WA New Industries and Innovation Fund - Innovation Booster Grant

WA New Industries and Innovation Fund – Innovation Booster Grant

  • Applications for the Innovation Booster Grant are open and will close Friday 10 October 2025
  • Applicants can receive a maximum grant of $50,000 per application. Recipients are required to provide matched funding of either 15% or 20% of the project costs, depending on the tier that they are under.
  • Total funding pool: $40 million across the New Industries and Innovation Fund (2025–29)

The Innovation Booster Grant (IBG), delivered under the New Industries and Innovation Fund, is a competitive WA Government program that helps early-stage founders, startups and innovation-driven SMEs strengthen their capability. It supports projects that refine, validate, protect, certify or commercialise new ideas. The grant is designed to ease common barriers such as limited capital and access to specialist expertise, enabling WA innovations to progress towards commercial readiness.

Key Requirements

  • The grant is competitive; applications will be assessed against evaluation criteria.
  • Projects must commence after the Financial Assistance Agreement is signed—no retrospective funding.
  • The project must be completed within 12 months of the Agreement.
  • Matched (cash) co-contribution is required. For targeted cohorts (regional WA headquartered, First Nations-founded, female-founded), the matching requirement is 15%, whereas all other applicants must match 20%.
  • Eligible costs must be for procurement of external services or specialist expertise (i.e. you cannot self-fund all work unless in the permitted categories)
  • Preference will be given to applications aligning with priority sectors under the Diversify WA framework.

What is eligible for funding?

Projects (or parts thereof) may fall into one or more of these four categories:

  1. Research & Development (e.g. technical development, proof of concept, compliance testing, validation, certification)
  2. Product Development (e.g. engineering design, prototype development, innovation design, building an MVP)
  3. Technology Transfer & Intellectual Property (e.g. IP protection, legal advice, licensing)
  4. Commercialisation Support Services (e.g. consulting, commercialisation strategies, market entry support, feasibility studies)

What companies are eligible for funding?

  • Must be WA-based (registered and operating in Western Australia)
  • Must be early-stage founders, innovation-driven SMEs or startups
  • Must meet matching funding requirements (cash co-contribution)
  • The project’s total budget must not exceed certain thresholds (if over allowable project size, may not be eligible)
  • Must not have previously been awarded IBG for the same project (no double-dipping)

Is this grant competitive or entitlement based?

Competitive. Your application will be assessed among other applications by a judging panel.

How can I increase my chances of winning this grant?

By engaging an accredited government grants consultant, such as Avant Group.

Competitive grants often require significant business case development and project analysis to support the application, this may include detailed presentations supporting the project’s merit, projected sales, cost-benefit analysis and more.

As part of your engagement with Avant Group, your account manager will assess the required documents and will provide the following as needed to support your grant submission.

Grant application writeup including a detailed presentation illustrating how the grant funding will contribute to your project, how the funding will contribute to the project’s budget, a project milestone plan, delivery timeline, impact on employment if applicable and a breakdown of the management and leadership team for the project

  • Industry analysis presentation
  • Competitor Analysis Presentation
  • Marketing and Sales Analysis Presentation
  • 3-5 year Cashflow Forecast
  • 3-5 year Balance Sheet Forecast
  • Cost-Benefit Analysis of Grant Funding
  • End-to-end grant application including information collating, analysis and application writing
  • CAPEX (Capital Expenditure) cost-benefit analysis
  • Stakeholder relations and Risk Mitigation Plans
  • Any other relevant forecasting that will support your application

How can I get help with my application? Or know if I’m likely to win funding?

Avant Group offers a no-obligation assessment of your eligibility for funding and will assess your likelihood of a successful grant application.