Commercialisation grant FAQs

The types of activities eligible for the grants include, but are not limited to: 

• full-scale pilots and demonstration projects in operational environments 
• engaging external professionals to provide commercialisation guidance 
• scaling production, marketing or other activities to support customer sales 
• engaging a senior experienced executive to fill a key gap in a management team. 

Priority areas are guided by the NSW Office of the Chief Scientist and Engineer’s NSW Decarbonisation Innovation Study and include: 

• electrification and energy systems – accelerating renewable energy solutions and supporting the uptake of electrification in other sectors 
• land and primary industries – coordinating and aligning efforts in the next wave of sustainable primary industry practices     
• power fuels including hydrogen – growing an environmentally sustainable NSW power fuels industry. 

These grants will prioritise investments in these three areas, where clean technologies have high potential to be commercialised and scaled-up. You are strongly encouraged to review the NSW Decarbonisation Innovation Study- external site to ensure your project aligns with the identified decarbonisation priority areas. 

We recognise that clean technology innovations are constantly emerging. The grant initiative has flexibility to allow for projects that fall outside these priority areas, but they must demonstrate outstanding merit.

An online information session was held on 6 April 2022 to provide further information about the grants. A recording of the session is available online.

Projects are generally eligible for funding if they: 

• align with clean technology innovation’s decarbonisation priority areas 
• fall within Technology Readiness Levels 6-9 and has a Commercial Readiness Index less than 5 in NSW (for more information see Appendix 1 of the guidelines) 
• are based in NSW 
• will be completed within 3 years of commencement (longer project durations may be considered under limited circumstances) 
• can demonstrate a minimum of 1:1 matched funding co-contribution 
• can demonstrate the project would not proceed without NSW Government funding; and 
• lead applicants have an aggregated annual turnover of less than $20 million for each of the 3 financial years prior to lodgement of the application (unless the organisation is controlled by a publicly funded research organisation, in which case, the lead applicant must have an individual annual turnover of less than $20 million for each of the 3 financial years prior to lodging the application). 

For further information about eligibility, please read the guidelines. 

Yes. Promoting collaboration is a key objective of these grants, so we welcome applications with multi-disciplinary expertise and financial co-contributions. You should showcase the strength of your project collaboration as part of your application. 

You are welcome to submit applications that have also accessed other government funding. You must clearly demonstrate that your application would not proceed without funding through this grant.  

Projects must be located and delivered within NSW to be eligible for this grant. 

Yes, interstate and international organisations interested in commercialising a clean technology not yet used in NSW can apply.

Interstate and international organisations must:

• be willing to establish a NSW-based office with local staff capable of delivering the project
• be delivered in NSW, with grant funding being expended within the State, where possible.

International organisations must also:  

• have a NSW-based project sponsor that endorses the project and demonstrates interest in purchasing the clean technology, should it be successfully commercialised 
• be willing to establish an Australian based entity duly incorporated under the Corporations Act 2001 (Corporations Act).

The guidelines define clean technologies as those that substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including low emission technologies. Technologies refers to processes, products and services including hardware, software and business model innovations.

We recognise that expertise needed for your project, such as contractors, may not be available within NSW or Australia. This is fine, if the project is delivering benefit to NSW. For example, the end product resides in NSW to create technological, economic, social and/or environmental benefits.

Researchers from private or public research organisations can apply. However, this must be through your research organisation’s appropriate commercialisation or technology transfer office. A separate entity must then be established to commercialise the clean technology (such as a university spin out) prior to submitting a full application.

This application includes a two-stage competitive process including an initial EOI followed by a full application. If your EOI is successful you will be invited to the full application stage. Applicants who are successful at the full application stage will enter into a funding agreement with us.  

Section 6 of the guidelines provides more details on the application process. 

Yes, there is a limit of three EOIs from each lead applicant. 

An assessment committee will assess the applications based on the merit criterion as outlined in the guidelines. All EOIs and full applications will be assessed on a competitive basis. 

All applicants were notified on the outcomes of their application in 2022. If you have not received a response, please contact us at [email protected].

Yes, if you are unsuccessful, we will advise you in writing and provide an opportunity to receive feedback on your application. EOI and full application outcomes cannot be appealed. 

This is a $40 million grant initiative, with $6 million available in 2022. The minimum amount for a single grant project is $250,000 and the maximum amount for is $5 million (regardless of the number of partners collaborating with the lead applicant).

The funding amount for each project will depend on the size and scope of the project.  

No. Only new contributions will be considered. 

Co-contribution cannot be all in-kind, it must include a cash component. Higher cash contributions will be considered favourably as well as projects that have a cash contribution from at least one potential customer or institutional investor.  

Grants will only be awarded to applicants that can confirm committed co-contributions by the time they submit their full application.

Applicants that propose meeting their co-contribution requirements by using future revenue streams must provide strong evidence that those revenue streams will be available. For example, sharing an  existing customer contract. 

We will consider co-contributions that are already available or committed by the lead applicant or a partner organisation more favourably than future revenue streams when assessing grant applications.  

Co-contribution, including the cash component, should be confirmed by the time a full application is submitted. If there is likely to be a delay in confirming co-contribution funds, you should advise our staff as early as possible. We will not enter into a funding agreement unless co-contribution funding is confirmed (this may include letters from funding bodies or private investors). 

No. Grant funding cannot be used to cover salaries for positions that have already been accounted for in organisational budgets.   

Co-contributions can be from any source. All co-contributions must be confirmed prior to grants being awarded and any conditions or requirements of co-contribution funding must be compatible with these grants. 

Projects that have a cash contribution from at least one potential customer, or an institutional investor, will be viewed favourably during assessment.  

There are no requirements for partner organisation’s contributions to be transferred to the lead applicant before they can be spent. However, the lead applicant is responsible for maintaining a record and reporting all project expenditure.

EOIs closed on 3 June 2022.

Late submissions and incomplete applications will not be accepted. 

We have legal obligations under the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (NSW) in relation to the collection, storage, access, use and disclosure of personal information.

If collecting your personal information, we will provide you with a privacy statement at the time of collection that details how this information will be managed in accordance with privacy law.