New Food and Beverage Accelerator launched

The new FaBA (Food and Beverage Accelerator), led by The University of Queensland and funded through the former federal government’s Trailblazer initiative, was officially opened on Thursday night.

FaBA involves UQ, University of Southern Queensland and Queensland University of Technology, as well as industry partners including Eden Brew, All G Foods and Nourish Ingredients.

Assistant education minister Anthony Chisholm, who launched the centre on Thursday, said that it would link elite researchers and industry to deliver more efficient ways of manufacturing, and more nutritional and sustainable products.

“FaBA will give Queensland’s food and beverage industry a significant boost and will generate an estimated 1,700 skilled jobs, 20 new start-ups and 30 new products and ingredients,” he said in a statement.

“It will also train the next generation of Australian researchers across food science, biotechnology and engineering to build industry-related capabilities in the food and beverage sector.”

Industry and research partners will also provide $110 million in support to FaBA, with the federal government providing $50 million in funding. 

Six Trailblazer universities have been awarded $50 million each in federal support, with cash and in-kind contributions, with a further $45 million to help access specialised equipment at CSIRO. The funding term is from 2022-2023 to 2025-2026.

Funding for FaBA and several other Trailblazers — one of the Coalition government’s policies to improve commercial returns from public research — was announced in May last year in the lead-up to the election.

A Trailblazer focusses on a theme within manufacturing, based on the former federal government’s six National Manufacturing Priorities, including mineral processing, defence, and space.

Picture: credit UQ

Further reading

$50 MILLION FUNDING AWARDED TO FOUR-YEAR DEFENCE MANUFACTURING PROJECT

USQ-LED SPACE MANUFACTURING HUB AWARDED $50 MILLION TRAILBLAZER GRANT

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AWARDS $50 MILLION TO NEW CLEAN TECH AND RECYCLING TRAILBLAZER HUB