iMOVE has 3 years to go … get those project ideas in!
iMOVE is nearly 7 years into its 10-year funding period and our project activity continues to build. We signed up 13 new projects in the quarter to September, and a further 5 projects to date in the current quarter. Those 18 projects add up to a cool $8 million of new work.
As a CRC we have a short 3 years of existence remaining. Three years is not a particularly short period, except when you are trying to execute three-year projects. The pressure is coming on all of us to get started on the last tranche of projects that you want to undertake with iMOVE. We need to make sure all these projects are completed by the time the CRC crosses the finish line in June 2027.
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The time is now
As you could gather from the numbers above, project ideation and formation at our partner organisations is hotting up. So much so that iMOVE now anticipates it will exceed its original research activity targets. There’s now a very strong prospect that iMOVE will allocate its remaining Commonwealth funds to projects well before the end of the CRC. Current expectations are that all funding will be allocated by December 2025.
To accommodate this rush of project formation we will transition our allocation of Commonwealth funds to projects to a first-come, first-served basis from January 2024 (Yes, now!). All of which goes to say that CRC participants and partners are encouraged to accelerate their project formation plans, even for projects that are scheduled to operate in future years (2024-2026).
iMOVE’s finite life, combined with increasing interest from industry partners, is introducing a sense of urgency to project formation. At the current rate we expect our project formation process to finish at, or possibly even before, December 2025.
Of course, all of this is projection, but one thing is certain. iMOVE’s ability to subsidise projects ends when all its funding has been allocated.
Let’s talk!
We’re seven years in but we remain as excited as ever by the enthusiasm to undertake exploratory projects in transport and mobility. We will do our best to help you establish your high priority initiatives and welcome any opportunity to talk to you about your hopes and plans.
