Latest Insights
Media focus on innovators’ role in Australia’s recovery
Who do we need in a crisis? Resilient, creative people who embrace challenges as opportunities, see lateral possibilities others miss, and blaze a trail towards a brighter future with persistent hard work – people like our innovative clients in research and industry....
Welcoming Tracey Spicer AM to gemaker
We're delighted to welcome the lovely Tracey Spicer AM to our gemaker team as Head of Media & Communications. She'll be helping share the extraordinary stories of our Australian innovators who are changing the world. Tracey is a multiple Walkley Award winning...
The science and art of winning a grant
I write grant applications that often win gemaker’s clients (research organisations and innovative companies) significant funding to develop and commercialise their innovative ideas and technologies. Recent successes include: $630K ARC grant for ANU’s InSpace$597K...
Niamh Chapman – That’s what I call Science
To celebrate International Women's Day and as part of our commitment to being Women in STEM Decadal Plan Champions, we're highlighting an impressive early career researcher who is definitely on the rise. Niamh Chapman is a passionate medical research and science...
Is your business ready for Covid-19?
Australia is bracing for probable Covid-19 outbreaks which can heavily impact businesses if workers or their families become sick or if schools send children home for any length of time. Events will get cancelled and people will stop going out. At this point, you want...
A better world through education, unity and action
As a country, we are in the unfortunate position of witnessing first-hand what climate change is doing to our home, plants and animals. If we continue with ‘business as usual’ we are condemning our children and children around the world to a future with more severe...
Commercialisation and Startups
Is your business ready for Covid-19?
Australia is bracing for probable Covid-19 outbreaks which can heavily impact businesses if workers or their families become sick or if schools send children home for any length of time. Events will get cancelled and people will stop going out. At this point, you want...
What does the future hold?
As we rang in the New Year for 2020, I had a similar feeling of deep apprehension and anxiety to when I turned on the news coverage of planes flying into the World Trade Centre in 2001. After the initial shock and horror, I imagined the implications, thinking ‘Is this...
You can’t commercialise your tech unless you communicate it
As a marketing communicator working in tech transfer, I frequently encounter STEM researchers and innovators who initially express scepticism about the value of my services. I strive to win them over, because (a) it’s a living and (b) they need my help, even if they don’t know it yet.
Marketing makes or breaks commercialisation; don’t make these mistakes
Unfortunately, many STEM innovators underestimate the importance of marketing. I’m frequently contacted by research organisations or innovative businesses seeking to commercialise new knowledge or technology, who are suffering the consequences of an inadequate or...
11 ways to shipwreck your start-up
We’ve compiled a top 11 list of ways to shipwreck commercialisation of your new ideas or start-up.
Research-Industry Engagement
How to get the most out of attending an expo
Make your next expo visit a successful one with our expert tips. Spoiler alert: Most of the work happens before you arrive. Before you go Before booking an expo, do your homework and check it’s right for you. If you have an ideal customer you want to target, find the...
Highlights from Science Meets Business
Every year, Science Meets Business brings together leaders in STEM and private industry to increase understanding and cooperation between these two complex sectors. In 2018, Science Meets Business focused on the theme ‘High Tech and Big Data’. The opening video...
Networking not working? Here’s the smarter alternative
Who likes networking? I ask this routinely when training researchers in industry engagement. The response is always a collective groan. Maybe networking is fun for exceptionally extroverted people, but for most of us, it seems fitting that the word includes ‘work’,...
How small business can have a big impact on STEM education
To sustain Australia’s STEM industries, businesses need to step up and help schools and teachers to educate and motivate the next generation of innovators. You don’t need to be a large corporation to have a positive impact on STEM education, as demonstrated by...
Researchers need soft skills training to succeed
To address a lack of essential, transferable, ‘soft skills’ training, Deakin University (DU) and Macquarie University (MU) are developing a series of seminars for Early-to-Mid-Career Researchers (EMCRs) working in science, technology, engineering and mathematics...
Innovation Insights
Media focus on innovators’ role in Australia’s recovery
Who do we need in a crisis? Resilient, creative people who embrace challenges as opportunities, see lateral possibilities others miss, and blaze a trail towards a brighter future with persistent hard work – people like our innovative clients in research and industry....
A better world through education, unity and action
As a country, we are in the unfortunate position of witnessing first-hand what climate change is doing to our home, plants and animals. If we continue with ‘business as usual’ we are condemning our children and children around the world to a future with more severe...
