The Engineering Design Group (EDG) at the University of Melbourne has forged an ongoing teaching, research, design and development liaison programme with industrial partners, in particular with small and medium-sized enterprises. A government-sponsored centre, the Advanced Engineering Centre for Manufacturing has provided the necessary financial and human resources to facilitate this collaborative work. The EDG collaborative programme incorporates a staged liaison model: short-horizon senior undergraduate industrial projects and medium-horizon product design and development opportunities that can include training for industry clients, leading to long-horizon collaborative projects that attempt to enhance the technologies used in Australian industry.