The Cook Government has opened an expression of interest to find an operator for a new WA Commercialisation Hub, which will be funded at $2 million over four years through the $40 million New Industries and Innovation Fund. It will be the fifth innovation hub on the State Government’s books.
“WA is home to brilliant inventors and innovators in our businesses and across our universities, medical research institutes, and government agencies,” Science and Innovation Minister Stephen Dawson said.
“The new Commercialisation Hub is a fantastic way the Cook Labor Government is ensuring our inventions are fast-tracked towards becoming products and services benefitting people in WA and the world – fostered and grown right here in the State.”
The Hub is meant to act as a bridge between research, industry, and government, with a stated focus on intellectual property management, commercialisation, and scale-up support services. The Department of Energy and Economic Diversification, which is running the process, says it will also support scale-ups on financial literacy and capital raising, strategic planning, networking and mentorship, market expansion, and access to capital funding.
The State Government is hoping it results in better IP management and commercialisation results, an increase in the number of investor-ready businesses and the investment flowing into WA scale-ups, and increased capitalisation of Western Australian scale-ups, both for individual businesses and for the ecosystem as a whole.
Where it sits in the existing lineup
The State Government currently funds four innovation hubs:
- CyberWest
- WA Data Science Innovation Hub
- WA Creative Tech Innovation Hub
- WA Life Sciences Innovation Hub.
CyberWest, Data Science, and Creative Tech were funded through the New Industries Fund, and those agreements are due to conclude on June 30th, 2027.
At $2 million over four years, the Commercialisation Hub works out at roughly 5% of the NIIF’s $40 million allocation across 2025 to 2029. The fund, established in 2017 as the New Industries Fund, already carries commercialisation-specific money: the Commercialisation Bridge Grant, launched in 2024, runs to $250,000, the Innovation Booster Grant to $50,000, and the Innovation Pathways Program, which replaced X-TEND WA in 2025, funds accelerators and investor-readiness programmes.
Expressions of interest close at 5:00 pm on September 30th, with applications made by email to the department.
