Dear Staff,
I am delighted to advise that yesterday the Prime Minister announced that the UQ-led Food and Beverage Accelerator (FaBA) project has been awarded $50 million of funding under the Australian Government’s Trailblazer Universities Program.
This represents the largest single funding allocation that UQ has received for its research, and I would like to sincerely thank Professor Bronwyn Harch, Professor Matthew Morell, Professor Alan Rowan, Professor Neal Menzies, Dr Dean Moss, Jane Trindall, and their teams for their leadership over the past six months in preparing for the various stages of the bid process.
From a research perspective, we will be working collaboratively on the FaBA project with QUT, USQ and CSIRO, along with the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. And we also have valuable support from numerous partners across the food and beverage industry.
The FaBA project will focus on new technologies, smart production and innovative ingredients and foods that will help double the value of Australia’s food and beverage manufacturing sector over the next decade.
The project also aims to attract $1 billion in investment and create more than 16,500 direct and indirect jobs. This level of investment will be a catalyst for commercialisation and economic growth in the food and beverage sector, both here in Queensland and across Australia.
This announcement, combined with last month’s announcement of the successful Resources Technology Trailblazer, is a great achievement for UQ and its partners. This level of investment will be a real game-changer for our nation’s advanced manufacturing capabilities.
Finally, I would also like to acknowledge the huge efforts of Dr Jodi Clyde-Smith and the Research Office, Lisa Kennedy and the Research Partnerships team, as well as staff in the Faculties and Institutes who have been supporting our researchers across UQ. It has been a great team effort since the start of the year, with everyone working intensively to support UQ’s submissions for the major ARC, MRFF and NHMRC grant rounds.
Congratulations, and thank you again, to everyone involved.
With best wishes,
Debbie
