teams to validate and develop high potential innovative ventures.

Apply now