Twenty Australian startups with renewable energy innovations have been chosen for the third round of the India Australia Rapid Innovation and Startup Expansion (RISE) Accelerator, a program delivered by Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, to boost global growth, particularly in manufacturing and energy sectors.
The RISE Accelerator supports Australian startups and small to medium enterprises (SMEs) with scalable climate and environmental solutions to test, validate, and commercialise their technologies internationally, with a strong focus on India, CSIRO said in a news release.
The latest round targets deployable renewable energy innovations in three challenge areas: advancing critical mineral and materials processing, improving designs, infrastructure, or manufacturing for greater durability and performance, and using digital systems to optimise renewable energy deployment.
James Robinson, CSIRO’s RISE Accelerator Program Director, said the initiative is vital in helping companies overcome barriers to international expansion.
“Programs like RISE empower these companies to gain valuable local insights and forge in-country partnerships they may otherwise not have access to,” Robinson said. “This significantly boosts their potential for success and impact – both at home and abroad – by tapping into new innovation ecosystems, supply chains and opportunities to support increased scalability.”
Robinson added that the program’s focus on manufacturing-related advancements can accelerate the development of durable, high-performance solutions for renewable energy markets.
“In our latest round, we’re proud to be supporting a new generation of Australian innovators to expand into India and help address critical renewable energy challenges at scale,” he said.
Among the participants is Rux Energy, which is developing hydrogen storage using patented nanoporous materials. Rux Energy’s Chief of Staff Tom Webb said India is a strategic manufacturing and market partner.
“We applied to the RISE Accelerator to accelerate our mission of delivering safe, high-efficiency, and affordable hydrogen storage solutions to markets like India, where clean energy access can uplift communities and unlock new economic growth,” Webb said.
Syncrowin, another selected company, offers an AI-powered industrial autopilot platform for continuous monitoring and optimisation in industries including manufacturing, mining, and energy.
Chief Executive Officer Aishwarya Kansakar said the RISE Accelerator will help scale its platform across India and Australia’s renewable and integrated energy sectors.
“Our goal is to build scalable AI that integrates effortlessly with existing infrastructure to support decarbonisation and digital transformation,” Kansakar said.
Over the next four months, the companies will take part in online learning, in-person workshops, one-on-one mentoring, and market immersion visits.
Each will receive $35,000, with an additional $100,000 available for those ready to launch pilot projects in India.
The 20 companies include Allegro Energy, Bridge Select, Corellian, Electric Power Conversions Australia, EnergyOS, Goldray Electric, Green Gravity, H2i Group Limited, Kardinia Energy, Neara, Metro Power Company, MLB Industrial, Oxleigh Recycling Technologies, Rux Energy, Sicona Battery Technologies, Steber International, Syncrowin, Voltavate, Zekitek, and ZenQuo.
