UNSW Torch project celebrates 10 years

The University toasted 10 years of the Torch Innovation Precinct by signing an investment term sheet and hosting a gala dinner at the UNSW Sydney Kensington campus.

UNSW Sydney celebrated a successful decade-long partnership by signing an agreement that will commercialise new desalination technology in Australia, China and the rest of the world.

The project is part of the Torch Innovation Precinct (Torch@UNSW), a highly successful initiative based on a Chinese model, that bridges academic research with high-tech commercialisation.

The partnership, originally launched by then prime minister Malcom Turnbull and the late Chinese premier Keqiang Li in Beijing, was established between UNSW and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) of the People’s Republic of China in April 2016.

Ten years on, UNSW still operates the only precinct of its kind outside China. It has attracted $140 million in research contracts, with more than 290 projects involving more than 140 businesses from Australia, China and other countries.

One of the major achievements of Torch@UNSW has been founding the UNSW Centre for Transformational Environmental Technologies (CTET) in Jiangsu Province. It is a joint venture with Yixing Environmental Science and Technology Park (ESTP). The centre is accelerating the translation of UNSW technologies for water treatment, resource recovery and clean energy into commercial applications, benefiting communities in China and Australia.

The day of celebrations at the Kensington campus included a clean-energy forum and gala dinner and a signing ceremony between the CTET and ESTP relating to the commercialisation of UNSW membrane capacitive deionisation (MCDI) technology, which has applications in low-cost brackish-water desalination. 

At the dinner, the UNSW Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Attila Brungs, addressed about 100 distinguished participants, including the Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to Australia, His Excellency Mr Liu Jinsong, saying the past 10 years had proven how valuable the idea of sharing innovation ecosystems had been and how valuable it would continue to be.

“The challenges we face today are global: the transition to a more sustainable future, protecting our water resources and environment, ensuring food security and improving health and wellbeing for ageing populations,” Prof Brungs said.

“The Torch partnership is helping address these shared challenges – in Australia and China, and around the world. Over the past decade, Torch has connected UNSW research excellence with real industry challenges, enabled hundreds of collaborative projects and scaled solutions to improve lives via meaningful commercial outcomes. It has supported companies that now operate across both Australia and China.”

Prof. Brungs said that Torch’s success was about people working together across institutions and countries with a shared commitment to solving real-world problems and to having a positive impact for communities globally.

“UNSW is doing great work through our Centre for Transformational Environmental Technologies, through the support from Yixing Environmental Science and Technology Park,” he said. 

“Led by Scientia Professor David Waite and Professor John Fletcher, the UNSW team and the CTET team have developed renewable‑energy‑powered desalination units that can deliver safe drinking water to communities that need it most.”

He said the project had completed a trial in China and three in Australia using CTET-manufactured units showing that the technology worked in real-world conditions and was improving lives by providing a low-energy and low-maintenance solution for clean drinking water.

Prof. Brungs said the investment term sheet signed between CTET and Yixing Environmental Science and Technology Park would establish a spin-out company that would commercialise this technology in Australia, China and globally. 

He also said Torch@UNSW had played a defining role in how silicon solar cells were manufactured globally. The hydrogenation technology was pioneered by the late Professor Stuart Wenham and his team, working closely with major Chinese solar cell manufacturers including Canadian Solar, AIKO, LONGi and CHINT.

“Through long‑term industry collaboration under UNSW’s Torch program, this breakthrough moved rapidly from laboratory research into large‑scale commercial production. Today, hydrogenation has become a standardised process used in almost all modern silicon solar cell production lines, boosting cell efficiency and yield, while lowering cost.”

Expanding the frontiers of science 

Also speaking at the 10th anniversary celebrations was China‘s Ambassador to Australia His Excellency Liu Jinsong . Other guests included His Excellency Mr Wang Yu, Consul-General of the People’s Republic of China in Sydney, Nancy Gordon, CEO of the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations; and Professor Liu Qing, President of the National Innovation Centre par Excellence (NICE) in China and other industry partners.

Ambassador Liu said, a decade on, Torch technological innovation was expanding the frontiers of science and bringing together the complementary strengths of different countries and different fields.

“Right here at UNSW, there is a distinguished figure, Professor Martin Green. He has dedicated more than four decades to solar cell research, and his scientific collaboration with China has spanned just as long. He has supervised over 50 Chinese postgraduate students, many of whom have gone on to become pillars of China’s photovoltaic research and industry,” Ambassador Liu said.

“This year, Professor Green was awarded the China International Science and Technology Cooperation Award – a fitting recognition of his four decades of commitment to advancing China-Australia scientific and technological exchange… Your experience reminds us that truly sustainable innovation cooperation begins with shared needs, grows through mutual trust, and endures through long-term commitment.

“Next year will mark 55 years of diplomatic relations between China and Australia. The decade-long journey of the Torch Innovation Precinct stands as a powerful microcosm of this broader relationship.”

The Ambassador also said he hoped Australia and China remained open, inclusive, and respectful of differences.

“China and Australia have different national conditions and are at different stages of development; our innovation paths will naturally diverge. But difference is not a barrier; on the contrary, our differences can spark the very ideas that drive collaboration forward.”

The event followed a similar celebration in April, which was held in Beijing.