NSW Physical Sciences Fund

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 NSW DEIT can enter into a legally binding Deed of Agreement; or
  • 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 DEIT.
• Applicants must hold the Intellectual Property or the rights to commercialise the device/ system/innovation.
• An applicant can only apply for one project per funding round.

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 (Appendix A, Table 1 in the PSF Program Guidelines) and
• 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.

For applications in digital technology or defence-related technology, the following eligibility criteria apply:

• Only digital technology systems that support a physical science project will be eligible for the PSF.
• Technologies that have applications in the Defence sector will only be deemed eligible for the PSF if its primary purpose and revenue stream is commercial applications.
• The Subcommittee or the Expert Panel reserves the right to determine the eligibility of an application in software or defence-related technology based on the information provided in the application.

To be eligible, costs must be used for:

• prototyping 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

If your application is successful, we may ask you to verify the project cost and request evidence of costs such as supplier contracts, quotes, and invoices. You must demonstrate value for money by ensuring project costs are reasonable and reflective of market rates. We may use industry cost benchmarks to assess whether costs are reasonable. DEIT will make the final decision on whether a claimed cost is eligible or reasonable (and only pay the reasonable amount). For more information, refer to ‘How we monitor your grant activity section' in the PSF Program Guidelines

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
• Australian subsidiaries of international companies
• businesses with a revenue (excluding grant funding) of more than $2.5 million in FY2022/23
• businesses that are insolvent
• an individual, unincorporated association or partnership that will not form a company under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)

Joint applications between a business entity and research-based organisations (including universities) are encouraged. However, the business entity must lead the project, be eligible to apply and submit the grant application. The lead application (the business) must outline clearly in their application who the project partners are and how each partner will contribute to achieving the objectives of the project proposal. If a joint application is successful, the Deed of Agreement will be between the lead applicant and the NSW Government.

DEIT, at its sole discretion, can take publicly available information about an applicant into account that may cause a business to be ineligible for support, such as any personnel or business activities that could cause reputational damage or other risk to the NSW Government. DEIT may seek clarification from applicants in relation to its application, including seeking further information on the eligibility or assessment criteria.

DEIT reserves the right to assess the applicant's management, its Directors, Officers and entities or individuals that exercise control over an applicant against a fit and proper persons eligibility criterion.

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 are deemed to be in the very early stages of project development, where only basic principles have been observed and reported and no practical applications (e.g., devices) of the basic principles of the invention have been achieved (TRL 1-2)
• applications in digital technology that fall outside the definition mentioned above
• applications in defence-related technology that fall outside the definition mentioned above