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SA Defence Innovation Partnership - Activator Fund

SA Defence Innovation Partnership – Activator Fund

  • Total funding available: up to $1.6 million
  • Maximum grant per project: $800,000
  • Applications close: 30 October 2026
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The Activator Fund supports large-scale collaborative innovation projects that address significant challenges facing Defence while strengthening South Australia's defence innovation ecosystem. This round focuses on Counter Uncrewed Aerial Systems (C-UAS) technologies, seeking solutions that improve detection, tracking, classification and prioritisation of increasingly sophisticated drone threats, and that enable scalable, resilient decision-making in contested environments. Projects are expected to accelerate the transition of technology towards future operational capabilities and create opportunities for follow-on investment, local industry spin-offs and dual-use applications.

Key Requirements

Collaboration requirements

Eligible proposals must include, as a minimum, one South Australian university Partner Organisation, one South Australia-based industry Partner Organisation, and Australian Department of Defence involvement as a Partner Organisation.

Matched funding requirements

Funding requested must be matched 1:1 by the applicant and project participants through cash and/or in-kind contributions. Matched funding may include contributions from the Australian Department of Defence, including a Baseline Defence Contribution available across all proposals.

Location requirements

Work funded by the Activator Fund must be undertaken in South Australia. Lead and Partner Organisation contributions may fund work outside South Australia, however the majority of overall project effort must occur within the state.

Technology maturity and design requirements

Proposals should be for technologies that can be ready for meaningful demonstration (approximately TRL6) within 12 months, minimise Size, Weight, Power, Cost and Compute (SWaP-C), and where relevant support open architectures, SAPIENT architecture compliance, operation in contested electronic warfare environments, and integration into Defence C2 and Battle Management Systems.

Security requirements

Projects may have national security implications. Personnel may be required to obtain, at minimum, a Baseline security clearance, and successful projects must complete a Research and Innovation Security Assessment (RISA).

What is eligible for funding?

Eligible activities and expenditure include:

  • Employing and/or providing stipends to research staff working on the project
  • Purchasing hardware and software
  • Costs to access research infrastructure
  • Travel costs directly related to the project

Priority research and development areas include:

Tracking, understanding and decision advantage

  • Multi-target and swarm-aware tracking algorithms
  • Cross-domain sensor handoff and persistent track continuity
  • Cooperative cueing and distributed tracking networks
  • AI-enabled threat classification and identification
  • Decision-support algorithms for threat prioritisation
  • Human-machine teaming concepts maintaining human oversight
  • Explainable and auditable AI approaches

Advanced detection, sensing and layered effects

  • Multi-band and multi-static radar technologies
  • Sensor fusion across radar, EO/IR, RF and acoustic modalities
  • Edge-based AI detection and classification
  • Distributed and resilient sensing networks
  • Detection of low-observable and fibre-optic guided UAS
  • Electronic warfare solutions for autonomous UAS threats
  • Modular interception, decoy and defensive-drone concepts
  • Simulation, test and training environments

What companies are eligible for funding?

The Lead Organisation for an Activator Fund proposal is the entity with which the Minister for the Environment works. A funding agreement will be signed between the defence and space industries. The organisation in charge of an Activator Fund proposal may include:

    • a South Australian public university
    • a South Australian-based business (with an ABN) that is either headquartered or has significant operations in South Australia that are related to the Activator Fund topic.

Partner Organisations for an Activator Fund proposal can be:

    • Government agencies in Australia, including the Department of Defence
    • Government agencies in South Australia
    • Australian universities
    • Organisations for Publicly Funded Research
    • Startups, SMEs, and major corporations in Australia

Is this grant competitive or entitlement based?

Targeted Competitive. Your application will be assessed among other applications by a judging panel.

How can I increase my chances of winning this grant?

By engaging a professional government grant writer consultant. Avant Group is Australia’s largest independent grants advisory firm. Find out more about our government grant writing and consulting service here. 

How can I get help understanding if I’m eligible for this grant? Or know if I’m likely to win funding?

Avant Group offers a no-obligation assessment of your eligibility for funding and will assess your likelihood of a successful grant application.