EQUS researcher awarded entrepreneurial scholarship
Congratulations to EQUS researcher Dr Matt van Breugel, who has been awarded a Stanford Australia Foundation–CSIRO scholarship through this year's CSIRO ON Accelerate program.
Tennille Vanderstaay, executive manager of CSIRO's ON program, said the scholarship recipients "demonstrated exceptional entrepreneurial spirit, a learner’s mindset, leadership and drive throughout the program."
The scholarship will allow Dr van Breugel to take up an executive education program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business in California, USA.
Dr van Breugel is the CEO and one of the founders of Redback Systems, a deep-tech startup by a team of researchers from EQUS and other Macquarie University labs.
The team participated in ON Accelerate as part of their journey to commercialise a compact, affordable and robust high-resolution spectrometer.
"Receiving the Stanford Australia Foundation–CSIRO Scholarship is a reflection of the work invested by the team," Dr van Breugel said.
"The ON Accelerate program presented many challenges and forced us to question many of our assumptions.
"Countless hours were spent learning and executing new ways of thinking, and we have emerged with new skills and experiences to carry us forward."
In addition to Matt's scholarship, the Redback Systems team was awarded a $25,000 runway booster prize to help them get their spectrometer to market sooner.
The team's efforts were enabled by EQUS' Translational Research Laboratory, which awarded them $50,000 in 2019.
The Translational Research Laboratory is a flagship program of EQUS, with dedicated staff and funding to help move EQUS research beyond the lab and towards application.
Dr Michael Harvey, Program Manager of the Translational Research Laboratory, said "Matt and the whole Redback Systems team are a great example of what success can come if we support, encourage, and nurture our Australian researchers and entrepreneurs.
"I look forward to supporting them to even greater success in the future."
Professor Andrew White, EQUS Director, added his congratulations and said: "the Translational Research Laboratory is an experiment in finding new ways for our research to benefit Australian society.
"Results like this show it’s going gangbusters."
Matt is planning to travel to California to take up the scholarship next year.
Major funding support
The Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems (EQUS) acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present.