Made possible, together
Partnering with your organisation to transition to clean energy
Collaborate with us to create innovative solutions
Our ability to grow enough food, ensure ongoing access to clean water, and maintain healthy, functioning ecosystems is only increasing in Australia and globally.
We work with communities, businesses and governments to co-design practical solutions for the challenges facing our urban and natural environments.
Whether you’re a solo operator, have a business in agriculture, or work for government, we want to collaborate with you.
By combining your insights and experience with our expertise in research and technology, we can create bold solutions to address some of the most pressing issues in water, agriculture, and environment.
From providing policy insights to developing new technology
With expertise spanning all facets of water security, food production and ecosystems, we can work with your organisation in numerous ways.
It might mean deploying smart technologies, or creating new ones. We can provide knowledge and insights that complement your practices, or help you create new ways of doing things and make more informed decisions.
We can help with things like:
- Delivering safe water supplies
- Supporting healthy environmental systems
- Using remote sensing technologies to support agricultural productivity
- Improving farm productivity
- Planning better short and long-term water management
- Bringing together farmers, communities and traditional owners to develop strategies for managing the impact of a changing climate
- Enhancing resource management and informing robust policies.
Why our partners choose us
Open and collaborative
We take a genuinely collaborative approach to partnerships and believe trust and openness is key to lasting results. We work closely to understand your needs, evaluate the risks and identify the opportunities in every project.
Flexible and agile
True collaborations can – and should – evolve. We are committed to being responsive and transparent, and working together to ideate, test and develop the best solution.
World-class infrastructure
As a partner, you’ll have access to the infrastructure and resources that translate ideas into impact. This includes our purpose-built precincts such as Melbourne Connect and the Melbourne Biomedical Precinct.
Streamlined experience
Our capabilities mean working with us is easy, reliable and set up for success. All partnerships are assigned a dedicated relationship manager to be your link with the University – and ensure timelines and objectives are met.
Global leader in research
Consistently ranked a top university around the world for research*, we have world leading researchers dedicated to strengthening climate, water and environmental resilience.
*Times Higher Education World University ranking 2021.
Helping farmers survive drought
Less than 70 per cent of distributed irrigation water reaches farms – lost in transit through leakage, seepage, evaporation and measurement errors. As part of a long-term partnership with us, Rubicon Water has developed a much-needed system for automating irrigation, enabling up to 90 per cent of distributed water reach farms. The collaboration has also helped transform Rubicon from start-up to a publicly listed company, helping increase their impact globally.
- Impact: Farms worldwide are surviving drought, increasing crop yields, and saving billions of litres of water each year
- Innovation: Total Channel Control® – a system for automating irrigation
- Partner: Rubicon Water
- Partnership approach: Jointly developed IP
An early warning to avoid crop disease
The number one biological security threat to Australian agriculture is a bacteria called Xylella fastidiosa. In a collaboration with federal government, the University of Melbourne developed a way to detect Xylella in Australian olive and almond orchards, using hyperspectral and thermal imaging. Together, we are protecting our crops against future outbreaks.
- Impact: Helping to avoid the spread of plant disease in Australian crops
- Innovation: A model to detect Xylella in Australian olive and almond orchards
- Partner: Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (DAWE)
- Type of partnership: Ongoing multi-partner research project with government
Our partnership with the University of Melbourne has been instrumental in our ability to deliver solutions that solve the complex water-efficiency problems faced by irrigation districts and farmers around the world. The technological breakthroughs in the automation of channel and pipeline networks are the foundation of our position as market leaders in gravity-fed irrigation. Our recent collaboration with the University in the field of irrigation scheduling is further expanding our capability to increase the efficiency, productivity and sustainability of irrigated agriculture, from water source to crop.Bruce Rodgerson, CEO of Rubicon Water
Whether you have a specific challenge to overcome, or you’re interested in finding out about potential opportunities for your organisation to collaborate with us, get in touch now to start a conversation or subscribe to our climate change news.