Deadline: October 10, 2025
The Government of Western Australia has opened applications for the Innovation Booster Grant (IBG) to support startups and small-to-medium enterprises in commercialising their innovative projects.
The objective of the IBG is to enable startups and innovative SMEs to progress their innovations through access to support services and expertise that improve the capability of the business to validate or commercialise a product. The IBG is designed to assist businesses to develop or enhance products or services that are commercially ready, or to reach a commercial ready stage; test, validate, or certify their Minimum Viable Product (MVP); procure specialist consultancy services to assist with Intellectual Property, marketing or commercialisation support; and/or address a specific technical problem that the business cannot solve themselves, or for which the solution is not readily available. Intended outcomes of the program are that businesses have greater access to capital to engage support services and experts, businesses access support services enabling them to address a technical problem progressing their innovation towards commercialisation, businesses develop new to market products that are commercially ready, the number of commercially ready innovations in WA increases, and Western Australia is a location of choice for product testing and development.
The Innovation Booster Grant is delivered under the $40 million New Industries and Innovation Fund (2025–29) and is administered by the Department of Energy and Economic Diversification. It specifically targets early-stage founders, innovation-driven SMEs, and startups in Western Australia that require support to refine, test, protect, validate, and certify their innovation.
In 2025, the program has been enhanced to increase its impact. The maximum grant amount has risen from $40,000 to $50,000. Additionally, the matched funding requirement has been reduced from 20% to 15% for targeted groups, including businesses headquartered in regional Western Australia, First Nations founded businesses, and female founded businesses.
Funding is restricted to expenses related to procuring external expertise and services. Applications that align with at least one of the priority sectors in the State’s Diversify WA economic framework will be given preference.
Applications for the 2025 round are open and will close on Friday, 10 October 2025, at 4:00pm (AWST).
For more information, visit Department of Energy and Economic Diversification.
