August 2022

Welcome to this edition of the New Industries WA newsletter which aims to keep you informed of recent updates within Western Australia's innovation community, in addition to upcoming events and current opportunities available to innovative startups and SMEs.

Congratulations to the 2022 WA Innovator of the Year Finalists!

Minister for Innovation and ICT Stephen Dawson announced this year's Innovator of the Year (IOTY) finalists on 10 August 2022. This year's finalists include a diverse mix of founders and innovators, including five female founders. The finalists will compete for awards in six categories, with a total prize pool of $140,000 available to help winners commercialise their innovations. All category winners will be announced at the IOTY awards ceremony that will be held on 5 December 2022, during West Tech Fest.

The WA Innovator of the Year awards are funded through the State Government's New Industries Fund and supported by Principal Sponsor Rio Tinto. Program sponsors include Woodside, Wesfarmers, Business News, Wrays, Griffith Hack, iPrep WA, CERI, Moore Australia, Murfett Legal and PwC.

Congratulations to the 2022 Innovation Booster Grant recipients!

34 successful recipients of the 2022 Innovation Booster Grant (IBG) were announced on 18 July 2022 by the Western Australian Government. More than $643,000 has been awarded to innovators across the state to help commercialise their innovative ideas and projects, including 15 female founders, 4 regional and one indigenous founder. We wish them all every success as they advance through their commercialisation journey.

Read more. For future updates on IBG, visit the Innovation Booster Grant website.

AusBiotech 2022 and AusBioInvest 2022 Conferences, being held in Perth from 26 to 28 October, will bring together Australian and international Life Sciences leaders and stakeholders in a forum to discuss new and emerging issues critical to the industry.
The AusBiotech conference provides a comprehensive programme of sessions, bio-industry exhibits, satellite events and AusPartnering, the business matching programme that assists delegates to streamline their meeting schedules, helping them make the most of the largest annual life sciences conference in Australia. Professor Marvin Caruthers will deliver this year’s Millis Oration keynote address. The AusBioInvest conference aims to build connections between businesses and investors to further support the innovation pipeline across Life Sciences.

Register now and save with your exclusive ticket to AusBiotech 2022 before early-bird registrations close Friday 26 August 2022.

$1.2 million committed by the Western Australian Government to establish WA's first Creative Technology Innovation Hub

The Western Australia Creative Technology Innovation Hub (WACTIH) was announced on 30 June 2022 by Innovation and ICT Minister Stephen Dawson in Bunbury, and will operate in collaboration with the State Government, Edith Cowan University, City of Bunbury and industry to stimulate and grow Western Australia's emerging creative and immersive technology industry. The first job is to appoint a Director, with the hub looking to become operative in the next few months.

INSEAD Business School students to study our startups

The INSEAD Startup WA Summer Program ('SSUP1'), involved teams from the global business school visiting startup centres and reporting on their findings. Teams from France and Singapore campuses are visiting WA to interview startup founders and investors.

This is one of the initiatives emanating from the recently signed MoU between the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation (JTSI) and INSEAD Business School. Minister Stephen Dawson welcomed the students at an event held on 4 August 2022 to celebrate the signing of the JTSI-INSEAD MoU.

Image Source Supplied

Western Australia join the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program(REAP)

Representatives from across Western Australia's innovation ecosystem joined seven other regions in Cohort 9 of MIT REAP, a global entrepreneurship program. The first of the four in-person visits, was held on 28-30 June this year (see photo above). The project is part funded by all participants including the Western Australian Government's New Industries Fund, together with leads Woodside Energy and Rio Tinto, and will help accelerate the development of the State's innovation ecosystem.

Western Australian Government helping agriculture innovators grow

Organised to help AgriStart 2022 HARVEST Agtech Accelerator Program's eight participating businesses increase their knowledge and build capacity across the agtech sector, the Western Australian Government supported their visit program to the South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub located at the Merredin Dryland Research Institute through the New Industries Fund. The Grains Research and Development Corporation and Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development were also major partners in the program.

Image Source Supplied

2022 London Tech Week

The Government of Western Australia sponsored ten WA-based startups and high-growth ventures to participate in the London Tech Week, the UK's tech flagship event, that was held in person for the first time in 3 years, in June 2022.

uDrew's Founder and CEO Tom Young, who was one of the participants said, "...as the week progressed and we met more and more people, we spread our wings and flew, setting up some huge meetings with UK and EU heads of departments for places like Salesforce, Microsoft, and several economic development experts. Following tech week itself, we had to hire a car to drive around for all the meetings and ended up clocking about 1000kms from London, Dorset, Oxford Thames and Ipswich in 48hrs to cover demand." A great testament to the success of the tech week!

Western Australia business mission to United States

Minister for Innovation and ICT, and Medical Research, Stephen Dawson led a very successful mission to the United States of America in June 2022. The aim was to promote Western Australia's growing health and medical research, innovation and ICT, and life sciences sectors, and foster connections with its counterparts in the USA for investment attraction and commercialisation opportunities. The mission included representatives from 13 different organisations across WA's health, medical research and life sciences sector.

