The Australia Japan Innovation Fund is not currently accepting grant applications. When our new grant program opens in 2024 we will refresh the FAQs below.
We provide this information about our previous funding program for indicative purposes only.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for Expressions Of Interest (EOI) and Shortlisted Applications
How can I demonstrate the endorsement of participants and my institution?
At the EOI stage we don't need formal certification. Please just state in your proposal that all participants have agreed to participate and that your home institution will accept the project if it is successful. You should confirm for yourself that these statements are correct., If you are shortlisted we'll require evidence of those agreements in the form of emails or signed letters from the participants and your institution.
How many partners do I need?
The number of applicants will not affect the likelihood of success, but the team must include Japanese and Australian members plus industry (or other non-university) involvement in some form.
Does an industry or governmental organization need to play a specific role in research or is it enough that they contribute with money?
Many forms of industry engagement are acceptable. Partners are not required to contribute money but that is often a sign of their real interest so it's a useful fact to include. They do not have to be directly involved in the research but there should be some indication of how they play a role (e.g. by co-creation of the research question or providing access to materials or equipment or data).
Does my industry partner need to contribute money?
Partners are not required to contribute money but that is often a sign of their real interest so it's a useful fact to include.
Am I eligible if I don’t have an industry partner yet?
Research Organisations alone will not be eligible but all we need is an indication that you have some engagement with industry. If they are not engaged directly in the project then indicate whether they have helped develop the project, design the research question or played some other role. If you are currently in discussion with industry about applications of your research but they are not willing to be formal partners please explain that in the application.
What type of partners are needed if the applicant is a university?
As above, you do need to have an “industry partner” (non-university partner) engaged at some level. If you don't have industry engagement directly in the research itself you do need to explain the extent of discussion with industry about the relevance of the research to some industry problem or how your research would have industry applicability. This is required in the selection criteria which need to be explicitly addressed in applications. Government agencies, NGOs and other non-university partners are acceptable.
What is the success rate for applications?
It depends on the size of the application pool. We expect to make 2 or 3 grants.
What happens after I submit my EOI?
If you are shortlisted you'll be invited to give a full application which is a bit longer and more complete than the EOI. There will be several weeks available to develop it and it is not extremely detailed.
What can the budget be used for?
Please see the FAJS guidelines “What the Grant may be used for” and “What the grant money cannot be used for”.
Can I hire research assistants or provide student assistance/scholarships with the budget?
Yes, but please be aware that you cannot normally use the grant for salaries for researchers employed in continuing positions by the applicant institutions. You can hire staff or give scholarships for the fixed period of the project only. If the individuals are already in positions you must show that FAJS funds are used for additional periods of employment or support that would not have been provided otherwise.
Can money be transferred between partners?
Our grants are given to a single lead organisation. It is possible for the recipient to share the grant with the overseas partner. The method to do this will depend on the policy of the lead institution. In general, we do not expect that money will be transferred to the industry partner but the lead institution may use funds to cover some industry partner expenses such as travel for joint research.
Will I get feedback about my application?
We are afraid that we cannot answer questions about the selection results.
FAQ For Shortlisted Applications
Should two references be from academia or from industry. Is there any preference?
Reference letters may be from either or both academia or industry. One letter from each group will generally be most effective but there is no requirement on them except that they must be independent of your research project.
Is the section “Industry or other non-university partner details and roles” asking about the named industrial partner in our application, or additional potential industry partners other than named industry partner in our application?
The section in the application is about your current partner. We would like to know something about what the company/business/organisation does (e.g. what type of company are they and what industry sector are they in) and what role they will play in the research project (for example, will staff from the company carry out research with you or will the company provide facilities or equipment for your project etc).
Does the application require the endorsement from the institution of only the lead applicant or the respective institutions of all applicants included in the application?
We only need a signature from the lead institution. We do need an indication of willingness to participate from the other institutions if it was not provided at the EOI stage. Email messages will be sufficient.
Should we list contact details of our industry partner?
Please give us the contact details for the industry partner.
Do we need our industry partner sign off? We have a letter of support, but will that be okay?
The letter of support will be enough for now and you can get signature later if you are selected.
What is the allowable start date and end date for the grant round?
The normal start date would be the date on which the Agreement document is signed by the lead institution and FAJS. We have had projects that started before the money was actually paid because they had other funding or part of the project didn't require funding. The end date will be 12 months after the start.
When will funds be paid?
Funds will be transferred as soon as FAJS receives an invoice from the lead applicant, after the Agreement document is signed.
At the very end of the online application form, after the names of the two references, there is a part to fill in one address. Is that intended for our address (the applicant)? Or is that intended for the references' address?
Please put your own address in the section at the bottom of the form.
I'd like to know how you distribute this money. Will you give it directly to the lead institution or you'll divide it to each institution? I am asking this because this affect our overhead calculations.
We award the full amount to the lead institution and they can split it how they like with the partner. You should probably assume that you would pay overhead on the whole amount but you may actually be able to persuade your institution to charge only on the share that stays with your institution. We do not allow funds transfer to industry partners but lead institutions can cover some industry partner expenses if permitted by their institution and agreed with FAJS.
How will intellectual property be handled?
The intellectual property can be decided between the lead institution and your partners. The Foundation will not own any of the IP arising from the research. Most universities will have their own policy about IP and industry partners should discuss it with the university partner so both sides are clear about ownership at the beginning. In most cases the university will own the IP created by their employees but often they will come to an agreement with an industry partner about how ownership should be divided in a joint project. Background IP (that is any IP that the parties bring in to a research project from their previous work) will be recognised as belonging to that party.
If a grant is successful the Foundation and the lead institution will sign a document about the Terms and Conditions of the grant. The document makes clear that the Foundation does not claim any of the IP created by the research.
Can I (as a fixed-term early career researcher and one of the applicants) ask for a salary contribution?
If you are not a continuing employee of the lead institution (e.g. a fixed term ECR on the project) your salary contribution would be allowable but if you have a commitment from the institution to cover part of your salary FAJS requires evidence that the funds will pay for additional time and will not be substituting for expenses that the institution was committed to pay.
Can the funds be used to pay “overhead” costs at the lead applicant institution?
The Guidelines say that the grant cannot be used for items that we would normally expect a university or research institute to provide for all researchers such as electricity, phone, room rent etc. But we do allow an overhead fee to be paid where this is part of the normal policy of the institution when accepting grants. We would normally agree to an overhead of 15%. Higher overhead rates will need to be discussed with FAJS. Furthermore, if the institution’s policy is to charge room rental for specific projects (for example, if they need extra lab space to carry out this project and if the university normally charges researchers for their lab space) we are willing to discuss that on a project-by-project basis. It's not normal to do this in Australian universities which is why the Guidelines specify that room rent is not allowed, but we are aware that there may be different customs in Japanese research institutions and we can negotiate this if necessary.