The University of Newcastle has landed a $20.7 million federal grant to build a new innovation facility that will help bring new technologies to market.
Announced on Monday, the university will use the grant to construct two industrial scale spaces to accelerate the development of technologies in the energy, resources, and manufacturing sectors.
The facility will support up to 16 academic-industry partnerships and allow small to medium sized businesses to co-locate at the site, according to the government.

Projects supported by the facility will focus on resource sustainability, workforce training and boosting productivity. The government says the facility is estimated to support 740 direct and indirect jobs.
Students will also have the opportunity to experience of prototyping products for manufacture.
In a joint statement, Infrastructure minister Catherine King said the investment would “train the next generation in the latest practices in energy, resources and manufacturing, preparing them for a net zero future”.
The Prime Minister said the “project will boost education, employment and training opportunities for Newcastle and the surrounding region”.
Mr Albanese later said that the Future Industries Facility will help drive investment in startups by providing access to prototyping and development facilities they may otherwise struggle to find.
The grant commitment is part of a broader $47.9 million commitment across seven precincts in New South Wales, although these focus on a range of sectors across the economy.
Announced in the 2022-23 Budget, the $400 million regional Precincts and Partnerships program opened in 2023-24 and will run until 2025-26.
The University of Newcastle received its grant under the precinct delivery stream, which awards up to $50 million. For precincts at an earlier stage, a development and planning stream awards grants of up to $5 million.
The aim of the program is to “facilitate place-based approaches to planning” and to “provide targeted benefits related to productivity, equity, and resilience for the people of regional, rural or remote Australia”, according to the grant guidelines.
A similar $150 million Urban Precincts and Partnerships Program was announced in the 2023-24 federal budget and launched this financial year.
Do you know more? Contact James Riley via Email.