Welcome to the Bushfire Commercialisation Fund - Round 1 online grant application

The Bushfire Commercialisation Fund (BCF) is a competitive technology development and commercialisation program funded by the NSW Government through the NSW Bushfire Response R&D Mission (the Mission). The Mission is the first NSW R&D Mission recommended by the Turning ideas into jobs: Accelerating research & development in NSW Action Plan, focusing on improving planning, preparations for and responses to bushfires – aligning with recommendation five of the NSW Bushfire Inquiry.

The BCF is administered by NSW Department of Enterprise, Investment and Trade (NSW DEIT) through the Office of the NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer (OCSE). The program aims to provide financial support to successful applicants to develop new and innovative devices and systems or repurpose existing technology in bushfire services.

The objective of the BCF is to enable businesses to:

• progress bushfire technology along the commercialisation pathway, or
• adapt existing technology for use in bushfire management or operations

The BCF targets innovative devices/systems within Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 3 – 7 to help them move along the TRL scale and enable them to attract large-scale private investment.

The BCF will provide funding support through a competitive process to eligible Australian-registered companies, research institutes and universities based in NSW, to take local innovations to market.

The total amount of grant funding available for the first round is $8 million.

For more information, please see the BCF Guidelines for Applicants. 

Minderoo Foundation Partnership

The Office of the Chief Scientist & Engineer is partnering with the Minderoo Foundation on the BCF. There are strong strategic alignments between the Minderoo’s Flood and Fire Initiative and the NSW Bushfire Response R&D Mission. 

Minderoo will act as observers during the BCF assessment process. For consenting applicants, Minderoo will be granted full access to their BCF applications only for the purpose of allowing Minderoo to observe assessment of their applications and decide on funding independent of the BCF funding.

Minderoo will undertake its own internal review and may contact applicants directly if they wish to discuss potential funding directly from Minderoo. Any review undertaken by Minderoo as noted above is separate to NSW DEIT and OCSE assessment processes regarding the BCF. Controls will be implemented with the purpose of ensuring that any review or outcomes by Minderoo will not have any bearing or consideration on the BCF application assessment processes and/or recommendations on BCF projects recommended for funding by the NSW Government.

Any offer of funding directly from Minderoo is separate to NSW DEIT funding through the BCF.

Assessment Process

Applicants will apply through this Smarty Grants platform. The assessment will occur in four phases:

1. Eligibility screening by OCSE Secretariat for all applications received by the closing date and time against the eligibility criteria (see below)
2. Assessment and shortlisting by the BCF Subcommittee, representing technical and commercial expertise
3. Interviews of shortlisted applicants by the independent Expert Panel, representing venture funds, research organisations and industry experts in bushfire technology and commercialisation
4. Final assessment and recommendations for funding by the independent Expert Panel. 

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible for the BCF, you must be:

• A financially viable commercial enterprise based, and
  • be an Australian-registered company; or
  • an individual who agrees to form such a entity with which NSW DEIT can enter into a legally binding funding agreement; or 
  • a NSW public research organisation applying through its appropriate technology transfer office or the Chief Executive Officer (or equivalent) of the research organisation that will become a separate entity before entering into a legally binding funding agreement with NSW DEIT.
• Have an Australian Business Number (ABN)
• Be headquartered in NSW and demonstrate that most of the project activities will take place in NSW
• Demonstrate that the technology has reached a minimum of TRL of three and does not exceed TRL seven
• Hold the Intellectual Property or the rights to commercialise the device/system
• Demonstrate that any funding from the NSW Physical Sciences Fund (PSF) does not duplicate activities in the BCF application and is unique to commercialise bushfire-related technology.

Selection Criteria

Preliminary applications will be evaluated against information and evidence provided in relation to the following selection criteria:

1. sound scientific/technological basis and application to bushfire management or operations
2. understanding of the problem the device/system is trying to solve and why a customer would adopt this device/system
3. innovation and competitive advantage
4. anticipated economic, social and/or environmental benefits for bushfire preparation, mitigation, response and/or recovery in NSW
5. sound project development
6. demonstrated technology that has reached a minimum TRL of three and not exceeding TRL seven^[1] 
7. understanding of customers and target market
8. demonstrated financial need to commercialise product
9. financial viability
10. capabilities to commercialise the device / system and realise benefits.

[1] Applicants with technology that has achieved a TRL of 6 should strongly consider applying for the Bushfire Technology Pilots Program (BTPP). The BTPP aims to pilot field-ready technology with NSW bushfire management and response agencies. The next round of the BTPP will be launched early-mid 2023. 

Applicants who can demonstrate that they meet all the criterion, will be shortlisted, and invited for an interview.

We pay respect to the Traditional Custodians and First Peoples of NSW, and acknowledge their continued connection to their country and culture.