What is SIEF?

Spanning a history of over 85 years, the Science and Industry Endowment Fund (SIEF) provides grants to science and scientists for the purposes of assisting Australian industry, furthering the interests of the Australian community and contributing to the achievement of Australian national objectives. In 2009, this unique and esteemed funding arrangement received a substantial gift from CSIRO facilitating the rejuvenated Fund to be a mechanism for significant support of science in Australia.

In 2017 the NSW Department of Industry entered into a Deed of GIFT with the Trustee of SIEF to establish the Generation STEM program. Generation STEM is a ten year initiative that has been established to improve outcomes in STEM education and employment pipeline in NSW. The initiative aims to attract more diverse and high‐potential students into NSW‐based STEM educational pathways, and retain top performers in NSW‐based STEM employment and/or further education to increase the supply of a STEM-skilled workforce in the state.

In 2018 National ICT Australia Limited (NICTA Ltd) entered into a Deed of GIFT with the Trustee of SIEF, to establish the Future National ICT Industry Platform Program. The Program, to be funded by the Gifts from NICTA, is enabling a series of grants to fund on a collaborative basis, substantial scale research activities in the field of information and communications technology (ICT). It is intended that the outcomes from the Program will benefit Australia by helping create new Australian technology-based industries and/or applied technology platforms that can reach global scale. The Program will extend over a period of up to six years.

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