This is a single round, competitive technology development and commercialisation program funded by the Future Economy Fund’s Commercialisation Pathways Program, which drives the commercialisation of highly innovative ideas into new products, processes or services.
Key information
- Status: Closed
- Grant amount: From $200,000 to $4,000,000
- Application opened: 22 December 2022
- Application closed: 2 February 2023, 10:00 am
Program objective
The objective of the QCCF is to progress quantum computing hardware and software towards commercialisation within NSW. The QCCF targets innovative quantum computing hardware and software within technology readiness level (TRL) 3 – 7 and aims to help companies move along the TRL scale, increase the technical maturity of their technology, and enable them to attract large-scale private investment.
This program is administered by Department of Enterprise, Investment and Trade, Investment NSW, and Office of the Chief Scientist and Engineer.
Eligibility
Who can apply
To be eligible for the QCCF, applicants must be based and headquartered in NSW and be 1 of the following:
- a company incorporated under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (including a company limited by guarantee) that has an Australian Business Number (ABN)
- 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 DEIT can enter into a legally binding Deed of Agreement
- a NSW public research organisation applying through its appropriate technology transfer office or the chief executive officer (or equivalent) of the research 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 innovative quantum computing hardware and/or software.
Who can't apply
Ineligible applicants include:
- Australian or NSW Government agencies, local government, state owned corporations or statutory authorities, Australian subsidiaries of international companies
- businesses that are insolvent
- an individual, unincorporated association or partnership that will not form a company under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).
Eligible projects
The project must:
- have a maximum project period of 3 years (unless there are exceptional circumstances). Projects will require clear and achievable milestones (such as, moving from TRL 3 to TRL 4) 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.
Eligible support
QCCF funding can be used for:
- prototyping and piloting studies
- manufacturing and/or scaling
- conducting market and product assessments
- salaries and access to external expertise that is directly related to delivery of the project
- commercialisation strategies and commercial feasibility studies
- specialist equipment and/or infrastructure necessary to progress the project
- intellectual property protection or advice.
The support considered for successful projects under the QCCF will be in the form of a grant to be provided in accordance with a deed of agreement entered into with DEIT.
Grants provided for projects would be:
- a minimum of $200,000
- a maximum of $4 million
- paid over a maximum of 36 months.
What can't be funded
Applicants eligible for funding from any other NSW Government grant program for the same outputs and/or outcomes are not eligible for the QCCF.
Other 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 and no practical applications of the basic principles of the invention have been achieved (TRL 1-2).
- activities where the basic performance of the technology hasn’t yet been demonstrated in a laboratory setting or equivalent testing.
Examples of ineligible activities for funding:
- solutions designed to improve internal business processes
- general business costs including sales, marketing, rent and travel
- project costs that are already the subject of another government grant, subsidy or financial assistance
- project costs incurred prior to an application being submitted (no retrospective funding will be awarded).
Most recent recipients
What was approved
Approved for Diraq
The project will allow Diraq to commercialise its first product - a cloud accessible 10-qubit processor over a three-year period.
$3,004,551 was approved by
Minister for Science, Innovation and TechnologyDate approved
June 2023Location of the recipient
SydneyAbout the grant
Applications approved
3
Applications received
15
Quantum Computing Commercialisation Fund
Program term
3 yearsWhat was approved
Approved for Q-CTRL
This project will create a hybrid quantum computing software as a service solution for the financial sector, helping to solve high-value optimisation problems faced by financial companies. Hybrid quantum computers, available today, have errors that prevent them from finding true optimal solutions. This project will create technology that neutralises these errors.
$2,342,202 was approved by
Minister for Science, Innovation and TechnologyDate approved
June 2023Location of the recipient
SydneyAbout the grant
Applications approved
3
Applications received
15
Quantum Computing Commercialisation Fund
Program term
3 yearsWhat was approved
Approved for Quantum Brilliance
The Qristal Emulator is a software package that runs on regular classical computers and provides realistic emulation of quantum hardware. It allows users to design quantum algorithms that solve computational problems using the inherent properties of quantum systems (e.g., entanglement).
$1,445,000 was approved by
Minister for Science, Innovation and TechnologyDate approved
June 2023Location of the recipient
SydneyAbout the grant
Applications approved
3
Applications received
15
Quantum Computing Commercialisation Fund
Program term
3 yearsWhat your application needs to include
Application checklist
Applications must include:
- a brief overview of the proposal and how it meets the eligibility criteria.
- details of the applicant/partners involved (including any existing collaborative partnerships with industry organisations) and the impact/rationale for the grant sought
- schedule of the estimated costs of commercialisation of the innovative quantum computing hardware and/or software
- why sufficient funding for the entire project cannot be accessed from alternative sources
- project/product development stage, the value and type of support requested, estimated total cost of the project
- details of whether the applicant has other income streams (such as other active businesses) and why they cannot be used to fund the proposal
- details of any other co-contributions to the project, including from the applicant and other sources
- a short description of the project’s expected benefits, including how it will facilitate commercialisation
- the intended location of the project in NSW
- how the project aligns to the Roadmap and Framework and builds the NSW Quantum Ecosystem
- details of how the proposal will be implemented, the requirements for successful implementation and identified risks and their mitigants and/or controls
- details of the project governance structure (such as, project board, advisory boards, stakeholders, etc.)
- details of the market structure (such as supply chain logistics, end customers, distribution stream)
- demonstrated capability and capacity to deliver the project.
Important information when submitting
Applicants must:
- submit the online application form through SmartyGrants, ensuring all questions are answered or indicated not applicable
- clearly identify in their application (including attachments) any information that the applicant requests be treated as confidential
- authorise their application. The application must be authorised by at least one of the core participants (that is by the head of the organisation or their authorised delegate). If applying as a consortium, the lead applicant must authorise the application.
Applications can include co-funding proposals and potential leveraging opportunities. If other in-kind assistance is sought, these should be included in proposals where feasible, and will be considered during the assessment process.
Late proposals will not be considered except where DEIT is satisfied that the integrity and competitiveness of the program has not been compromised.
The applicant must repay the grant if the organisation achieves a specified level of economic success. The specific terms of this repayment such as time period and other factors will be agreed to as part of the deed of agreement negotiations.
Joint applications
Joint applications between a business entity and research-based organisations (including universities) are encouraged. However, the business entity must lead the project and submit the grant application.
The lead applicant (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.
After the application is submitted
Successful applications will be decided by: the Minister for Enterprise, Investment and Trade based on the recommendations of the independent expert panel.
DEIT may seek clarification from any applicant in relation to its application, including seeking further information on the eligibility or assessment criteria.
At any time during the assessment process, if falsified or incorrect declarations are identified, the application will be deemed ineligible by DEIT and denied progress in the QCCF process.
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.
Support and contact
Program evaluation
DEIT will evaluate the QCCF to measure the extent to which the program’s objectives have been achieved and may use information from applications and reports for this purpose.
DEIT may also interview applicants or related consortia and ask for more information to understand how the program impacted projects and to evaluate how effective the program was in achieving its outcomes.
This could include information about revenues, costs, employment, and other matters. DEIT may contact applicants up to three years after receipt of final grant payments associated with the program for more information to assist with this evaluation.