Science Digital Transformation Program

Program Objectives

The SIEF Science Digital Transformation Program is intended to support research and development of digital capabilities designed specifically for scientists to change how they work. This program aims to support the delivery of digital transformation for CSIRO science and engineering activities, empowering CSIRO researchers with leading edge digital technologies, thus increasing innovative science, and producing more frequent and impactful scientific breakthroughs.

The SIEF Science Digital Transformation Program Round 2 closed on Friday 28 February 2025.

Eligibility Criteria

  1. Research activities must align with the SIEF Primary Purpose and the Program Objectives
  2. The grant is to be used solely for research and development activity, as that is defined in the OECD Frascati Manual (and specifically, experimental development)
  3. Research activities must be collaborative, demonstrated by either collaboration within CSIRO, and/or with researchers external to CSIRO
  4. CSIRO must be the lead applicant for and recipient of the grant
  5. The proposal must be endorsed by a CSIRO senior executive confirming that, from a CSIRO perspective, the proposal is aligned with CSIRO strategy and considered a high priority
  6. The funding request of SIEF must be a minimum of $1,000,000 and maximum of $16,000,000
  7. Project duration must be no more than four years (funds to be fully dispersed from SIEF by 30 June 2029)
  8. Sufficient details must be provided to enable SIEF Trustee to form a view as to whether the grant would represent strong value for the use of public monies

Please refer to the Science Digital Transformation Program Guidelines for further information.

Application Review Process

An independent External Review panel will be convened by SIEF to consider the application and provide a recommendation to the SIEF Trustee as to whether the application the meets eligibility and quality criteria to warrant SIEF funding. All recommendations to the Trustee will remain confidential; all investments are subject to final decision by the SIEF Trustee; no funding will be granted unless a SIEF Funding Agreement has been entered into between the successful Applicants and the Trustee within a specified timeframe.

Forms and Templates

Science Digital Transformation Program Guidelines and Application form Round 2

Milestone Table Template Round 2

Projects funded

As of July 2025, SIEF has funded 2 projects via the Science Digital Transformation program:

Science Digital – Data61

Science Digital is harnessing generative AI to create a scalable, secure platform as a service that brings commoditised AI assistants (AI agents) to our labs and researchers. The platform will enable CSIRO scientists to build AI assistants easily, to integrate them in their scientific discovery workflows, and to interact with them safely and responsibly within an organisation-wide generative AI ecosystem not accessible until now.

Science Digital will push the scientific frontiers of generative AI and apply insights directly to the lab in an easy to access, secure and trustworthy format with proven value-add for scientist users. Science Digital will solve the following problems:

1. How can we utilise AI to augment and elevate the scientific process, not only by automating some tasks in the scientific workflow, but how can AI bring in new information, enable cross domain collaboration and accelerate discovery?
2. How to automate common, difficult or dangerous tasks in science labs using robotics?
3. How to assist and augment scientists in the ideation, hypothesis generation, experimental design and execution and output analysis?
4. How can AI assistants automatically and reliably coordinate multiple scientific activities?
5. How to develop a general-purpose AI solution that can coordinate multiple scientific tools and AI-driven workflows to augment the scientific workflow to accelerate scientific discovery across scientific domains?

Total SIEF funding – $10,356,000

National Energy Analysis Centre (NEAC) – digital infrastructure catalysing Australia’s energy future

This project establishes the digital capabilities that will underpin the National Energy Analysis Centre (NEAC), a critical piece of CSIRO-led digital research infrastructure that will guide and streamline Australia’s energy transformation and transition to net zero. NEAC will build on modern socio-technical systems science, incorporating both human and technical aspects. It will be accessible to researchers, policymakers, innovators and industry for assessing options that inform the future of energy in Australia.

NEAC will be comprised of:
1. Living Lab – A digitally connected, large-scale network of real people in real environments, sharing their energy use data and preferences, including from their own homes and businesses down to individual appliances.
2. Systems Science Toolbox – A system-level model and analysis suite for Australia’s overall energy system, including electricity, heat, gas, coal, hydrogen and other emerging energy types, and mapping supply through to demand. The Systems Science Toolbox will allow users to interrogate the potential impacts of new approaches and technologies, incorporating rich systems analysis, workflow tools and data visualisation.
3. Physical Infrastructure Integration – Links from the virtual NEAC to physical facilities such as CSIRO’s Renewable Energy Integration Facility (REIF), to allow robust emulation, simulation and testing of energy innovations and future scenarios.

NEAC addresses the need to evolve from the siloed and fragmented nature of Australia’s energy ecosystem to a coherent, data-informed, systems-science approach that enables faster and more holistic feedback for research, policy development and innovation, including the adoption of new products and practices, with a resultant risk reduction across all relevant technologies.

For more information, see the CSIRO website.

Total SIEF funding – $5,450,107