ETCF FAQ

 An applicant can apply for funding between $500,000 and $2 million (excl. GST).

Please refer to the ETCF Program Guidelines.

Innovations must be meet a range of eligibility criteria including in relation to the type of innovation and its technical readiness.

The ETCF has two streams supporting different types of innovations:

• Stream A (Physical Sciences) supports the development of new and innovative physical devices and systems.
• Stream B (Biological Sciences) supports innovation across the biological and life sciences, including biotechnology, biomanufacturing, genetic engineering, and synthetic biology.

The following types of innovations are not eligible for funding:

• Digital-only applications such as software applications, data tools, AI platforms are not considered eligible under either stream.
• Innovations that are eligible for funding under the Medical Devices Fund (MDF) funded by NSW Health.

The ETCF supports innovations that are at Technical Readiness Level of 3 to 7 (inclusive) at the time of application. For descriptions of TRL levels please refer to the ETCF Program Guidelines.

Please refer to Section 2.1 of the ETCF Program Guidelines which specify eligible applicants, grant activities and expenditure. Applications must satisfy all these criteria.

Successful applicants who accept the offer of a grant will be required to enter into a formal Deed of Agreement with the NSW Government relating to the grant. The Deed of Agreement will specify obligations that relate primarily to the recipient’s accountability for the grant. The NSW Government makes no binding funding or support commitment to an applicant until the Deed of Agreement is executed.

The grant will be payable upon the execution of the Deed of Agreement.

Successful applicants will be required to provide financial information to an independent financial advisor who will undertake annual financial monitoring of the organisation. The grant must be repaid in instalments. Repayments will start in the financial year when the recipient’s total EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation), calculated from the time the grant was awarded, exceeds $500,000.

The grant must be repaid in instalments. Repayments will start in the financial year when the recipient’s total EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation), calculated from the time the grant was awarded, exceeds $500,000. If a successful applicant has a structure where the parent company does not make any revenue, or revenue is distributed amongst the subsidiaries, the Department will consider the revenue of the grant recipient company and of any subsidiary companies that are actually or in-effect controlled by the grant recipient company, for the purposes of calculating repayment obligations.

The program focuses on innovations in the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) range of 3 to 7 - supporting companies as they progress from proof-of-concept toward demonstration in relevant environments and early commercial deployment.

See Appendix A of the ETCF Program Guidelines for more information on TRLs.

The NSW Government has various grant funding programs targeting different areas. Please see the NSW Grant Funding Finder for a list of grants: https://www.nsw.gov.au/grants-and-funding

Australian Government grants can be found here: https://business.gov.au/grants-and-programs

The NSW Office for Health and Medical Research also offer a range of grant funding programs: https://www.medicalresearch.nsw.gov.au/

There are many accelerators, incubators and early-stage funds in NSW that may be available to you. Some of these include:

• Cicada Innovations
• CSIRO ON Program
• Energy Lab
• IP Group Australia
• Main Sequence Ventures
• SBE Australia
• Sydney Start-up Hub
• Uniseed
• Venture Café Sydney

Yes. We strongly encourage you to seek feedback on your unsuccessful application to strengthen future submissions.

Yes, but only if the project proposed for the ETCF differs in scope to the project that received the other grant fund. Projects with the same outputs and/or outcomes will not be deemed eligible.

ETCF funding can be used for pre-clinical and clinical trials. Please note that the trials need to be for a project that is between TRL 3 - 7.

No. You need to be a company incorporated under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), or an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Corporation registered under the Corporations (Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (Cth).

An applicant can only submit one application each Round of the ETCF. 

OCSE considered an applicant's headquarters to be in NSW where all of the following conditions are met:

• The principal operations of the business is in NSW, and
• The business is primarily directed, controlled and managed in NSW, and
• The primary executive leadership are based in NSW, and
• The ASIC registered office of the company is in NSW, and
• The ABN of the business must be registered in NSW.

Note applicants must also, as of 1 January 2026, have more than 65% of their Full Time Equivalent Employees employed in NSW.

No.

No. Grants received or capital raised will not be counted as revenue from an eligibility perspective.

OCSE considers a subsidiary to be a company that is (in form or substance) controlled by another body corporate (a 'parent' or 'holding company'). An applicant is likely a subsidiary (and therefore, ineligible to apply) if:

• A foreign LLC or domestic corporation owns >50% of voting shares in the applicant, or
• A holding company can appoint/remove a majority of the applicant’s directors, or
• A parent controls >50% of votes at general meetings, or
• The applicant sits under a corporate group (subsidiary-of-a-subsidiary), or
• An external entity has veto/approval rights that effectively control key decisions (e.g., budgets, CEO appointment, major contracts).

A parent company is considered to be any company that owns a controlling interest in that company (for example, more than 50% of the ordinary issued shares of that company).

In the case of the ETCF, the parent company must be the applicant, and must satisfy all eligibility criteria.

The parent company must be the main applicant. If the applicant progresses further in the round, additional information will be sought, including consolidated financial statements with the operating results of all subsidiaries.

