Free, eight weeks, aquaculture-focused. CSIRO’s Innovate to Grow program is open for applications now.
If you’ve got an aquaculture idea that’s been sitting half-formed because you’re not sure what research it actually needs, CSIRO has a free program built for exactly that problem.
Australia’s national science agency has opened applications for the latest round of Innovate to Grow: Aquaculture, an eight-week online program aimed at small to medium-sized enterprises developing solutions for the sector. It’s free to join, and it’s designed to take an early-stage idea and turn it into something closer to an actionable research and development plan.
The program isn’t new. Since it began in 2020, more than 900 SMEs have taken part.
Why ideas stall
According to Dr Mat Cook, Aquaculture Research Director at CSIRO, the biggest barrier for a lot of small businesses isn’t a lack of good ideas, it’s not knowing where to start. “Whether it’s breeding, animal health, nutrition or new production systems, good ideas often stall because businesses aren’t sure what evidence they need or where to start with R&D,” Cook said.
That’s the gap the program is meant to close. “Innovate to Grow connects SMEs with researchers and gives them a clear, practical process for working out what R&D their idea actually needs,” Cook said.
Who can apply
The program is open to Australian SMEs developing or supplying solutions across a fairly broad range of aquaculture-related subsectors, including breeding, health, nutrition, production systems and optimisation, digital and AI, sustainability and circular agri-aquaculture, packaging, and enabling Indigenous-led aquaculture.
Rebecca Parlett, Director of Bio Tribute Systems, took part in an earlier round of the program. She joined looking for scientific validation and feasibility data to help move her company’s early-concept innovations toward something market-ready and scalable.
For Parlett, the value wasn’t just technical, it was clarity. “The program helped me to clarify the real status of my innovation and better understand the R&D pathway required to progress it,” she said.
It also reframed the scope of what she was actually dealing with. “It also helped me identify that my project is not simply a product-development issue, but requires regulatory clarification, claims discipline, independent validation, a funding strategy and a staged evidence pathway,” Parlett said. “The program gave me a more structured and realistic framework for deciding what needs to happen next.”
Applications for the current round are open now and close on 16 August 2026, with the program set to begin in September. Learn more and apply.
Keep up to date with our stories on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
