NHDS FAQ

The Natural Hazards Detection System (NHDS) Program is a $3.3 million multi-phased competitive challenge grant aimed at testing innovative detection technologies. The goal is to improve early identification and warning systems for natural hazards such as floods and bushfires, providing residents with more time to evacuate and enabling emergency services to prioritise areas of highest risk.

The Program allows suppliers to demonstrate that their technologies are both fit for purpose and offer value for money, while also enabling emergency management agencies to evaluate their suitability and operational requirements. Challenges have been developed by NSW Government agencies, with a focus on fire and flood detection, as outlined in NHDS Challenge Statement document. Companies are invited to submit proposals addressing these challenges, with successful applicants progressing to further phases, including a pilot of their technologies at scale.

The NHDS Program aims to improve natural hazard detection and strengthen the state's preparedness and response capabilities by:

• Testing and trialling innovative detection technologies: The program aims to evaluate new technologies in high-risk or frequently impacted areas, ensuring they meet the specific needs of stakeholders before potential procurement.
• Enhancing early identification and warning of natural hazards: By improving flood and bushfire detection, the program seeks to provide residents with more time to evacuate and enable emergency services to prioritise high-risk areas.
• Evaluating whether technology is fit for purpose and offers value for money: The program allows suppliers to demonstrate the suitability and cost-effectiveness of their solutions for emergency management agencies.
• Collaborating to develop solutions: The program encourages innovative proposals for solving specific fire and flood detection challenges, fostering innovation and adaptation of technology to meet real-world needs.
• Facilitating procurement considerations: While participation in the program does not guarantee procurement, the ultimate goal is to help NSW Government agencies evaluate and potentially acquire effective solutions for large-scale deployment.

The NHDS Program has three phases:

• Phase 1: Proof of Concept – Organisations submit proposals to address specific challenges and funding will be allocated through a competitive process. This phase involves:
  • Collaborating with stakeholders to understand the problem
  • Developing detailed technical responses
  • Adapting the technology to best address the challenge
  • Testing the technology in a small-scale pilot to demonstrate its potential and feasibility.

Grant recipients of Phase 1 will be eligible to apply for Phase 2, through a competitive process. These guidelines are for Phase 1 – Proof-of-Concept. Separate guidelines will be released for Phase 2 and its terms, eligibility and criteria are at the discretion of OCSE.

• Phase 2: Pilot (by invitation) – This phase involves:
  • Deploying the technology in real-world scenarios at a pilot scale at a minimum of two sites (sites to be announced in the Phase 2 guidelines)
  • Working with relevant NSW stakeholders across government and industry
  • Establishing supplier networks and costings for potential full-scale deployment
  • Verifying the quality, accuracy and value of the technology in practice
  • Delivering new insights to agencies and stakeholders.
• Phase 3: Post-NHDS grant – NSW Government will assess the solutions and may consider them for procurement. Note: participation in the program does not guarantee procurement.

Up to $1,750,000 of funding is available for grants in Phase 2 with a maximum grant amount of $350,000 per challenge. 

Please note:

• The NSW Government reserves the right to increase or decrease the available funding pools and grant amounts.
• Applications may be partially funded at the absolute discretion of the NSW Government, for example if there is insufficient funding available for the whole application or where only a component of the application is considered suitable and/or eligible.

Yes. Grant recipients of Phase 1 will be eligible to apply for Phase 2, through a competitive process. This will be by invite only.

Separate guidelines will be released for Phase 2 and its terms, eligibility and criteria are at the discretion of OCSE.

The NSW Government will enter into a funding agreement with each successful company. The funding agreement will lay out the eligible expenditure, which will include direct costs of the project and eligible labour expenditure. The lead company will be responsible for distributing the funding to any partners or contractors in accordance with the proposal and funding agreement.

If you are successful, the funding amount will be provided to your organisation in a single payment, following the execution of a funding deed between you and the Premier’s Department.

Yes, applications are assessed against specified assessment criteria (see below). There is no guarantee that the NSW Government will purchase a solution from any grantee. 

To be eligible applicants must:

• Have recieved a NHDS Phase 1 Proof-of-Concept Grant
• Have an Australian Business Number (ABN)
• Be non-tax exempt
• Have an account with an Australian financial institution
• Hold the intellectual property (IP) rights or possess the rights to commercialise the technology
• Demonstrate that the technology can be trialled in NSW during the testing periods, and
• Ensure that any funding received from the NSW Physical Sciences Fund (PSF), Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) Program, or other NSW, state, or federal government grant programs does not duplicate activities proposed under this Program.

And be one of the following entity types:

• A company incorporated under the Corporations Act (including a company limited by guarantee)
• An Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation registered under the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006.

Ineligible applicants are permitted to be a partner to an application provided the lead applicant satisfies the above eligibility criteria.

For the avoidance of doubt, you are not eligible if you are:

• Insolvent
• An individual
• An unincorporated association, or
• A Commonwealth, state, territory or local government agency or body excluding government corporate entities.

The OCSE, at its absolute discretion, may decide that an applicant is ineligible for funding. For example, where an applicant could cause reputational and/or other risks to the NSW Government.

Yes. In fact, joint applications between a company and research organisations (including universities) are encouraged. As the company you must lead the project and submit the application.

In your application, you must describe who the project partners are and what each organisation will contribute to the project.

Yes, Australian subsidiaries of international companies are considered eligible for this Program.

Joint applications between companies and research organisations (including universities)  that may not be directly eligible are also encouraged.

