NSW R&D Action Plan

In January 2021, NSW launched an Action Plan for accelerating research and development (R&D) in NSW to foster increased translation and commercialisation of research. With the goal of ensuring a strong, vibrant and high-quality R&D ecosystem to drive future economic growth and create high-value sustainable jobs, the Action Plan has five Priority Actions that are now underway.

Priority Actions

  • 1. Launch a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program – provide competitive grants for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to find and commercialise innovative solutions to well-defined problems for NSW Government agencies.
  • 2. Boost open data – release new government datasets so businesses can make better decisions, entrepreneurs can build new businesses and the government can solve complex challenges.
  • 3. Turbocharge precincts – develop precincts to attract national and global technology industries and investment, and drive collaboration between universities, research organisations, start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs to commercialise R&D.
  • 4. Target strategic support for NSW universities – collaborate on research that drives future NSW strategic growth industries and research-led industry attraction, and better leverage Commonwealth Government research funding.
  • 5. Establish an R&D matchmaking platform – better connect research ‘sellers’ and ‘buyers’ and link researchers to research infrastructure and expertise.

Supporting Actions

In addition to the Priority Actions, the Action Plan has 16 Supporting Actions grouped around four areas: government action, attraction, translation and collaboration. Together, they will contribute to the development of a NSW R&D Roadmap and help with the scaling-up of already successful NSW Government commercialisation programs.

Learn more about the NSW R&D Action Plan.