Grants of up to $250,000 to develop a product or service for commercial use

The NSW Government has joined forces with Innovation District Partners including Australian Catholic University (ACU) to identify businesses which are accelerating the commercialisation of research products to address the many disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

ACU is one of 12 partner institutions that have aligned with NSW Treasury, as part of the Boosting Business Innovation Program to deliver three rounds of challenges.

Innovation district partners will identify businesses with connections within their area, either through research relationships or physical location, that are potential products or services that address the challenge statement in order to commercialise their product or service. The first challenge to come up with health and wellbeing solutions that reduce the impact of COVID-19 on the people of NSW.

The total funding pool available for each Challenge is $500,000.

Expressions of interest are open now, until 11.59pm AEDT 1 November 2020.

ACU is conducting an Expression of Interest process for eligible businesses, which includes having some affiliation or partnership with the university. This will entail submitting an Expression of Interest through to ACU and conducting an eligibility check through NSW Treasury.

ACU will nominate three finalists, who will be among 36 finalists from each of the 12 innovation district partners. They will be competitively ranked by an independent panel against three criteria: impact, effectiveness, and delivery. The top 15 ranked businesses of the 36 finalists will receive a grant to accelerate the commercialisation of their products.

Full details of the challenge and how to apply, visit acu.edu.au