New $150 million fund to boost research and innovation in NSW

The NSW Science and Innovation Fund will support the commercialisation of research and strengthen connections between universities, government and industry.

UNSW Sydney has welcomed the NSW Government’s announcement of a $150 million Science and Innovation Fund to help turn research discoveries into new businesses, jobs and products.

Announced by NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey at the Sydney Investment Summit this week, the fund will co-invest with NSW public universities before expanding to other organisations across the innovation ecosystem.

The fund forms part of a new framework designed to improve the pathway from research to commercialisation and support investment in areas including technology, biomedical science and environmental science.

UNSW Sydney Chancellor Warwick Negus AM said the fund would create new opportunities for researchers and entrepreneurs.

“Universities are engines of discovery, economic growth and innovation. As Australia’s leading entrepreneurial university, UNSW welcomes strategic investment that will create new opportunities for research commercialisation and support new enterprise across the state.”

Moving innovation from lab to market

The announcement follows an independent review released last year, which identified opportunities to improve research commercialisation in NSW.

NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said the framework would help more ideas developed in the state become businesses, services and jobs.

“Four years of budget discipline have strengthened the state’s capacity to make strategic investments in the industries that will drive our future economy,” Minister Mookhey said.

“For generations, people have come to NSW with an idea, an ambition and the determination to build something better.

“Today, those people are working in our universities, hospitals, laboratories and startups. They are developing new treatments, new technologies and new solutions to challenges faced around the world.”

NSW Minister for Finance and UNSW alumna Courtney Houssos said the fund would build on the expertise and economic contribution of the state’s universities.

“We are seeking to leverage the expertise in our university sector, and we are so fortunate to be partnering with these treasured institutions, which are also key drivers of the economy,” Minister Houssos said.

Minister Houssos also highlighted research showcased by UNSW at NSW Parliament, including work on solar panel recycling and partnerships supporting women’s organisations.

“This is the kind of work that is going on in our universities each and every day. We are making a careful investment of taxpayer funds, partnering with universities to be able to continue to grow.”

UNSW is recognised as the nation’s leading entrepreneurial university, having established more new startups and spinout companies from its technology than any other Australian university. In 2025, UNSW launched 25 new spinout companies and topped Knowledge Commercialisation Australasia’s (KCA) Survey of Commercialisation Outcomes from Public Research Report for the fourth consecutive year.