Cook Government Boosts Local Innovators

  • The recipients of the latest round of the Innovation Booster Grant revealed
  • 26 recipients will share in a total of $1,274,686 in grant money
  • Funding made possible through the New Industries and Innovation Fund
  • Cook Labor Government committed to putting WA first and supporting local innovation and jobs

The Cook Labor Government has announced the eighth round of recipients for the Innovation Booster Grant (IBG).

Funded innovative projects range from sustainable indoor farms, the first artificial intelligence powered tool for Legal Aid and adapting shipping container housing for regional communities.

With a maximum of $50,000 available per grant application, this round has granted a total of $1,274,686 to 26 recipients.

Among the 26 businesses awarded funding, 10 are female founded, six are First Nation founded and five are from regional WA, with some recipients featuring in more than one of these categories.

Recipients come from several of Diversify WA priority sectors such as energy, tourism and events, space, health and medical life sciences, and primary industries.

This latest round saw hundreds of applications and the assessment process involved an independent panel of industry leaders.

Previous IBG recipients include WaveX who have recently been successful in completion of a seed funding round to commercialise a new generation of wave energy technology that targets deep water.

The IBG is a competitive Western Australian Government grant funded through the New Industries and Innovation Fund. The grants providing funding to innovators at a critical early stage helping founders and small businesses test new ideas, solve technical challenges and take promising innovations closer to market. By investing early, we are giving local innovators the opportunity to turn ambitious concepts into scalable businesses and future jobs.

For more information see: New Industries and Innovation Fund: grants

As stated by Science and Innovation Minister Stephen Dawson:

"The Innovation Booster Grant is now in its eighth funding round, supporting WA innovators to develop and grow their ideas.

"Innovation in our State continues to grow, and the Cook Labor Government is committed to nurturing the sector and ensuring talented Western Australians have the support they need to innovate here at home.

"This round also highlights the breadth of innovation taking place across Western Australia, with successful recipients from regional communities as well as female founded and Indigenous founded startups."

Full list of Round 8 Innovation Booster Grant recipients:

Applicant

Project Name

Project Description

Total Funding

ACE Kinetics

Orbital Gearmotor: Integrated Motor-Drive System for High-Performance Robotics & Space

ACE Kinetics will develop an Orbital Gearmotor MVP - a novel integrated motor-and-gear system that directly embeds the motor concept within the gearing architecture. Targeting 5-10x performance gains over conventional systems, this MVP will be prototyped, tested, and validated with support from a specialist Australian designer.

$50,000

AGRA Farming Technologies

ARVUM Plant Factory

AGRA builds sustainable indoor farms that outperform existing agriculture on price, quality and reliability.

$50,000

Auriva Pty

Ltd

Australian-first

digital

health

platform

improving

menopause

care access

and

outcomes

Auriva Woman is an Australian-first digital health platform providing comprehensive perimenopause and menopause care in one place. This project will validate our proprietary clinical pathways and develop a deployment-ready MVP, improving

healthcare access for Australian

women, particularly in rural and

regional areas, while reducing long term government healthcare

expenditure.

$49,800

Beemurra Aboriginal Corporation

Regenerating Country: IndigenousLed Land Management, Climate and Energy Futures

Beemurra Aboriginal Corporation (BAC) manages a 1,242hectare property in Western Australia, the State's first Indigenousowned cattle backgrounding operation. BAC is developing an Indigenousled, sciencesupported model that integrates modern agriculture and technology with traditional ecological knowledge to improve soil health, biodiversity, and Indigenous enterprise outcomes.

$50,000

BIRDRONE

Autonomous Bird Deterrence for Scalable Crop Protection in WA Orchards

BIRDRONE is a fully autonomous crop protection drone-feedback system that uses vision AI and permanently deployed sensors to detect bird activity in real time and deploy drones for targeted deterrence. Field-validated in WA orchards, it enables scalable, safe/non-lethal crop protection with continuous, data-driven monitoring.

