About the Event Series

Disrupted is UNSW Engineering and UNSW Founders new monthly panel series where we dive headfirst into the fault lines of innovation, industry, and impact. Each month, we bring together a panel of experts, founders and industry insiders to interrogate the big, complex questions shaping Australia’s future, from manufacturing to mobility, climate to chips, quantum to clean energy.

Every conversation is timely, contentious, and deeply relevant, with a spotlight on how research becomes impact, through commercialisation, startup creation, and scale-up ambition.

• The format? Fast-paced, audience-driven Q&A.
• The tone? Bold, informed, and occasionally uncomfortable.
• The goal? To disrupt business as usual.

Always featuring voices from UNSW Engineering, our startup community and industry relevant speakers. Always asking: what comes next, and who’s making it happen?

Because disruption isn’t something to avoid. it’s something to lead.

May Edition - Collaboration with UNSW Energy Institute

Tariffs, Trade & the Clean Tech Domino: Who Wins in a Fragmented World?

Part of the Disrupted SeriesThe global energy transition has never looked so precarious, or so full of opportunity.

A hard decoupling is underway. Tariffs between the US and China are surged past 125%. Rare earth exports are being squeezed. And global supply chains for critical minerals, clean energy, and advanced tech are splintering under geopolitical strain.

But disruption breeds advantage.Australia and Southeast Asia are emerging as the next frontier for clean tech and climate infrastructure, attracting investment, forming new alliances, and driving industrial policy.

Panellist

• Ben Lindsay Investment Principal at Investible
• Dani Alexander CEO of UNSW Energy Institute
• Two more panellists to be confirmed

In this month’s Disrupted, we ask our panellists:

• How are trade shocks reshaping the clean energy economy, and who stands to gain?
• What’s Australia’s role as a supplier of lithium, nickel, and rare earths, and can we move up the value chain?
• How are startups across Sydney, Singapore, and the broader Indo-Pacific capitalising on fractured trade dynamics?
• Will geopolitics kill global innovation, or fuel a wave of regionally driven breakthroughs?

We’ll unpack the policy, the power plays, and the startup strategies emerging in response to a more divided world.Audience Q+A is open. Come with your questions.

About UNSW Energy Institute

The UNSW Energy Institute connects communities, industry, and government with world-class energy research and solutions. By driving collaboration across UNSW’s faculties and schools, and building strong partnerships beyond the university, the Institute accelerates the development and adoption of innovative technologies critical to Australia’s energy transition. With a vision for UNSW to be a global leader in the energy space, the Institute is focused on making energy more affordable, reliable, sustainable, and equitable, contributing to national prosperity and the broader UN Sustainable Development Goals.