Western Australian Government awards $8 million across 17 health and medical innovation initiatives

Through the inaugural Innovation Seed Fund 2022, which is part of the Western Australian Government's Future Health Research and Innovation Fund initiative, 17 innovative medical and health research projects will share in $8 million of funding to help improve health and medical outcomes for Western Australians. Four of the recipients of this award- VeinTech Pty Ltd (2021 WA Innovator of the Year award winner), What the Doctor Said Pty Ltd, Medivitals Pty Ltd, and Inova Medical Pty Ltd were also previous recipients of the WA Innovation Vouchers Program. Fantastic to see innovative projects progress to next levels of achievements and success!

Spacecubed, recipient of Lotterywest grant

Western Australian startup ecosystem supporter, Spacecubed received $5.9 million Lotterywest grant. Presented by the Innovation and ICT Minister Stephen Dawson, the grant will enable Spacecubed to continue to enhance WA's innovation ecosystem through collaboration, research and funding.

Western Australia's largest Invest and Trade India mission

State Development, Jobs and Trade Minister Roger Cook and International Education Minister David Templeman led the State's largest ever business delegation on an Invest and Trade Western Australia mission to India in July 2022. The visit was a great opportunity to explore and foster mutually beneficial trade relationships between Western Australia and four major cities in India including Delhi, Mumbai, Visakhapatnam and Chennai. While sharing about his experience as part of the delegation, Alex Jenkins, Director WA Data Science and Innovation Hub said, “India being one of the largest and fastest-growing startup ecosystems in the world, it was really great to witness on ground this huge market with its rapidly growing tech sector and explore potential collaborative opportunities with multiple tech innovation hubs such as the iTNT Hub and medical research facilities such as AMTZ (Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone)".

Congratulations to the 2022 Premier’s Science Awards Finalists!

The Premier and Minister for Science recently announced twenty-nine of Western Australia’s scientists, STEM students and engagement programs as finalists in the 2022 Premier’s Science Awards. This year’s finalists include a scientist researching the geological and environmental causes for mass extinction events, an award-winning astronomer who helped commission the Murchison Widefield Array, and a primary school in the remote Pilbara region celebrating Indigenous culture through a cutting-edge STEM Virtual World.

Category winners, as well as the 2022 WA Science Hall of Fame inductee, will be announced at the Awards Ceremony at Optus Stadium on 29 August 2022.

Work begins on new deep space antenna in Western Australia

Construction has begun in Australia on European Space Agency’s (ESA) fourth deep-space antenna, which will help fill a gap in supporting communications and data download for upcoming missions exploring our Solar System, studying our Universe and protecting Earth from solar hazards and risky asteroids. When completed Western Australia will host two of ESA's four deep space ground stations.

Events & Opportunities

WADSIH – Insight Upskilling: Data Science Fundamentals 25 August 2022 9.00am-4.00pm, 137 St George's Terrace, Perth Register here.
WADSIH – Insight Upskilling: Data Science Advanced 9 September 2022 9.00am-4.00pm, 137 St George's Terrace, Perth Register here.
Innovation Central Perth 2022-23 Summer Internship Program Applications close 5pm 31 August 2022. Apply here.
WA MTP Sector Spotlight Series 31 August 2022, Breakfast event at Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, featuring Dr Lim Jing, COO&CTO, Osteopore International, Singapore-based medical device manufacturer. Register here.
Young Professionals Quarterly Networking- Tech it Out, Innovation in Mining 1 September 2022, 4.30pm-7.00pm, RAC Arena, Reveley Room. RSVP by 29 August 2022.
IPS Foundation- The Create- Accelerating Regenerative Entrepreneurship Program Calling Aboriginal businesses. Applications open August 2022.
Bloom- Orbit Accelerator Program Recruitment August 2022. Applications open for 2023 cohort. A tailored program for startups to learn critical skills in building and scaling businesses.
2022 Perth Research Bazaar 6-8 September 2022 Curtin University Medical School, Bentley WA. Program for West Australian researchers at all levels from all disciplines.
MTP Connect- Clinical Translation and Commercialisation- Medtech (CTCM) Round 2 Expressions of interest open 9 September 2022. To find out more, email: ctcm@mtpconnect.org.au. Hybrid Information session, 23 August 2022. Register here.
WA Mining Conference 12-13 October 2022, Perth Convention & Exhibition Centre. To register interest and find out more, email: e.oneil@ecu.edu.au.
Awards! WiTWA Tech [+] Conference November 2022. Sign up for more details here.
West Tech Fest 4-9 December 2022. A week long tech festival, with a dozen tech events taking place in Perth, Joondalup, Fremantle and Rottnest Island. More information will be published nearer the date – for now, lock this week in your calendars.
SeerPharma FREE QMS e-training Registration open until 28 February 2023. Register here.
CyberWest Summit 2023 8 and 9 March 2023. Save the Date.
Centre for Biopharmaceutical Excellence- Good Manufacturing Practice Uplift Programs Various dates and programs.
VentureX HQ ♀ Female Founder & Investor Programs. Various dates and topics. Find out more here.