Deakin University

Deakin University

Deakin University is one of Australia’s most progressive universities. Since our establishment in 1974, Deakin has evolved from a bold regional university into a globally connected leader combining future-focused education and world-class research underpinned by collaboration, innovation and real-world impact. 

With more than 500 partnerships across 65 countries, Deakin works closely with industry, government and community to connect partners with our world-class research, infrastructure and expertise. These collaborations accelerate innovation and translate ideas into scalable solutions that improve productivity, sustainability and resilience across key sectors, including agrifood. 

Partner with Deakin

Deakin University works in partnership with industry, government and communities to co-develop research-driven solutions that respond to real-world challenges. 

Through these collaborations, we support partners to access funding and resources, align projects with industry and community priorities, and leverage shared expertise to deliver mutually beneficial high value outcomes. 

From startups to multinationals and government agencies, we support organisations at every stage of the innovation cycle – helping ideas move from concept to commercialisation.  Discover more ways to partner with Deakin.

Agrifood research capabilities 

Deakin brings together cutting-edge research, emerging technologies and industry-led innovation to drive transformation across the food and fibre sector and supply chain. 

Our connected ecosystem of world-class facilities and innovation hubs enables partners to test, validate and scale ideas in real-world environments, delivering commercially viable solutions across the agrifood value chain while advancing circular, sustainable biomaterials and high-value ingredients for food, health and environmental applications. 

We work with partners to solve agricultural challenges from farm-to-table through practical, market-ready solutions across:  

• Circular economy 

• Waste Valorisation 

• Bio-refining of value-added proteins   

• Supply chain systems and traceability 

• Artificial intelligence   

• Systems modelling   

• Drones and vision systems for agricultural mapping and crop health monitoring

• Human factors and human performance   

• Autonomous systems and robotics   

• Digital twins   

Deakin’s research expertise 

Accelerate your research and development activities by connecting with our world-leading experts, facilities and equipment:

• Deakin Centre for Sustainable Bio-Products and The Deakin BioFactory - transforming waste streams into high-value products to future-proof industries and supply chains

• Deakin Institute for Intelligent Systems – Australia’s leading research team in delivering advanced systems engineering, modelling and simulation with real-world application

• Deakin Institute for Frontier Materials – world-class materials science and pilot-scale manufacturing capabilities 

• Deakin Applied Artificial Intelligence Initiative - Australia’s largest applied AI programs delivering impactful, industry-focused research and innovation solutions

• Battery Research and Innovation Hub – advanced battery design and development capabilities

• Deakin Hydrogen Hub - Australia’s first hydrogen hub pioneering research and innovation

• Safe Future Mobility Research Lab – improving transportation infrastructure through analysis, evaluation and modelling

• Deakin Centre for Marine Science – leading marine research centre driving innovation in aquatic environments.

   

We’re open to partnerships across the agricultural supply chain, including agri-food, freight and logistics, energy, retail, technology sectors. 

Our flexible investment model can be tailored to meet the needs each partner - supporting collaborative, outcome-focused innovation.