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In collaboration with the state government’s Space Innovation Fund, the University of South Australia’s Innovation & Collaboration Centre (ICC) launched its commercial space program. The program is called Venture Catalyst Space (VCS) and will be composed of aspiring South Australian entrepreneurs.
The VCS is a program created to support emerging space-tech businesses. Besides the much needed funding, participants will also expect mentoring and networking opportunities. VCS “has previously backed 29 start-ups that have collectively raised $14 million in additional investment and grants since the initiative’s inception in 2018.”
According to ICC director Jasmine Vreugdenburg, this year’s participants are some of the most substantial start-up companies in South Australia. Vreugdenburg added, “the local talent joining our program is a true testimony to the successful development of South Australia’s commercial space ecosystem. We know our NewSpace sector is growing by more than 64 per cent per year, and we are well on track to grow our industry by more than $8 billion by 2023.”
The latest participants joining the program are South Australian start-up companies who are dealing with a multitude of things from cleaning up space debris and junk to companies who wish to build real-time visualisation tools designed for extensive data.
The participants will undergo an intensive six-month accelerator course, and they will be joined by founders coming from India, Canada and New Zealand. Susan Close, deputy premier and minister for defence and space industries, noted that the VCS continues to help companies develop and grow innovative ideas in the space sector.
Close added that through the VCS, start-ups become successful and do amazing things in the industry as the industry is growing rapidly and is now currently building critical capability. The VCS also helps attract international companies to expand their companies in Australia. One good example is the Canadian company Metaspectral. According to CTO Migel Tissera, they plan to open an Australian office staffed with local talent. Tissera added that their company aims to capitalise on Australia’s interest in space by providing access to their technology.
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