- Innovation Seed Fund awards $5 million to 11 Western Australian innovators
- Grant recipients given an opportunity to develop and commercialise their innovations
- Cutting-edge projects to improve the health and wellbeing of all Western Australians
Western Australian innovators have been awarded $5 million in grants through the Cook Government’s successful Future Health Research and Innovation (FHRI) Innovation Seed Fund.
Medical Research Minister Stephen Dawson said this was the third round of the Innovation Seed funding and highlighted the State Government’s continued support of WA’s health and medical innovators.
For early to intermediate stage start-ups, the Innovation Seed Fund grants help advance innovation initiatives and better position them to attract further investment from traditional funding sources.
WA Innovator of the year 2022,Neurotologix, is among 11 innovators awarded funding, receiving $500,000 to further enhance its world-first Remote Oculography Monitoring Informatics (ROMI) system.
ROMI is an at-home remote patient monitoring system for dizziness and vertigo, allowing clinicians access to critical information that had previously been unavailable.
Como-based company, REX Ortho, received $500,000 to support the development of the F-REX Screw, an expandable screw designed to improve the outcomes for hip fracture patients and significantly reduce the need for revision surgeries.
Cardiovascular disease is responsible for nearly 30 per cent of deaths in WA, and CoraMetix has been awarded $500,000 to support research into the next generation of 3D printed heart valves.
Since the first round of grants in 2022, the Innovation Seed Fund has awarded almost $20 million across 37 different grants.
The Cook Government established the productive FHRI Fund in 2020, which is backed by the State’s almost $1.8 billion sovereign wealth fund. This has resulted in nearly $250 million being available over the next four years to support health and medical research and innovation in Western Australia.
As stated by Medical Research Minister Stephen Dawson:
“This is another significant investment opportunity by the Cook Government to support our local innovators to fast-track their brilliant, world-leading ideas to market.
“We are keen to position WA as a global leader in medical research and innovation and the Innovation Seed Fund is an important cog in our strategy to make this happen.
“And the WA community can be reassured that this funding is helping the brightest minds in our State to generate innovative solutions to improve health outcomes for all Western Australians.
“Congratulations to all the recipients on their efforts and hard work that have been recognised through this round of funding. Your projects will contribute towards the ongoing evolution of the health and medical landscape in WA.”
Responsible Entity | Activity title | Funding awarded |
VeinTech Pty Ltd | Right vein, first time, every time: Clinical validation and commercialization of VeinWise technology | $500,925 |
REX Ortho Pty Ltd | REX Screw: Design for manufacture and regulatory testing of a novel, expandable screw to improve surgical outcomes for hip fracture patients | $499,870 |
Inspiring Holdings Pty Ltd | Developing a novel nebuliser spacer device to improve the delivery of inhaled medicines for people suffering from respiratory conditions | $500,000 |
The University of Western Australia | Non-invasive test of skin healing potential for treatment stratification of burn injury patients – Proof of feasibility | $99,970 |
CoraMetix Pty Ltd | Advanced manufacturing of a next generation heart valve using polymeric materials and automated 3D printing to deliver lifetime durability | $500,000 |
Australian Institute of Robotic Orthopaedics Pty Ltd (AIRO) | Development of Precision Laser-Assisted AIRO-x Knee Implant for Advanced Osteoarthritis: Paving the Way to Local Manufacture, Job Creation, and Regulatory Approval | $479,251 |
Setonix Pharmaceuticals | A Cancer Immunotherapy Booster in a Pill | $499,375 |
Neurotologix | A health economics trial to demonstrate the effectiveness of the Remote Oculography Monitoring Informatics (ROMI) system to triage patients with vertigo and dizziness and reduce hospital outpatient waitlists in a public hospital environment | $498,920 |
The University of Western Australia | Commercialising a novel rapid combined culture and molecular microbiological test for early detection of sepsis | $353,873 |
The University of Western Australia | Quality and quantity: a novel drug to enhance and extend levodopa therapy for Parkinson’s disease | $499,411 |
Curtin University | Early Detection of Platinum-Chemotherapy Drug Response in Solid Tumour Biopsies | $493,640 |
