Applications open for NSW Biosciences Fund (Australia)

Objectives

• The objectives of the BioSF are to:
  • improve commercialisation opportunities for NSW-based start-ups and businesses
  • provide financial support to progress the development of new and innovative devices and systems across the branches of the biological sciences (biotechnology and life sciences), including biomanufacturing, genetic engineering, synthetic biology and agrifood
  • realise benefits from innovation in NSW.

Funding Information 

• Grant amount: From $200,000 to $2,000,000

Eligible Cost

• To be eligible, costs must be used for:
  • prototyping, product development and piloting studies
  • manufacturing and/or scaling
  • conducting market research, testing and trials
  • regulatory approvals and other relevant certifications
  • salaries and access to external expertise that is directly related to delivery of the project
  • commercialisation strategies and commercial feasibility studies
  • project consumables directly related to delivery of project outcomes
  • specialist equipment and/or infrastructure necessary to progress the project
  • intellectual property protection or advice.

Ineligible Cost

• The grant cannot be used for the following activities:
  • the purchase of land or property
  • costs incurred in the preparation of a grant application or related documentation
  • project costs incurred prior to an offer of funding made to successful applications (no retrospective funding will be awarded)
  • project costs that are already the subject of another government grant, subsidy or financial assistance
  • general business costs including sales, marketing, rent and travel
  • solutions designed to improve internal business processes
  • activities that will not be delivered prior to the end of the grant funding period.

Eligible Project

• For a grant activity to be eligible it must:
  • have a maximum project period of two years (unless there are exceptional circumstances). Projects will require clear and achievable milestones (e.g. moving from TRL 3 to TRL 5) to support appropriate staging and monitoring
  • seek to progress an innovation along the commercialisation pathway
  • have an existing prototype/proof-of-concept
  • be TRL 3-7 on the TRL Scale
  • demonstrate why sufficient funding for the entire project cannot be accessed from alternative sources and that the project would not proceed at the proposed scale in NSW without government support.

Ineligible Project

• Ineligible projects include activities:
  • that are deemed to be in the very early stages of project development, where only basic principles have been observed and reported (e.g. TRL 1-2)
  • where the basic performance of the invention hasn’t yet been demonstrated in a laboratory setting or equivalent testing.

Eligibility Criteria

• To be eligible for the Program applicants must:
  • have an Australian Business Number (ABN)
  • be registered for the purposes of GST
  • be headquartered in NSW
  • be one of the following:
    • a company incorporated under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (including a company limited by guarantee)
    • an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Corporation registered under the Corporations (Aboriginal and /or Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (Cth)
    • an individual or partnership who agrees to form a company under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) so that the Department can enter into a legally binding Deed of Agreement
    • a NSW public research organisation or not-for-profit organisation applying through its appropriate technology transfer office or the Chief Executive Officer (or equivalent) of the organisation that will become a separate entity before entering into a legally binding Deed of Agreement with the NSW Government
  • hold the intellectual property or the rights to commercialise the device/system/innovation
  • apply for one project per funding round.

Ineligibility Criteria

• You are not eligible to apply for the Program if you are:
  • Australian or NSW Government agencies
  • not-for-profit organisations (with no plans to spin out)
  • local government
  • State Owned Corporations or statutory authorities
  • International companies or Australian subsidiaries of international companies
  • Subsidiaries of Australian companies (Note: the parent organisation needs to submit the application, and will need to satisfy eligibility criteria)
  • businesses with a revenue (excluding grant funding) of more than $2.5 million in FY2023/24
  • businesses that are insolvent
  • an individual, unincorporated association or partnership that will not form a company under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).

For more information, visit NSW Government.