$50,000

Boorloo Legal Assistance Clinic Pty Ltd

DJIDI: Australia's first AI-powered practice management tool for Legal Aid

An Indigenous-owned AI practice management tool purpose-built for Legal Aid work, the first of its kind in Australia. It automates administrative tasks so lawyers handle more matters with the same funding, with culturally appropriate workflows for Indigenous clients. $4.5 million in economic and social benefit is expected in the first deployment year.

$46,113

Co Connect App

Co Connect People Rostering andFacilities Management Solution

Co Connect People is a purpose built workforce and accommodation logistics platform that manages the full cycle of getting a worker to a remote site and back covering rosters, travel bookings, accommodation allocation, workforce roster management, automations, security system integrations and safety compliance in one connected system.

$45,390

Complete Tyre Solutions Tye Recycling Pty Ltd (CTSTR)

Resin Bound Rubber Flooring/Resurfacing

This project by CTSTR aims to

research and develop new products using recycled rubber granules as a replacement or alternative to traditional aggregates. The project will test performance, durability, and

sustainability benefits, creating

innovative applications that increase rubber granule utilisation while supporting waste tyre recycling and circular economy outcomes.

$50,000

DILJI CORPORATION PTY LTD

Ngalia Ninti Language Platform - ASR Validation, IP Protection and Commercialisation

Dilji Labs will engage external specialists to validate and refine AI-powered automatic speech recognition for the Ngalia language, protect the platform's intellectual property, and develop a commercialisation strategy enabling licensing to schools, TAFEs, and other language communities across Western Australia and Australia.

$50,000

EchoNova

EchoNova: Preventing Avoidable Heart Failure Admissions Through Home Monitoring

EchoNova is developing a wearable ultrasound patch to help heart failure patients detect fluid build-up early at home, enabling timely treatment and preventing avoidable hospitalisations. This project will advance a benchtop proof-of-principle into a prototype and conduct usability testing to validate device placement, workflow integration and performance against current standards.

$50,000

Fiction Labs

SkyLock: Standalone GNSS Trust Monitor for Navigation Safety

This project engages specialist marine engineering services to design and prototype a low-cost electric outboard motor system compatible with our existing modular eFoil battery/ESC module. The outboard enables customers to swap one power module between e-Foil and tender propulsion, creating a multi-use marine platform with no market equivalent.

$40,000

Gordon Mining Contracting Pty Ltd

Project Karru - Modular Community Housing for Remote Aboriginal Communities

Project Karru will adapt Gordon Mining Contracting's proven shipping container modular housing system for deployment as permanent housing in remote Aboriginal communities. The project funds engineering design adaptation for residential compliance, commercialisation feasibility assessment, and market entry strategy - establishing a new pathway from mining accommodation into community housing.

$50,000

MamaTech

Mamawand: The first portable therapeutic ultrasound device for breastfeeding pain.

Mamawand is a portable therapeutic ultrasound device designed to treat inflammatory conditions of the lactating breast (ICLB)-a leading cause of pain, antibiotic use, hospitalisation, and early breastfeeding cessation. Its simplicity, safety, and specificity in treating ICLB enables any clinician to provide treatment and support safe use at home by mothers.

$50,000

Novolo Co Pty Ltd

Project West Australian Grown Innovation

Novolo is evolving our proven molecular technology into a broad-spectrum preservation platform for high-value horticulture and industrial waste. By preventing cellular decay across diverse food streams, we empower Western Australian industries to recover premium nutrients and turn waste into revenue, driving the State's transition to a circular bio-economy.

$50,000

Ocean HEX - BARN

BARN: Accelerating marine habitat establishment on artificial coastal structures

The BARN system is a simple ceramic device that allows divers to actively seed coastal structures such as groynes, breakwaters, and artificial reefs with nursery-grown native marine species. This project will conduct the first field trial of the BARN on artificial reef structures in Cockburn Sound, Perth.

$50,000

One Kidney

Pty Ltd

OneKidney:

Vascular

Access

Device Blood

Compatibility

Studies and

IP Protection

OneKidney is developing a Total

Artificial Kidney to replace dialysis. This project funds vascular access blood flow studies with UWA and Innovate Medtech to validate device design, conduct biocompatibility testing, and file a provisional patent for the vascular access technology.

