NSW treasurer Daniel Mookhey announced the fund at the Sydney Investment Summit today. It will kick off in FY2028, should the government be reelected. It will coinvest alongside universities, which have a strong startup creation culture, including UNSW Founders, UTS Startups, and Western Sydney University’s LaunchPad.
Today’s announcement had no details on individual investment sizes, co-investment requirements or how startups will access funding.
Treasury, Investment NSW and the NSW chief scientist and engineer, Professor Hugh Durrant-Whyte, will collaborate with local universities to develop the fund and its governance.
The government said the fund is a part of a new research innovation framework with a strong focus on health, and will strengthen innovation within NSW Health, as well as bringing together medical research institutes, including independent and privately funded organisations, to share expertise and infrastructure and better coordinate research.
“The research innovation framework will bring those strengths together so more NSW ideas become growing businesses, better services and well-paid jobs,” treasurer Mookhey said.
The framework responds to the innovation review conducted by former Tech Council boss Kate Pounder, released in March 2025, alongside the Innovation Blueprint 2035. The Pounder review identified opportunities to improve research commercialisation, particularly in deep tech, biomedical and environmental science in NSW.
It also found that innovative businesses generate $39 billion in annual gross value-add, despite representing just 1.8% of companies overall, and employ 136,000 people.
The government wants subsequently expand its $150m fund to support other organisations in the innovation sector, attract private investment and help research-based businesses grow, but no timetable was given for expanding the fund beyond its university partners.
NSW skills, TAFE and tertiary education minister Steve Whan said the fund would address the gap between research and commercial products.
“The innovation fund will help researchers bridge the difficult gap between a breakthrough in the laboratory and a product ready for the market,” he said.
Western Sydney University vice-chancellor George Williams welcomed the government’s commitment.
“Through Launchpad, our tech startup incubator, we connect students, researchers and entrepreneurs to turn ideas into businesses and growth industries,” he said.
The announcement of the proposed fund launching in July 2027 comes as the NSW Labor government prepares to seek a second four-year term, with an election just six months away on March 13, 2027.
