You don’t need confirmed funding to start the conversation
Most partners arrive with a problem and no budget line against it. CIDS can help find the scheme that fits, shape the project so it is fundable, write the technical half of the application, and, where the alignment is there, apply alongside you.
Funding acquired
$14.6M collaboratively in 2024
Partner organisations
114 in 2024
Projects delivered
94 since 2020
Funding conversations start before the application does. Bring the problem and we will work out which scheme it fits.
You don't need a spec or funding to start
Start with the problem
Most partners come to CIDS with a question, not a finished plan.
Explore the pathway
We can help shape the project concept, collaboration model and technical route.
Find funding options
We can identify grant, industry, government and research funding pathways.
Bring in the right people
We can connect Curtin researchers, CIDS specialists and external partners.
Shape the evidence
We can provide technical input into applications, scope and deliverables.
Support collaborative grants
If there is strategic and technical alignment, we can support a collaborative application.
Grant identification
Can you help us find grants?
Yes. Picking the right scheme is usually what separates a fundable project from a good idea that never gets submitted. This is what that work looks like.
Map the scheme landscape
ARC Linkage, CRC-P, MRFF, the Australian Economic Accelerator, Innovation Connections and the WA state programs each fund a different shape of work.
Check eligibility first
Lead applicant rules, eligible partner status and minimum contributions rule a scheme in or out before anyone writes a word of the application.
Match the round to the stage
A feasibility study, a twelve-month pilot and a multi-year program are three different applications. We help pick the one the project is actually ready for.
Work back from the close date
Letters of support, partner sign-off and Curtin's internal approvals all land before the portal closes. The deadline sets the plan, not the other way around.
Size the contribution honestly
Cash and in-kind expectations vary by scheme. We help estimate compute, storage, data work and specialist time so the budget survives review.
Say so when nothing fits
If no current round suits the work, we will tell you, and look at direct engagement or a smaller scoping piece instead of forcing a submission.
Funding pathways
Which pathway suits us?
Industry, government and research money behave differently, different rules, different timelines, different evidence. Most projects sit in one of these three columns.
Industry
Company-led work, usually matched by your own cash or in-kind contribution.
Common routes
Innovation Connections
A facilitated Entrepreneurs' Programme grant that matches your contribution for one defined research project with a university partner.
CRC-P
An industry-led consortium of at least two businesses and one research organisation, usually running up to three years against milestones.
Direct engagement
No round, no consortium, no close date. Starts as soon as scoping is done, and is often the fastest route to a working pilot.
Where CIDS fits: We write the research plan, sit as the research partner on the application, and scope the smallest pilot worth funding. Some R&D activity may be claimable under the R&D Tax Incentive, your tax adviser confirms that, not us.
Government
Agency and department funding, tied to a policy outcome or a procurement pathway.
Common routes
WA state programs
The New Industries Fund and related state programs back local capability and early-stage industry projects. Smaller amounts, generally faster decisions, activity grounded in WA.
Commonwealth agency programs
Departments fund pilots and evaluations directly, sometimes through panels or standing arrangements rather than open rounds.
Defence & national capability
Sovereign capability framing, security and clearance requirements from the first conversation, and longer approval timelines than other routes.
Where CIDS fits: Perth-based delivery and independent, research-grade method, with secure project spaces where the access controls and audit trail are documented for review.
Research
Scheme money that runs through a university, with Curtin leading or partnering.
Common routes
ARC Linkage
Research-industry collaboration where the partner organisation contributes cash and in-kind alongside the scheme funding, over a multi-year timeline.
MRFF & NHMRC
Health and medical research, where ethics approval and sensitive data handling sit on the critical path rather than off to one side.
Australian Economic Accelerator
Staged translation funding that moves university research from early proof of concept toward commercial readiness, one gate at a time.
Where CIDS fits: We supply the AI, data science and research software capability, help write the method and feasibility case, and cost the compute and secure environment properly.
Application support
We write the technical half of the application
Method, data and feasibility sections drafted with you
Milestones, deliverables and technical risk a reviewer can follow
Compute, storage and secure-environment costs itemised in the budget
Named CIDS specialists and Curtin capability for the team table
Curtin researchers and external partners brought in where the project needs them
Co-applicant with you where the strategic and technical alignment is real
