Funding opportunity with NSW TechVouchers

Apply for the NSW Government's TechVoucher program and your project could receive up to $50,000 in research collaboration grants.

The TechVoucher program is a co-funding initiative aimed at increasing collaboration between researchers and small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) in NSW by supporting the commercialisation process.

If your project is approved for a TechVoucher, it will be awarded 50 per cent of the total eligible project costs in matched funding, up to a maximum of $50,000.

Eligible TechVoucher businesses

To be eligible for a TechVoucher, businesses must:

• have an ABN registered in NSW and be based in NSW
• employ fewer than 200 employees, as defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, at the time of application
• not be a subsidiary of a revenue-generating business locally or overseas - if part of a group, the parent company or entity must apply on behalf of the consolidated entity and meet all eligibility requirements
• not be owned by, employ or have any financial ties of any kind with any of the proposed researchers for the project
• have the rights to commercialise their products or services and/or not infringe on existing protected IP
• demonstrate adequate matched funding (no in-kind) has been secured for the project
• not receive, and will not be receiving, any other grant or subsidy for the same project from a state government or Commonwealth agency or department
• operate in one of the following industry sectors or technologies:
• clean energy and waste
• medical and life sciences
• digital systems and software
• defence and aerospace
• international education
• visitor economy
• agriculture and agrifood
• resources
• digital technologies
• advanced manufacturing
• biotechnology

Eligible Expenditure

Investment NSW will pay up to 50 per cent of Eligible Expenditure. Funding will only be provided to projects based on eligible expenditure that is incurred after the project start date and is directly related to the TechVoucher project.

Labour costs

Salaries, or parts of salaries, of staff assigned specifically and directly to the delivery of the project.

Travel costs

Must be domestic, reasonable, and proportionate to the overall cost of the project. As an example, air and rail tickets are expected to be economy class, and car rentals at the lowest available rate at time of booking.

Equipment and material costs

Spaces, equipment, and consumables used for the delivery of the project.

Third party costs

Costs of external staff, researchers, consultants, or services hired directly for the purpose of delivering parts of the project.

Other expenditure will be considered at the discretion of Investment NSW where the Delivery Partner can demonstrate the costs were directly related to completion of the project.

Ineligible Expenditure

Expenditure is ineligible if it is not directly related to the delivery of the TechVoucher project.

Investment NSW may also impose limitations or exclude expenditure, or further include some ineligible expenditure listed in these guidelines, in a funding agreement or other means by notice to you.

The following are examples of ineligible costs:

• travel and accommodation cost for conferences, workshop, training sessions or all other events not directly related to the delivery of TechVoucher projects.
• all forms of advertising and the production of promotional material (including websites and applications whos primary purpose is not linked to program advertising or promotion.).
• all administration costs related to the uptake and/or administration of the delivery of TechVoucher projects.
• all grants, sponsorship and prize costs following an open, competitive selection process for the purpose of encouraging collaboration, upskilling or research commercialisation.

This list is not exhaustive and applies only to the expenditure of grant funds. Other costs may be ineligible where they do not directly support the achievement of the planned outcomes for the TechVoucher project or that they are contrary to the objective of the Program.

Eligible TechVoucher projects

To be eligible for TechVoucher funding, projects must:

• start on the date of execution of the TechVoucher Schedule and be completed within 12 months.
• involve active collaboration between ACU and the business.
• have a defined commercialisation outcome.

What is active collaboration?

Collaboration can occur at various stages of the project or be continuous through the research and development (R&D) process. Different types of collaborative projects are eligible:

• Contract research: The business has a particular commercialisation problem that needs to be solved. Once the project has been precisely defined, scoped and budgeted by both applicant and delivery partner, the university or research organisation conducts the research. This gives the business access to leading expertise, often while retaining the intellectual property rights.
• Collaborative research: The business undertakes research together with ACU. Intellectual property is usually shared between the business and the .
• Use of research equipment, facilities and co-location: The business locates its activities, part of its activities or some of its employees on campus, alongside researchers, uses existing research infrastructures such as labs, and actively engages with the academic community to foster ideas and overcome commercialisation difficulties. This can be for a predefined amount of time, or as a permanent ongoing collaboration with initial setup costs.
• Faculty secondment: A researcher goes on secondment to the business for a set amount of time to gain insights, bring technical expertise and an innovative approach, and to solve a real-world commercialisation problem.

Defined commercialisation outcome

Commercialisation outcomes are specific to each business's needs. These must be specified in the project documentation before the start of each project and include the quantifiable/measurable expected innovation resulting from the project.

Commercialisation outcomes include:

• developing an innovative product or service, or part of an innovative product or service, with progression on the Technological Readiness Level Scale (TRL)
• solving a technical or technological problem that hinders development of a product or service and progression on the TRL scale
• improving a business's internal R&D capacities
• improving the business model, commercial processes or parts of the commercial processes
• improving understanding of a complex market, for strategic fit.

More information

Download the TechVoucher guidelines for details relating to the project selection process, execution, reporting and payment of funds.

Download the TechVoucher 'How it works' flyer for an overview of the flow of events for an approved project.

If you need any further information, please email Anthony Bayss at anthony.bayss@acu.edu.au