UNSW Launch – defence and security innovation precinct

Polis Partners worked with the University of New South Wales (UNSW) to realise the vision for ‘Launch Canberra City’, a purpose-designed defence and security innovation facility at its Canberra City campus, positioned to become the nucleus of a nationally and globally recognised defence and security innovation precinct.

Having successfully piloted the defence and security innovation hub, we worked with UNSW to develop a strategy to scale the concept into a larger facility in Canberra City. This work needed to harness the pilot's momentum while navigating complex stakeholder dynamics, including balancing university governance pressures, ACT Government expectations around urban activation, and defence industry demand for secure, collaborative spaces that went beyond traditional models.

We conducted extensive consultation sessions across defence industry leaders, prime contractors, SMEs, government and academic stakeholders to shape the design of the new hub, including graduated security zoning, flexible collaboration and event spaces, co-design with potential tenants, and innovative approaches to balancing openness with protective security requirements.

We developed a phased roadmap with defined goals and success measures over the next five to ten years, setting out specific, actionable recommendations across governance, academic collaboration, tenant management and industry partnership models. Our roadmap gave UNSW a clear path to scale the pilot concept while sustaining stakeholder engagement and confidence, and de-risking the significant campus investment.