Are the Australian government grants an indication of ‘hot topic’ areas for technical innovation?

This chart reveals a correlation between the Focus Areas of “AI” and “Advanced Manufacturing” and the Priority Areas of “Renewables and low emission technologies”. This suggests that the Australian Government is taking steps to bolster Australia’s green tech credentials and achieve Australia’s climate goals.⁷

There is also a correlation between the “AI” and “Advanced Manufacturing” Focus Areas with the rather cryptically named “Enabling Capabilities” Priority Area, which includes “manufacturing technologies and products that support the advancement of Australia’s industrial capability”. ⁸

However, the overlap with the largest number of projects is between the Focus Area of “Digital Agriculture” and the Priority Area of “Agriculture, forestry and fisheries”. This is perhaps reflective of the significance that agriculture has in the Australian economy, particularly in food exports⁹, and the rapid innovation occurring in AgTech.¹⁰

Another notable overlap is seen in the Focus Area of “Critical and strategic minerals processing” and the Priority Area of “Value-add in resources”. This may be unsurprising given Australia’s natural resources and the importance of those natural resources to Australia’s economy.¹¹

Innovation by the (patent filing) numbers

The “Australian IP Report 2025”¹² published by IP Australia provides some further insights to the trending technology areas in terms of Australia patent application filings. The report groups Australian patent applications together using technology groups according to a scheme maintained by the World Intellectual Property Organisation.¹³

Interestingly, none of the AEA Focus Areas directly correlate to the top 5 technology groups, which include Pharmaceuticals, Medical Technology, Biotechnology, Organic Fine Chemistry, and Civil Engineering.¹⁴

Correlations can instead be drawn between the trends in “strong” and “weak” growth technologies and the associated Focus and Priority areas.

For example, the Focus Area of AI (11 funded projects) falls within the technology group of Computer Technology which was a weak growth area according to the report. Computer Technology does not appear to include Quantum Computing which is instead treated separately. Driving funding in AI might be an attempt to reverse the stagnant growth of computer related applications, particularly in filings by local applicants. The recent softening of how patentable subject matter provisions are applied under Australian law may also assist in creating an uptick of applications.¹⁵

Additionally, the Critical and Strategic Minerals Processing Focus Area broadly aligns with the technology group of Materials Metallurgy which is a strong growth technology, albeit with only a 2.4% share of all patent applications in 2024 (trending up year on year from 1.4% in 2021). Again, this aligns with the importance of natural resources to the Australian economy.

There is also a notable correlation between Priority area of ‘Renewables and low emission technologies’ (10 grants across 4 focus areas) and the technology group of Transport. Patent filings under the transport technology group are up from a 2.8% share in 2021 to a 3.5% share of all patent applications in 2024. The Transport area is growing strongly, at least in part, due to filings by Chinese based applicants relating to EV’s^{16, 17}. The governments prioritising of Renewables and low emission technologies is on trend with this rise of the EV.

The increase in the filing numbers for Materials Metallurgy and Transport is notable as it bucks the overall trend for patent applications in Australia which have declined in recent years from a peak of 32,409 in 2021 to 30,478 in 2024. However, this overall decline is consistent with, and may be in part caused by, the decline in the filings for two of the top 5 technology groups: Pharmaceuticals, and Medical Technology.