For a successful grant recipient, the Department will consider the revenue of the grant recipient company and of any subsidiary companies that are actually or in-effect controlled by the grant recipient company, for the purposes of calculating repayment obligations.

If you have questions regarding the ETCF, contact us through: grants@chiefscientist.nsw.gov.au

At Stage 1 (Preliminary Application), applicants are required to confirm that they own, control, or have an exclusive right to commercialise the relevant intellectual property in Australia and globally.

Intellectual property may include patents, patent applications, trade secrets, confidential know‑how, copyright, designs or combinations of these.

Applicants are not required to hold granted patents to be eligible. Some businesses may legitimately rely on alternative IP protection strategies (for example, trade secrets or confidential know‑how), provided they have the legal right to commercialise the technology in Australia and globally.

At Stage 2 (Full Application), shortlisted applicants may be required to provide any relevant supporting IP documentation, which may include (as applicable):

• Patent filings or granted patents
• Licence agreements (including exclusivity terms and duration)
• Assignment or ownership agreements
• Evidence of control over trade secrets or confidential know‑how (e.g. internal IP registers, employment agreements, confidentiality arrangements)
• Other documentation demonstrating the applicant’s right to commercialise the technology

Applicants may also be asked to explain their IP strategy, including how they manage risks associated with third‑party intellectual property and freedom to operate. They must reasonably demonstrate that they are not knowingly infringing third‑party intellectual property in a way that would prevent commercialisation in Australia and globally.

Granted patents are not required at the time of application.

Applicants may rely on a range of IP rights or protections, include patents, patent applications, trade secrets, confidential know‑how, copyright, designs or combinations of these.

Staged or conditional licensing arrangements may be acceptable, provided that, at the time the application is submitted, the applicant already has a legally enforceable and exclusive right to commercialise the relevant IP in Australia and globally.

A staged, conditional, or future licence will not be sufficient on its own if the applicant’s right to commercialise the IP is contingent on a further event, approval, or agreement that has not yet occurred (for example, where the applicant is commercialising IP held by a university and they are yet to sign a licensing agreement with that university).

In determining the correct Stream to nominate in their application, applicants should focus on the end use or dominant purpose of the innovation. For example, if the innovation is a physical system used in biotech applications, we would advise applicants to apply to Stream B.

Applicants will not be rejected or disadvantaged if they nominate the incorrect Stream. In these cases Department or Assessment Panel will move the application to appropriate Stream for assessment.

Yes, provided they satisfy the eligibility criteria in the ETCF Program Guidelines.

Full Time Equivalent employees are based on time allocated to the applicant company. Non‑salaried employees who are genuinely working for the applicant company can be included when determining if the applicant satisfies this eligibility criterion.

Applicants should refer to the Medical Devices Fund (MDF) guidelines. If a technology is eligible for MDF, it is not eligible for ETCF.

Software-only products are not eligible for funding under the ETCF. This includes standalone software applications, data tools and AI platforms under either Stream.

Software may form part of an eligible application only where it is incorporated into a new eligible product or system under Stream A or Stream B.

The ETCF is intended to support the progression of an existing physical prototype, or a biological or life sciences proof-of-concept, toward commercial deployment.

Up to 15 Preliminary Applications from each Stream may be progressed to the Full Application stage.

Yes. A pitch video is an important mandatory attachment for the Preliminary Application (Stage 1). Please refer to the ETCF Program Guidelines for more information.

Please refer to Section 2.2.1 of the ETCF Program Guidelines for more information on the weightings of assessment criteria.

The number of employees does not directly influence credibility or competitiveness however the ‘Project Team’ is an assessment criterion (please refer to Section 2.2.1 of the ETCF Program Guidelines).

Both your written response and video pitch are used to assess each assessment criterion. There is no separate weighting.

The ETCF is a repayable grant administered as per the NSW Government Grants Administration Guide. The repayment obligation is active from the time the Deed of Agreement is signed and does not expire. Repayments are triggered when the repayment threshold in the Deed of Agreement is met. Grant recipients are responsible for seeking their own taxation advice in relation to the grant payment.

A flat nominal interest rate will be specified in the Deed of Agreement. Interest is calculated from the time the Deed of Agreement is executed.

Change-of-control or acquisition events and any repayment implications will be addressed in the Deed of Agreement. These events may trigger the repayment threshold, for example, where the acquirer already meets the repayment threshold.

Successful recipients enter into an agreement with the NSW Government. Repayment obligations do not expire until the repayment obligations are met or the Deed is terminated by the NSW Government.

The company must remain headquartered in NSW until the repayment obligation is satisfied or the Deed is terminated by the NSW Government. The company may elect to repay the grant at any time at which point the repayment obligations and conditions of the grant (including that the company must remain headquartered in NSW) are extinguished.

Funding decisions depend on the quality of applications received with the most promising applications prioritised.

Matched funding or co-investment is not required. However matched funding or co-investment may be considered when assessing the application against the assessment criteria.

The repayment obligation is attached to the company.

No.