- Government provides record amount of grant funds to 49 innovators
- $3.56 million awarded via Innovation Booster and Commercialisation Bridge Grants
- More than 40 per cent of grant recipients have female founders
A northern suburbs business specialising in using seaweed to manufacture an alternative to plastic is one of 49 local innovators to share in a record $3.56 million of grants from the Cook Government.
Innovation and Digital Economy Minister Stephen Dawson Minister said the multimillion windfall for these leading local innovative businesses was being made through the Government’s popular Innovation Booster Grant (IBG) and the new Commercialisation Bridge Grant (CBG) programs.
Successful grant recipients include northern suburbs company Uluu, which is based in the Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre in Watermans Bay. The business is adopting an in-house manufacturing process to use seaweed to make a range of alternative plastic products, including containers and textiles.
The funding has been awarded to a wide range of novel innovators including one business seeking to develop an AI textile sorting machine, another that is developing a system to enable people with mobility issues to access light aircraft and another that is producing high-protein livestock feed all year-round.
Of the 49 recipients, 21 have female founders, seven are based in regional Western Australia and two are First Nations businesses, reflecting the strong diversity of Western Australia’s innovation ecosystem.
The IBG has been awarded to 38 local companies with each receiving up to $40,000 to advance their ideas. This latest grant allocation follows the announcement of 26 local recipients earlier this year, who received around $1 million in funding.
In its first ever round, the CBG has been awarded to 11 local companies with each receiving up to $200,000 in matched funding to assist with bridging the gap between commercialised innovation and a scalable business.
The 38 IBGs will receive $1,480,645 in funding, with 36 being funded by the New Industries Fund (NIF), the 11 CBGs will receive $2,076,590 in funding, with nine funded by the NIF.
In line with the Cook Government’s Health and Medical Life Sciences Industry Strategy, the remaining two IBG and two CBG recipients will be supported through Health and Medical Life Sciences funding.
Applications remain open for both programs, all year round.
For more information see: https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-jobs-tourism-science-and-innovation/new-industries-fund-innovation-booster-grant and https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-jobs-tourism-science-and-innovation/new-industries-fund-commercialisation-bridge-grant
As stated by Innovation and the Digital Economy Minister Stephen Dawson:
“We have an amazing and talented cohort of local innovators who are doing incredible things and the Cook Government is committed to assisting WA’s innovation ecosystem to thrive and prosper.
“We are targeting innovation growth with funding support through both the Innovation Booster and Commercialisation Bridge Grants scheme to provide this assistance at a variety of different stages.
“We want local innovators to build their businesses here in WA where they can continue to generate connections and develop their businesses.
“Congratulations to all 49 recipients of this round of IBG and CBGs. I am looking forward to seeing the leaps of progress that each of them will make with this vital early-stage and scale up funding.”
List of Innovation Booster Grant recipients
Business Name | Project | Grant ($A) |
Biotome Pty Ltd | Intellectual Property for a novel preeclampsia risk test | $39,760 |
Threadup Australia Pty Ltd | Semi-autonomous AI textile sorting machine – fibre to fibre recycling | $39,000 |
Full Fat Ventures | Sustainable year-round vertical production of high-protein livestock feed | $40,000 |
Cenergy Tech Pty Ltd | “E-Mast” – developing an electric powered integrated Foiling Mast | $40,000 |
Neolixir Ltd | Intellectual property protection for a novel, scalable, antimicrobial resistance solution | $40,000 |
Research Tech Pty Ltd | Quantum security for cloud and virtualised environments | $40,000 |
Y-Trace Pty Ltd | Providing a superior assay for export in smart beehive monitoring system | $40,000 |
Nexa Oceania Pty Ltd | Development of hydrogen pipeline relining solution | $40,000 |
