Do you have an innovative idea that would revolutionise the defence industry?

The CSIRO’s ON Accelerate program — a science and technology accelerator program that brings together the experience and expertise of established researchers, entrepreneurs and inspiring mentors — is currently taking applications.

With face-to-face coaching, and help developing a framework for testing and designing business models, your idea could soon become a commercial reality. The defence industry is constantly innovating, and many of these innovations have the potential to have broader impact than the situation in which they were developed.

Graduates of April 2017’s ON Accelerate program include Silentium Defence’s Dr James Palmer and Simon Palumbo, engineers with 25 years of experience in passive radar algorithms. They developed a passive radar system which relies on harnessing existing energy without transmitting a signal. Through the ON program, they were able to switch their thinking from a research perspective to a business focus.

“The program gave us the tools to understand our customer base and create a business for our product,” said CEO of Silentium Defence Dr James Palmer. “The level of expertise and the amount of knowledge they were able to impart in such a short amount of time was phenomenal.”

Silentium Defence, after graduating from the ON accelerate program, attended Stanford University’s program in entrepreneurship and has been able to expand their team to 12 after securing multiple funding opportunities.

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Their new research and development facility at Parafield Airport was opened in July 2018 and they have currently secured $1.5million in Defence Innovation Hub contracts.

Applications for ON Accelerate close on 28 September. Apply now: http://oninnovation.com.au/en/Apply/Apply-for-ON-Accelerate