$50,000

Open Ocean Exchange Pty Ltd

Digital infrastructure to support the premium agricultural trade with Asia

Open Ocean Exchange (OOX) is building digital infrastructure to modernise cross-border agricultural trade.This project will engage legal and compliance specialists to ensure OOX meets all necessary complex regulations in key Asian markets. It will reduce export barriers, scale growth, and improve market access for Western Australian producers into high-value Asian markets.

$50,000

Queensberry Consulting Pty Ltd

Metabolica - Clinical Point-of-Care Insulin Diagnostic Platform

Developing a clinically validated, TGA-approved point-of-care insulin biosensor integrated with wearable biometric data and AI-powered metabolic risk prediction. The platform enables GPs, anaesthetists, and metabolic health practitioners to detect insulin dysregulation up to 15 years before standard clinical markers - transforming metabolic syndrome from a late diagnosis into an early intervention.

$50,000

Reformix Materials Group Pty Ltd

Unlocking

W.A. Industry

Adoption of

Low-Carbon

Concretes via

Batch-Plant

Integration

Reformix is developing a system

that enables existing concrete plants to produce low-carbon concrete using industrial by-products. This project will validate and standardise the technology, helping the construction industry reduce emissions without costly new infrastructure while supporting a decentralised circular economy.

$50,000

Rogue Pantry

High Protein

Nutritional

Mug Cakes

Formulated through food science,

we have developed delicious, high protein mug cakes that deliver clinically meaningful nutrition with real recognisable ingredients and no chemical sweeteners. Targeting patients in aged care and healthcare who struggle with oral nutrition supplements, or people looking for a high protein dessert without sacrificing taste or texture.

$50,000

Spectrum Wear Pty Ltd trading as noji

Technology-Enabled Therapeutic Sensory Apparel

Spectrum Wear Pty Ltd is developing a world's first commercially viable integrated sensory regulation apparel technology. Sensory friendly garments, no labels, flattened seams and soft fabrics with concealed, integrated sensory regulation features engineered directly into the fabric.

$50,000

Stealth Technologies

Portable AI LiDAR for Real-Time Overbreak Prediction in Underground Mining

This project will validate a handheld, offline AI LiDAR workflow for predicting overbreak before drilling in underground mines. Using specialist external expertise and Stealth's existing EdgeiQ platform, the project will de-risk a pilot-ready decision-support tool that can reduce waste, improve development consistency and lower underground mining costs.

$50,000

TANAFLOC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Validating sludge dewatering performance of carbon-neutral plant-based Water treatment coagulant

This project will validate the sludge dewatering performance of a carbon-neutral plant-based water treatment chemical used as an alternative to traditional metal based coagulants. Pilot-scale dewatering equipment will be hired to generate engineering data on sludge handling, disposal reduction and reuse potential for Australian water utilities and industrial wastewater operators.

$48,684

Tradie Pass Pty Ltd

AI-Powered

Compliance

Verification

System for

the

Construction

Workforce

Tradie Pass is a Western Australian digital workforce compliance platform helping construction and mining companies instantly verify worker licences and tickets. Tradies upload their credentials once and

securely share them with employers through the platform, enabling faster site onboarding while reducing paperwork and improving compliance across worksites.

$45,000

Yawuru Technology Group Pty Ltd

The Gurlibil Connected Mobile Infrastructure Platform

Advancing the Gurlibil Connected Mobile Office Platform from validated R&D concept to commercially deployable product by optimising the multi-carrier satellite-cellular network orchestration engine, hardening enterprise security architecture, and conducting extended field trials in remote Western Australian locations.

$50,000

Yued Aboriginal Corporation

YUED Bushfoods - Bush Food Nutritional Supplement Development

Yued Aboriginal Corporation, partnering with Edith Cowan University and NNA Foods, is developing a commercially viable processing system for Noongar bush foods. The project applies freeze-drying and 3D food printing technology to native yams, creating shelf-stable, nutrient-dense functional food products targeting children with ADHD, autism, and diabetes.

$49,700

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