Access To Leisure and Sport Inc (ATLAS) | Innovation enabling people with mobility issues to access light aircraft | $33,920 |
Origin Business Consultants | Development of streamlined online business registration portal, with focus on Indigenous businesses | $40,000 |
Cognety Pty Ltd | Food recognition and behaviour change to improve health through diet | $40,000 |
Eat Sustainably Pty Ltd | Commercialisation of the ‘Eat Sustainably’ platform for organisations to action Scope 3 ESG goals | $40,000 |
Rapid Responder Pty Ltd | Development of Rapid Responder; an initial emergency responder preparedness tool | $40,000 |
Abraham Scientific t/a Aquila Scientific | Development of microbiology diagnostic plates for agriculture and veterinary use | $40,000 |
IP Collective Pty Ltd | Development of the GridTec power supply system | $40,000 |
Kate Parker (Dash) | Dash development of financial integrations | $40,000 |
Heailthigence Pty Ltd | Medsafe-AI: enhancing medication safety in neonatal intensive care units | $40,000 |
Filit Pty Ltd | Child development, behaviour and wellbeing system | $39,424 |
MinBioteck Pty Ltd | Development of new biotechnology mineral discovery tool | $40,000 |
Capability X Pty Ltd | Development for CX Edge Control | $40,000 |
Green Thumb Botanical Consulting | Development of Green Thumb virtual herbarium database and ID tool | $21,120 |
Vernico Pharmaceuticals Pty Ltd | Manufacturing single use liquid sachets of pharmaceutical-grade coconut oil emollient | $40,000 |
We Spot Pty Ltd | Developing the accuracy of photo-recognition model | $39,507 |
Hermes and Soteria | Software development for Overwatch vault and internal systems supporting commercialisation | $40,000 |
Red Earth Pollen Pty Ltd | Establishing a novel phytomedicine industry for WA using bee propolis | $40,000 |
MyTab | Development of MyTab’s WA hospitality and tourism in-app advertising feature | $31,914 |
Health and Spice | High protein, allergen-free, nutritious plant-based milk from Tiger nut tubers | $40,000 |
Conifr Technologies Pty Ltd | Scaling the innovation of sustainability analytics solution | $40,000 |
Work Metrics | Workers compensation digital twin diagnostic MVP | $37,600 |
Satva-Urja Technologies | Cost effective production and recycling of battery cathodes | $40,000 |
Yokefellow Pty Ltd | Development of MVP for new pregnancy nutrition, community and education app | $40,000 |
Farm Optimisation Group | A decision-tool to help farmers manage price and weather variations | $40,000 |
Andrew Joseph O’Neil (t/a HUMBL. Devices) | HUMBL Looper Pedal – real-time audio time-stretching without pitch alteration loop pedal | $40,000 |
Magic Wavelength Pty Ltd | WATERME portable device to indicate a plant’s water needs | $40,000 |
Zentient | A platform helping not-for-profit organisations build digital capability | $38,400 |
Serenity Life | Development of employee wellbeing, empowerment and mentoring tool: Take5 to Survive Burnout | $40,000 |
Oqea Pty Ltd | Modernising mental healthcare: digitally Identifying inefficiencies in the system | $40,000 |
Reliis Ltd | Getting the dose right – modelling existing data to optimise formulation | $40,000 |
List of Commercialisation Bridge Grant recipients
Business Name/Company | Project | Grant (A$) |
C Sea Solutions Pty Ltd (t/a Uluu) | Scaling a novel alternative to plastic made from seaweed using fully in-house manufacturing | $200,000 |
Neurotologix Pty Ltd | Commercialisation of remote patient monitoring device for dizziness and vertigo | $200,000 |
Apsyrtus Biotechnology t/a VetChip | VetChip animal user interface development project | $200,000 |
Customa Pty Ltd | CustomaSEAL – navigating the path to commercial manufacturing scale up | $200,000 |
SpaceDraft Pty Ltd | Commercialisation readiness for SpaceDraft as an embedded management tool | $150,000 |
SynGenis Pty Ltd | Commercial manufacturing of short morpholino patches for RNA therapeutic development | $140,000 |
Juice Batteries Pty Ltd | Scaling the hybrid diesel replacement system across global markets | $200,000 |
Whole Green Foods Pty Ltd | Winx processing technology compact model prototyping | $200,000 |
Engentus Pty Ltd | Development of Gen 2 TopTorque fastener technology to provide faster, safer and more accurate bolted joint assemblies | $200,000 |
Azitec Pty Ltd | Commercialisation team readiness for Azitec Pty Ltd | $186,590 |
Agile 8 Pty Ltd (t/a Agili8) | Project 3P to build sovereign capabilities | $200,000 |
