The Australian Strategic Capabilities Accelerator will commit an estimated $680 million over the next ten years to the research and development of emerging and disruptive technologies, according to its interim head.
Professor Emily Hilder has revealed that 20 per cent of ASCA’s budget, which is currently $3.4 billion over the next decade, will be spent on R&D of technologies that need support over the long-term.
She said that ASCA’s innovation missions, which will form the core of its activity, will be “very focused” on delivering capabilities quickly to address immediate challenges in the strategic environment.
Professor Hilder also confirmed that no grants programs will be administered through ASCA and that the first problem statement, which will frame ASCA’s first innovation mission, will be released “on or before November 1”.
Defence is also looking at increasing funding across other innovation, science, and technology investment streams in the Defence Science and Technology Group, with Professor Hilder commenting that there is currently a lot of “flux” as the department works to deliver the recommendations of the Defence Strategic Review.
ASCA was previously touted by Labor as the Advanced Strategic Research Agency before the election of the Albanese government and was meant to have $1.2 billion in funding over a decade.
Under the previous proposal, the entity would’ve been based on the United States’ Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) which invests in the R&D of “breakthrough technologies for national security”, according to its mission statement.
But the entity that emerged now aims to accelerate technology acquisition timelines in Defence by improving links with industry using a mission-orientated approach to innovation, delivering capability to the Australian Defence Force.
ASCA’s first problem statement will be “very broad”, Professor Hilder said, because it will be a declassified version, with conversations at “high levels of classification” to be delivered once potential industry solutions have been identified.
“We won’t be coming out with the full documentation until the end [of November]. It’s not because we’re playing games, it’s because we’ve got roadshows throughout November. We want to get feedback as part of that process,” she said.
At a high-level, Professor Hilder said ASCA is changing Defence’s approach to Australia’s innovation system by more clearly specifying the capability needs that industry can work towards rather than “setting some broad areas but saying, ‘tell us what you got’”.
“We have to be able to link that to a capability outcome as quickly as possible, because that’s what we need. We don’t need it in 10 year, we need it yesterday.”
During consultation on the problem statement, ASCA will be looking for organisations to lead the mission as well as co-design partners to help develop and deliver the first innovation mission, expected to open to applications in early 2024.
The mission will probably be “a three-year program which will have an identified pathway to acquisition”, Professor Hilder said.
She also update the attendees on the progress of responses to the sovereign unmanned aerial systems (UAS) challenge, which ASCA approached the market for in August.
Professor Hilder said the responses have been very helpful in educating her team on existing industry capability and illuminating areas of focus to help build a strong system that supports the delivery of the UAS capability.
“We will be coming back soon to a number of respondents who are ready or very close to being able to deliver what we need right now in terms of small general purpose UAS,” she said.
Do you know more? Contact James Riley via Email.