A challenge-based innovation program could fund your R&D
A growing number of increasingly diverse, challenge-based innovation programs are creating win-win opportunities for business, research and government to work together to solve real-world problems.
gemaker rewards young innovators at Australia’s largest science fair
For the tenth year in a row, the University of Wollongong ran the Illawarra Coal Science Fair on 29 November. The 2017 Fair was the biggest ever, attracting more than 1000 students from 85 schools around the region. Associate Professor Stephen Ralph, Head...
What Australian research and innovation can learn from Iceland’s soccer team
Iceland’s win wasn’t a happy accident. The country made a conscious decision to be good at soccer and invested in the sport.
Funding Insights
The science and art of winning a grant
I write grant applications that often win gemaker’s clients (research organisations and innovative companies) significant funding to develop and commercialise their innovative ideas and technologies. Recent successes include: $630K ARC grant for ANU’s InSpace$597K...
A challenge-based innovation program could fund your R&D
A growing number of increasingly diverse, challenge-based innovation programs are creating win-win opportunities for business, research and government to work together to solve real-world problems.
The most overlooked source of funding
The Research and Development (R&D) Tax Incentive is an eligibility entitlement program administered jointly by the Department of Industry, Innovation & Science and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). The department manages the registration of the company’s...
The R&D Tax Incentive – Supporting Medical, Health and Life Sciences Research
Are you in the medical, health or life sciences sector? Is your company developing cutting-edge technology? If you answered yes, then you’re in good company! Registered expenditure for the R&D Tax Incentive scheme on Medical, Health and Life Sciences...
Reward for innovation: an update on the R&D Tax Incentive
For start-ups and other innovative companies, the R&D Tax Incentive is designed to reduce the cost and risk of undertaking research and development, by reducing their tax.
Women in STEM Insights
Welcoming Tracey Spicer AM to gemaker
We're delighted to welcome the lovely Tracey Spicer AM to our gemaker team as Head of Media & Communications. She'll be helping share the extraordinary stories of our Australian innovators who are changing the world. Tracey is a multiple Walkley Award winning...
Discovering the business behind a good idea
My name is Erinn Watts and after recently completing my HSC, I had the opportunity to do work experience at Gemaker. Gemaker is a commercialisation and marketing intelligence consultancy that helps companies to transforms ideas into products for the commercial market....
Challenges and opportunities for graduates: resilience, adaptability and climate action
gemaker Managing Director, Natalie Chapman, gave the occasional address at the University of Wollongong graduation on 24 June 2019. Below are the video and transcript of the speech.Deputy Chancellor Elizabeth Magassy, Presenting Dean of the Business Faculty,...
Natalie Chapman speaks at the University of Sydney Graduation Ceremony
Transcript: First of all congratulations!! You’ve put in a tremendous amount of hard work to be here today. You and your family must be so proud. What an awesome achievement. As a Science graduate of the University 24 years ago. I’m extremely honoured to be delivering...
International Women’s Day: a balanced report
The theme for IWD2019 (8 March) is #BalanceforBetter: The better the balance, the better the world. The bad news We still have far to go before the Australian workforce is gender-balanced. Firstly, there are financial imbalances: Full-time average weekly...
More Insights
Media focus on innovators’ role in Australia’s recovery
Who do we need in a crisis? Resilient, creative people who embrace challenges as opportunities, see lateral possibilities others miss, and blaze a trail towards a brighter future with persistent hard work – people like our innovative clients in research and industry....
Is your business ready for Covid-19?
Australia is bracing for probable Covid-19 outbreaks which can heavily impact businesses if workers or their families become sick or if schools send children home for any length of time. Events will get cancelled and people will stop going out. At this point, you want...
A better world through education, unity and action
As a country, we are in the unfortunate position of witnessing first-hand what climate change is doing to our home, plants and animals. If we continue with ‘business as usual’ we are condemning our children and children around the world to a future with more severe...
You can’t commercialise your tech unless you communicate it
As a marketing communicator working in tech transfer, I frequently encounter STEM researchers and innovators who initially express scepticism about the value of my services. I strive to win them over, because (a) it’s a living and (b) they need my help, even if they don’t know it yet.
How to get the most out of attending an expo
Make your next expo visit a successful one with our expert tips. Spoiler alert: Most of the work happens before you arrive. Before you go Before booking an expo, do your homework and check it’s right for you. If you have an ideal customer you want to target, find the...