This NSW Government initiative provides competitive grants to NSW small businesses to develop and commercialise innovative solutions to problems facing NSW Government agencies.
Key information
- Status: Closed
- Grant amount: Up to $750,000
- Application opened: 25 November 2022
- Application closed: 14 March 2023, 9:00 am
Program objective
- Leverage the capacity of small business' R&D to address the needs of the NSW Government
- Make the NSW Government a proactive customer for innovation
- Increase the commercialisation of government funded R&D
- Support the technology and innovation sector in NSW
- Grow the number of innovative products, services and jobs in NSW.
This program is funded and administered by Office of the Chief Scientist and Engineer.
Eligibility
To be eligible for the SBIR program an applicant must:
(a) Have an Australian Business Number (ABN);
(b) Be one of the following entities:
- A small or medium-sized enterprise with under 200 full-time equivalent employees, or
- An individual or partnership, provided you agree to form a company incorporated in Australia to enter into a grant agreement, or
- A NSW public research organisation applying through its appropriate technology transfer office, provided you agree to form a company incorporated in Australia to enter into a grant agreement.
(c) Meet one of the following criteria:
- Be headquartered in NSW, or
- Conduct the majority of business research and development and production operations in NSW.
(d) Hold the Intellectual Property or the rights to commercialise the proposed solution.
(e) If successful, undertake to conduct SBIR program-related research and development work in NSW
What can’t you apply for
- Projects that occur outside the grant period
- Costs not related to the SBIR project
- Costs relating to rent or land acquisition
- Costs that are not reasonable nor reflective of market rates. We may use industry cost benchmarks to assess whether costs are reasonable.
Please review the full list of eligible expenditure in the SBIR Program Grant Guidelines.
Example projects
Project previously funding by the SBIR Program include:
- A modular system to enable scalable public Wi-Fi in remote locations where mobile coverage is unavailable or unfeasible.
- An antenna system to provide high data rate connectivity from satellites.
- A mobile app using smartphone camera and sensors to provide highly accurate location and navigation instructions in complex indoor locations where GPS is unavailable.
- A mobile app using smartphone sensors and installed ultra-wide band (UWB) beacon infrastructure to provide highly accurate location and navigation instructions in complex indoor locations where GPS is unavailable.
- A novel integration of advanced thermal imaging cameras on long range drones to detect koalas and other wildlife.
- An acoustic sensing device using a novel artificial intelligence algorithm to detect koalas and optimised for battery use, data storage and analysis time.
- A range of surgical respirators, masks, and gowns that meet both Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) performance requirements and international biodegradation standards.
- 3D-printed ceramic extrusion technology to recycle plastic waste such as PPE and other hospital plastics into high value filament cord used as feedstock in 3D printing.
- A mini wastewater treatment plant for industrial processes, removing nano and microplastics and other suspended particles, and improving water recycling.
Most recent recipients
What your application needs to include
Please review the Grant Guidelines on the SBIR Program website.
Prepare your application with this checklist
You must submit the following information with your application:
- A video presentation no longer than three minutes,
- Profit-and-loss statements from the last two years,
- Balance sheets from the last two years,
- A project budget.
Address the eligibility criteria
Each applicant, as part of an application response, must confirm that they meet the eligibility criteria.
The Office of the Chief Scientist & Engineer may request additional evidence from applicants to confirm that the meet the eligibility criteria.
Address the assessment criteria
Applications are assessed against the assessment criteria:
Solution
- To what extent would the proposed solution address the challenge statement, including the solution requirements?
- Is the proposed solution ready to enter the feasibility study stage?
- How is the proposed solution innovative and superior to what is currently on the market?
Commercial
- Does the application provide a reasonable plan for the next steps towards commercialisation, adoption and scale to service the challenge agency and other potential customers, including identifying potential barriers and how these will be mitigated?
- Does the proposed solution have commercial potential outside of the Challenge Agency?
- Given its commercial potential, does the proposed solution deserve public investment?
Delivery
- Does the company and project team have the appropriate skills and experience to carry out the project?
- Does the team have access to the equipment, technology, infrastructure and financial resources needed to carry out the project?
- Does the application provide a reasonable project plan, including budget, risk management plan and performance measures?
All assessment criteria are equally weighted.
After the application is submitted
Successful applications will be decided by: Secretary, Premier's Department
The applications will be assessed and both successful and unsuccessful applicants will be notified.
The assessment process will be led by the SBIR Expert Panel who will make recommendations to the decision maker.
During the assessment process, the Office of the Chief Scientist & Engineer may contact applicants to request additional information in relation to their application or eligibility.
An independent probity advisor will oversee the assessment process to ensure integrity, fairness and accountability, and transparency.
Support and contact
Email: sbir@chiefscientist.nsw.gov.au