Co-working space provider and well-known pillar of the local startup ecosystem, Spacecubed, celebrated its tenth anniversary last night with the evening topped off by receiving a $5.9 million grant from Lotterywest to enhance the local early stage ecosystem.
Presented by Innovation and ICT Minister Stephen Dawson, the grant – the largest single one distributed by Lotterywest – will go towards the development of a sustainable, smart and innovative society WA over the next three years.
“Supporting an innovative economy is at the heart of the McGowan Government’s ability to diversify WA’s economy,” said Mr Dawson.
Our Government is committed to ensuring our promising innovators have the support that will help them build strong, viable businesses and create more local jobs. I’m pleased to see an organisation, like Spacecubed, as the recipient of the Lotterywest grant which will provide a major boost to WA’s innovation ecosystem.
Stephen Dawson, Innovation and ICT Minister
“This new support will feed into the work of the $16.7 million New Industries Fund, which has been supporting entrepreneurs and innovators since 2017.
The move seems especially fitting given Spacecubed was launched in 2012 with the support of a $200,000 Lotterywest grant. Although this grant was viewed as risky at the time, Spacecubed has since then delivered over $4 billion in social, economic and environmental impact for the state. One notable startup that began at Spacecubed was Virtual Gaming Worlds (VGW) – now a multi-billion dollar company.
“This Lotterywest grant allows Spacecubed to take what we have learnt over the last ten years and give greater support to the whole innovation ecosystem, as we proactively and intentionally grow our collective impact to support innovative ideas across Western Australia,” Spacecubed Founder and Managing Director Brodie McCulloch added.
If we as a community don’t invest in a smart and innovative society, we will be more susceptible to be impacted by wicked problems and disruption. There needs to be an investment in the skillsets, toolkits and mindsets of West Australians, to not only support individuals to thrive, but to build a more resilient community and economy.
Brodie McCulloch, Spacecubed Founder and Managing Director
The grant will be delivered across three complementary components:
- developing networks and collaboration across the innovation sector in WA, through the Innovative Society Constellation;
- providing research into the state of Western Australia and how it is tracking to create an innovative society through the Innovative Society Index; and
- funding the development of innovative ideas at various stages from testing, to enabling and supporting ecosystem proposals through the Innovative Society Fund.
“The collaborative approach to the project is specifically designed to ensure that new ideas are supported at all stages and there is support available for ideas across the state, while the impact of this support is measured over time to assist in attracting additional funding,” added Mr McCulloch.
“To strengthen Western Australia as a truly innovative society, this project, in partnership with Lotterywest, will ensure that we build a community of resilient and high-impact innovators and change-makers along with a sustainable ecosystem of support for ideas to thrive.”
Lotterywest and Heathway CEO Ralph Addis added that Lotterywest is committed to building a better state through their grant program, with Spacecubed part of the picture.
“We are honoured to support Spacecubed in cultivating a culture of entrepreneurship in our great state,” he said.
“I’m looking forward to seeing the outcomes of these exciting programs, particularly the ‘Lotterywest Idea Starter’ which will support early stage innovative ideas that can positively contribute to Western Australia being a smart, innovative society.”
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Spacecubed is a sponsor of Startup News. On behalf of the SN team, happy birthday to Spacecubed! Well done to Brodie and the team.
