QUT Commercialisation Club - Excolo! Pitching Competition Grand Final 2025

The Commercialisation Club will host the QUT Excolo! Grand Final

Teams will pitch for up to $100,000 in investment funding to develop their idea.

QUT Excolo! is an innovation pitching competition created to support QUT researchers to enhance their knowledge, experience and engagement with the process of research commercialisation and other alternative pathways to create impact from research.

Now into its fourth year, the QUT Excolo! program cultivates and develops QUT ideas, concepts, innovations, technologies and services to create real world impact.

Our research teams are currently completing a program of coaching and training that will culminate in a 5-minute pitch to an expert panel. They will vie for a share of $200k in investment funding to further develop and commercialise their research concept.

Our expert judging panel will select Champion and Runner Up pitch winners, and you the audience will vote for a People's Choice winner.

Our 2024 Runner Up - Theatre in the Sky will share an update on how the investment helped them; and demonstrate their application in action.

Watch Highlights from the 2024 Excolo! Grand Final.

Finalist Teams

• ReForm Plastics – From Bumper Bars to Building Blocks

• SynthX

• ASTRO: Upper Arm Active Stroke Rehabilitation Orthotic

• Guardrail: Privacy-Enhanced Smart Wallet

• OsteoCraft - Design. Print. Regenerate. Software Solution

• WineSense: Sensors to detect smoke taint in wine grapes

Judging Panel

Dr Erin Rayment (Chief Commercialisation and Development Officer) will moderate a panel of research commercialisation experts, entrepreneurial innovators and venture capitalists who will judge the innovation pitch of each team.

• Alejandra Romero (Investment Manager, Main Sequence) – Alex helps build and invest in deep-tech ventures tackling some of the world’s biggest challenges, with a focus on early-stage research commercialisation, manufacturing scale-up and advanced computing technologies.

• Gavin Keeley (Circle Leader ANZ, Circle Leadership Global) - A global technologist and innovation leader, Gavin has helped build startup ecosystems across continents, playing a key role in shaping Queensland’s innovation community through initiatives like Silicon Coast and FWD Fest.

• Dr Mike Lamprecht (Investment Associate, Tenmile) – Science-nerd turned investor, Mike brings 15 years of biotechnology and cell-therapy expertise to support early-stage founders advancing breakthrough health innovation, guiding regulatory strategy, clinical pathways and product translation.

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