Australia-India Cyber and Critical Technology Partnership (AICCTP) - Grant Round 5

IMPORTANT: Please read information below to assist you in completing your application online.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Welcome to the Australia-India Cyber and Critical Technology Partnership (AICCTP) Grant Round 5 online grant application service.

Submissions close on Friday 19 December 2025 at 17:00 Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time (AEDT) (UTC +11:00)/ 11:30 India Standard Time (IST) (UTC +5.30).

You must read the Grant Round 5 Guidelines before filling out an application. These guidelines provide detailed information on the following:

• the purpose of the grant program/ grant opportunity
• the eligibility and assessment criteria
• how grant applications are considered and selected
• how grantees are notified and receive grant payments
• how grantees will be monitored and evaluated
• responsibilities and expectations in relation to the opportunity.

The AICCTP provides funding to support Australia-India collaborations that will help shape a global technology environment that meets Australia and India’s shared vision of an open, inclusive, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific, where the rules-based international order is upheld. The AICCTP contributes to the Australian Government’s commitment to work with the global community to ensure greater security and prosperity for everyone underpinned by the safe and fair development and use of critical technologies.

The priority areas of the AICCTP’s 2025-26 Round 5 grant opportunity are:

1. Development of international standards to support the deployment of transparent and securely designed technologies (including but not limited to artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, digital public infrastructure, biotechnologies and emerging space technologies):

• Brokering and supporting industry-led multi-stakeholder research collaboration between Australian and Indian researchers on setting international standards, to ensure technology markets are transparent and competitive, and that products/services are secure and safe by design.
• Increasing collaboration between industry, research institutions and government to advance the adoption of trusted and secure technologies in the Indo-Pacific, including through innovative use-cases that cater to regional priorities.
• Collaborating on ethical models and pathways to drive access to, and adoption of, trusted and secure technologies in the Indo-Pacific, including securing supply chains and promoting ‘safety by design’ practices.

2. Building cyber resilience and security in the Indo-Pacific

• Collaborating on research and pathways that support countries in the Indo-Pacific region to improve their cyber resilience and adopt trusted technology and ICT services, cybersecurity services, and digital public infrastructure. 
• Collaborating on building the resilience of critical infrastructure assets, including submarine cables, combatting cybercrime and securing supply chains. 

3. Defending an open, free, secure and interoperable internet in international forums through governance mechanisms

• Collaborating on research that promotes a multi-stakeholder model of internet governance and strengthens the capacity for all stakeholders, including industry, civil society, academia, and the technical community, to develop and engage on internet governance mechanisms.

Indian institutions must partner with at least one Australian institution to apply for the grant, as the Australian institution will be responsible for receiving and distributing monies under the grant (in line with the financial regulations of Australia (Reserve Bank of Australia) and India (Foreign Contribution Regulation Act). If there are multiple Australian institutions involved, only one can be identified as the lead institution for the purposes of administering the grant monies.

We welcome research collaborations with third countries as part of the Australia-India research partnerships.

Round 5 closes on Friday 19 December 2025 at 17:00 Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time (AEDT) (UTC +11:00)/ 11:30 India Standard Time (IST) (UTC +5.30).

You may begin anywhere in this application form. Please ensure you save as you go.

After you have read the guidelines, if you have any further queries, please contact us by email at aicctp@dfat.gov.au and quote your submission number.

If you need more help using this form, download the Help Guide for Applicants or check out Applicant Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's).

NAVIGATING (MOVING THROUGH) THE APPLICATION FORM

On every screen (page of the form) you will find a Form Navigation contents box, this links directly to every page of the application. Click the link to jump directly to the page you want.

You can also click 'next page' or 'previous page' on the top or bottom of each page to move forward or backward through the application.

SAVING YOUR DRAFT APPLICATION

If you wish to leave a partially completed application, press 'save and close' and log out. When you log back in and click on the 'My Submissions' link at the top of the screen, you will find a list of any applications you have started or submitted. You can reopen your draft application and start where you left off.

You can also download any application, whether draft or completed, as a PDF. Click on the 'Download PDF' button located at the bottom of the last page of the application form.

SUBMITTING YOUR APPLICATION

You will find a Review and Submit button at the bottom of the Navigation Panel. You need to review your application before you can submit it.

Once you have reviewed your application you can submit it by clicking on 'Submit' at the top or bottom of the screen or on the navigation panel. You will not be able to submit your application until all the compulsory questions are completed and there are no validation errors.

Once you have submitted your application, no further editing or uploading of support materials is possible.

When you submit your application, you will receive a confirmation email with a copy of your submitted application attached. This will be sent to the email you used to register.

If you do not receive a confirmation of submission email then you should presume that your submission has NOT been submitted.

Hint: also check the email hasn't landed in your spam or junk email folder.

ATTACHMENTS AND SUPPORT DOCUMENTS

You may need to upload/submit attachments to support your application. This is very simple, but requires you to have the documents saved on your computer, or on a storage device.

You need to allow enough time for each file to upload before trying to attach another file. Files can be up to 25MB each; however, we do recommend trying to keep files to a maximum of 5MB – the larger the file, the longer the upload time.

COMPLETING AN APPLICATION IN A GROUP/TEAM

A number of people can work on an application using the same log in details as long as only one person is working at a time. Ensure you save as you go.

SPELL CHECK

Most internet browsers (including Firefox v2.0 and above; Safari; and Google Chrome) have spell checking facilities built in – you can switch this function on or off by adjusting your browser settings.