Mike Collins Commercialisation Scholarship

History and purpose:

Mike Collins was the Director of the Physics and Engineering Division, and later Director General, of the DSIR.

Mike was a physicist exploring the upper atmosphere. He was also an early champion of the internet and organised a DSIR division of information technology which at one stage ran one of the world’s 10 WANs and was recognised as a leader in this area. Later he became the first chair of Viclink (now known as Wellington UniVentures), and it was in in this arena that we had our first commercial triumph. He enjoyed watching people grow and went out of his way to support young and up-and-coming scientists.

This scholarship was initially established jointly between Mike Collins personally and Viclink (now Wellington UniVentures) to encourage Physics students to undertake research degrees. In 2021 Wellington UniVentures redeveloped it in its current form to better support postgraduate students develop commercialisation skills, with support from Mike's family.

This scholarship is available to Victoria University of Wellington postgraduate research students. It provides the opportunity to contribute to the commercial development of a project in the areas of Physics, Engineering, Materials Science or Electronics, whilst at the same time developing your commercialisation skills.

The Mike Collins Commercialisation Scholarship supports recipients to undertake a part time research commercialisation project for 12 weeks, and is accompanied by mentoring and training in best practice commercialisation techniques. It is designed to be equally valuable to those considering a career as an academic, a startup founder for a deep tech company, or in the commercialisation of research.

The scholarship is to be directed to developing and translating an innovation derived from research in the Physics, Physical Chemistry and/or Engineering disciplines.

The intent is to support the development of skills through assisting with the translation of an existing innovation, resulting from University research out to the wider community for practical use and impact. The project may include the development of a new product, service or prototype that allows the research innovation to find use in the community. Funding new research activity is not eligible under this scholarship.

Applicants must be enrolled at Victoria University of Wellington in a discipline substantially related to Physics, Engineering, Materials Science or Electronics at postgraduate level, or in a relevant discipline with sufficient knowledge to work on a project in this area.

Selection Criteria:

• Applicants must be currently enrolled at Victoria University of Wellington, undertaking postgraduate study (PhD, Masters or Honours level).
• The scholarship must be used to support a substantial step towards translating an existing research-derived innovation to the wider community for practical use and impact. Examples of eligible activity include the development of a product, service or prototype to implement innovative research findings. The scholarship may not be used to fund new research activities.
• The project may relate to the student's own work where it ties to a Wellington UniVentures commercialisation project, OR it may be provided by Wellington UniVentures.