Research Infrastructure Co-investment Fund (RICF)

The Research Infrastructure Co-investment Fund (RICF) is a Queensland Government initiative designed to bolster the state's world-class research capabilities. By aligning with national research priorities, the fund drives a collaborative approach – bringing together universities, industry partners, and research facilities to accelerate the commercialisation of groundbreaking ideas.

Strategic investment focus

RICF investments have targeted key growth areas vital to Queensland's future, including:

• Climate-resilient agriculture: Establishing high-throughput plant imaging and sensing pipelines to accelerate climate-tolerant crop varieties and advance carbon-neutral farming.
• Renewable energy & battery technology: Advancing next-generation energy storage, processing pipelines, and regional infrastructure.
• Biomedical & therapeutics: Supercharging drug discovery pipelines and advanced medical imaging to position the state as an Asia-Pacific clinical hub.
• Critical minerals & circular economy: Supporting exploration, recycling, and sustainable resource extraction from mining byproducts.
• Biodiversity & environmental systems: Deploying near-real-time environmental monitoring networks and climate resilience tools across vulnerable ecosystems.

Current recipients: 2023–2026 cohort

Between 2023–2026, RICF has delivered close to $15 million in targeted funding to optimise world-class research infrastructure across Queensland. Below are the eight foundational facilities and recipients of the latest RICF funding round actively driving these advancements. See information on previous recipients.

Australian Plant Phenomics Facility (APPF) – Queensland Node

• Funding: $2,084,000
• Core impact focus: Climate-Resilient Agriculture & Nature Capital
• Investment outcome: Establishing a new specialised node for high-throughput plant imaging and sensing pipelines. Combined with advanced data processing, this infrastructure accelerates the breeding of climate-tolerant crop varieties, mitigates environmental pressures on farm productivity, and drives progress toward carbon-neutral agriculture.
• Visit the APPF website

Microscopy Australia – Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis (UQ)

• Funding: $2,165,718
• Core impact focus: Critical Minerals & Circular Economy
• Investment outcome: Establishing the Natural Resources Innovation & Characterisation Hub (NRICH). This facility delivers high-sensitivity advanced imaging required to analyse mixed ore bodies, optimise battery technology manufacturing, and scale the commercial recovery and recycling of complex mining waste.
• Visit the Microscopy Australia website

Bioplatforms Australia – Queensland Node

• Funding: $1,204,000
• Core impact focus: Biodiversity & Translational Medicine
• Investment outcome: Embedding state-of-the-art "omics" tools across Queensland laboratories, including genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics. This high-capacity data infrastructure directly underpins native biodiversity conservation mapping while supercharging local biomedical research pipelines.
• Visit the Bioplatforms Australia website

National Imaging Facility (NIF) – Queensland Node

• Funding: $2,000,000
• Core impact focus: Advanced Biomedical Imaging & Diagnostics
• Investment outcome: Bringing together Queensland’s leading medical research institutions to build a highly skilled workforce in biomedical image AI and data pipelines. Funding enhances accessible MRI and molecular imaging, accelerating how clinical discoveries are translated from the lab into real-world patient treatments.
• Visit the National Imaging Facility website

Therapeutic Innovation Australia (TIA)

• Funding: $2,000,000
• Core impact focus: Therapeutic Drug Discovery & Translation
• Investment outcome: Establishing the Queensland Drug Discovery Alliance. This initiative bridges the gap between early-stage laboratory discoveries and clinical trials, supercharging the state's drug development pipeline and positioning Queensland as an Asia-Pacific hub for therapeutic translation.
• Visit the Therapeutic Innovation Australia Website

Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF) – Queensland Node

• Funding: $2,000,000
• Core impact focus: Advanced Fabrication, Quantum, & Cleanrooms
• Investment outcome: Upgrading advanced micro- and nano-fabrication equipment to support precision engineering. This infrastructure provides the specialised cleanroom capabilities needed to develop advanced medical devices (such as needle-free vaccine patches) and emerging quantum technologies.
• Visit the ANFF Queensland website

Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN)

• Funding: $2,000,000
• Core impact focus: Ecosystem Monitoring & Ecohydrology
• Investment outcome: Deploying specialised flux and ecohydrology sensors across Queensland's natural and agricultural landscapes. This infrastructure provides industry, researchers, and land managers with rapid, machine-to-machine access to near-real-time ecosystem data to track environmental pressures and manage natural capital.
• Visit the TERN website

The UQ National Drone Research Platform

• Funding: $1,536,000
• Core impact focus: Environmental Resilience & Geohazards
• Investment outcome: Developing a centralised, high-tech drone research platform to monitor complex landscapes. This infrastructure allows for rapid, high-resolution aerial mapping to track habitat loss, predict geohazards, and build regional resilience against severe climate change events.
• Visit the UQ Drone Research Platform

What's next

As the final cohort completes their infrastructure milestones, full case studies and impact outcomes will be highlighted here.