Leaders from government and academia came together this week to reflect on the outcomes of the Trailblazer Universities Program towards reshaping Australia’s research and innovation landscape. The event highlighted the collective achievements of the Trailblazers and the growing momentum behind mission‑driven university research built on large‑scale collaboration.
Representing the Defence Trailblazer, Executive Director Dr Sanjay Mazumdar emphasised that the program’s success is defined by the cultural transformation it has inspired across the university and industry sectors.
“When we talk about trailblazing, we’re talking about choosing to work differently – collaborating more deeply and moving faster on the things that matter for Australia’s future,” Dr Mazumdar said.
A Model Delivering Impact at Scale
In just over three years, the Defence Trailblazer has demonstrated what is possible when universities, industry and government align around national priorities. The program has:
- Unlocked more than $140 million in co‑investment from over 200 industry partners
- Established 299 collaborative projects integrating academics in defence industry research
- Advanced 110+ technologies in Defence priority capability areas
- Upskilled more than 800 students and professionals
- Supported 87 start‑ups and scale‑ups, helping unlock $39 million in venture capital
- Created new talent pathways, including 107 internships and 28 industry‑sponsored PhDs
Independent analysis by ACIL Allen estimates the program will deliver an $875 million boost to GDP and support 1,000 new high‑value jobs over the next two decades.
“Extrapolating across all six Trailblazers, these outcomes aren’t just program achievements, they represent national capability uplift,” Dr Mazumdar noted.
Alignment with National Policy Direction
The event also explored the recommendations of the Australian Government’s Strategic Examination of Research and Development (SERD). The SERD report advocates for changes that many argue are long overdue for the Australian R&D sector: mission‑driven R&D, stronger incentives for industry participation, reduced administrative friction, and greater support for research talent.
The report highlighted Defence Trailblazer as an exemplar of this approach: demonstrating how large‑scale, priority‑driven collaboration can accelerate translation, unlock capital and build Australian capability.
Sharing Lessons and Insights
A research team comprised of researchers from Adelaide University and UNSW was commissioned by Defence Trailblazer to undertake qualitative and quantitative analysis of the outcomes of Defence Trailblazer activities over a 20-month timeframe in 2024–2025. The team examined relevant policies and processes and engaged with stakeholders to determine whether Defence Trailblazer programs:
- created an environment where defence technology commercialisation could flourish,
- fostered collaboration between researchers and industry,
- incentivised successful and ongoing industry engagement,
- improved IP understanding, management, and translation and commercialisation.
As part of Wednesday’s roundtable discussion, Associate Professor Daniel Prior and Dr Gamithri Karunasena (both from the UNSW Canberra School of Business) presented key findings from the analysis of university‑industry collaboration, including a recommended approach that both universities could use to shape future endeavours. These insights are already informing program delivery and shaping future models for national innovation.
all six Trailblazers.
The team highlighted three areas where Defence Trailblazer excelled: connecting Defence, industry and universities (‘structured brokerage’); aligning projects to Defence capability priorities; and supporting IP & commercialisation translation.
They identified systems-level gaps and suggested how Defence Trailblazer can address these strategically; including further aligning research questions with Defence demand, and the case for adapting IP processes to be more accessible for small-medium enterprises.
Finally, the team addressed how to ensure sustainability of Defence Trailblazer’s achievements beyond the lifetime of the Trailblazer, including the role that Commonwealth Government can play in moving from program funding to system stewardship.
Associate Professor Prior highlighted a key insight from one industry partner: “Cultural change is a journey that takes generations…Defence Trailblazer’s four-year life is only just starting that journey for showing what is possible.”
Voices from Across the Trailblazer Network
Representatives from the Recycling and Clean Energy Commercialisation Hub (REACH), Australia’s Food and Beverage Accelerator (FaBA), Trailblazer for Recycling and Clean Energy (TRaCE), the Resources Technology & Critical Minerals (RTCM) Trailblazer and iLAuNCH also shared their experiences, highlighting the diverse approaches to reform taken by the different Trailblazers and the common challenges and opportunities emerging across sectors.
Amy Hunter, Executive Director of REACH, shared insights from the first REACH company to work with Deakin University’s Faculty of Health, ProviCo, with research projects to grow the business and develop talent pathways in regional Victoria. Dr Sue O’Brien, Associate Director of FaBA, also highlighted the role of the Trailblazers as a doorway for industry “More than 66% of the companies that FaBA has allied with have never worked with any of our three universities before,” said Dr O’Brien.
Professor Emmanuel Mastio, TRaCE Executive Director, shared how the Trailblazer developed an impact model for its long-term socioeconomic goals of GDP increase, jobs creation and greenhouse gas emission reduction: “In this sector, value alignment is important, particularly translation between short-term and long-term outcomes.”
Rohan McDougall, Executive Director of the RTCM Trailblazer, shared examples of how the program had implemented systemic change by establishing a pilot facility for critical minerals extraction at Curtin University. Mr McDougall also explained how the Trailblazer aimed to embed technical roles relevant to industry problems into the university.
Finally, Professor Andrew Smith, Director of iLAuNCH, shared a snapshot of projects that illustrated its successes across the themes additive manufacturing, modelling expertise, and optical imaging tech development, as well as underlining the challenge of testing space technology in a limited timeframe. “We want to see these projects progress from space-ready pilots into a sovereign industry capability.”
Looking Ahead: Sustaining Momentum Beyond the Program
The discussion turned to sustainability and long‑term outcomes beyond the Trailblazer program, with a key focus towards aligning university incentives to recognise and reward industry engagement.
Dr Mazumdar emphasised that the legacy of the Defence Trailblazer is not just the technologies or partnerships created, but the shift in mindset and system behaviour.
“The question now is how we embed these new ways of working into the fabric of our institutions so that collaboration becomes the norm, not the exception.”
The event closed with a shared commitment to continue building on the foundations laid by the Trailblazer Universities Program, ensuring Australia’s innovation system remains mission‑driven, connected and capable of responding to national priorities.
Dr Karunasena remarked that the Trailblazers program had a clear mandate for how to drive university-industry collaboration. “That scaffolding is needed to take it into the next phase of something that’s absolutely critical to the mission of embedding cultural change and institutional adoption.”