In your application, you must describe who the project partners are and what each organisation will contribute to the project.

Yes, you can apply for more than one challenge.

Applicants must select a single ‘primary’ challenge for which their solution will be assessed. If a solution is applicable to multiple challenges, applicants will be able to select the requirements of other challenges that their solution could address.

Applicants may submit applications for multiple challenges.

The Assessment Panel may consider an applicant’s ability to meet multiple challenges with a single solution against value for money and operational requirement considerations.

For an activity to be eligible it must directly relate to the project. Eligible activities can include:

• Building and testing proof-of-concept units of the technology
• Deployment and operation of the technology to agreed locations within NSW
• Facilitating NSW Government requirements and input into the technology
• Specific professional expertise (for example, a drone pilot, technical specialists)
• Training of NSW Government personnel as part of the trial/pilot
• Costs to integrate technology with NSW Government ICT platforms, or
• Data analysis and/or management costs.

Activities that have already been funded by another government grant are not eligible grant activities.

The grant cannot be used for the following activities:

• The purchase of land or property
• Costs incurred in the preparation of a grant application or related documentation
• Overseas travel
• The covering of retrospective costs
• Wage costs incurred prior to the activity period of the project or outside of approved project activities
• Projects requiring ongoing funding from the NSW Government
• Projects that are ongoing or constitute the normal course of business
• Activities that have commenced or been completed prior to an offer of funding made to successful applicants
• Activities that will not be delivered prior to the end of the grant funding period.

Yes, labour expenditure for temporary employment for the project or costs associated with engaging specific expertise required are eligible costs, if it can be demonstrated that they are directly related to the project and will incur within the project period. 

Grant recipients will retain intellectual property rights and the right to sell in domestic and global markets.

However, any data generated through any NHDS grants will be owned by the NSW Government, which will have the discretion to utilise the data in future related or unrelated projects. As this program is expected to generate significant data, all eligible solutions will need to be compatible with the data storage technology established for the project. This will be a modern web-based application programming interface (API) capable of receiving data from different technology platforms.

To apply you must:

1. Complete the SmartyGrants online application forms for the NHDS Phase 2 Program at:

   Application Part 1 - https://chiefscientist.smartygrants.com.au/NHDSPhase2

   Application Part 2 - https://chiefscientist.smartygrants.com.au/NHDSP2Financials

   Both applications must be completed to be eligible for Phase 2 funding.

2. Provide all the information requested
3. Address all the eligibility criteria
4. Address all the relevant assessment criteria
5. Include all necessary attachments, and
6. Submit your application by the timelines outlined in Section 3.3 Key dates.

Please note:

• Incomplete applications will not be considered.
• Clearly indicate any information that should be treated confidentially.
• Eligible applicants will be assessed on merit against the Assessment Criteria. However, the NSW Government, at its absolute discretion, may choose not to award a grant to an applicant.

You are responsible for ensuring your application is complete and accurate. Giving false or misleading information is a serious offence under the Crimes Act 1900 No 40 (NSW). We will investigate any false or misleading information and may exclude your application from further consideration.

Application Part 1 https://chiefscientist.smartygrants.com.au/NHDSPhase2 covers:

1. Phase 1 Proof-of-Concept (PoC) Report – demonstrating how contractual obligations and challenge requirements from Phase 1 were met, provided as an attachment to your SmartyGrants application.
2. Project Proposal – a plan for deploying the technology in the designated LGAs, answered via questions in the SmartyGrants application.
3. Project Budget and Competitive Advantage – outlining requested funding, income dedicated to the project, costs and the commercial and competitive advantage of the solution in comparison to the broader market. Answered via questions and tables in the SmartyGrants application.

Application Part 2 https://chiefscientist.smartygrants.com.au/NHDSP2Financials covers: 

1. Company Financials – complete the company financial application in SmartyGrants this is a short application made available only to the NHDS Phase 2 independent financial advisor to support their assessment of applicant's financial capacity and viability.

Applications for the NHDS Phase 1 close at 17:00 AEDT 8 October 2025.

Members of the Assessment Panel will be appointed by OCSE in collaboration with the RA and may include representatives from NSW Government agencies (for example, Reconstruction Authority, RFS, SES, Fire & Rescue NSW, NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW), and the Forestry Corporation) as well as independent experts with business, and technology innovation and commercialisation experience.

The Assessment Panel may seek advice from external experts through OCSE to inform the assessment process. Any expert and advisor will be required to perform their duties in accordance with the Code of Ethics and Conduct – Premier’s Department including maintaining the confidentiality of the application and declaring any conflicts of interest.

There is no requirement for an applicant to provide matched funding. However, an applicant may choose to do so. Please include any matched funding in the project budget. 

Yes, you can apply if you already have received funding from another source(s) but it should not duplicate the activities in the NHDS application.

However, you should clearly demonstrate in your application that any funding from the NSW Physical Sciences Fund (PSF), Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) Program and other NSW or other state or federal government grant programs does not duplicate activities requested under the NHDS program.

Phase 2 of the NHDS Program will deliver large-scale pilot trials to validate the performance, scalability, and operational viability of the most promising Phase 1 technologies in real-world conditions. Pilots will be conducted across at the two designated local government areas (LGAs): Shoalhaven and Clarence Valley 

 For more information please contact us at nhds@chiefscientist.nsw.gov.au

These are still under final development and will be released in due course. The challenge statements provide the mandatory and optional requirements. All current information is under the NHDS Data API section of the Challenge Statements document.