Innovation is a major driver of business growth, however many start-ups and small businesses can often face barriers, such as lack of technical expertise or funding, when trying to access research and development ( R&D) to explore new opportunities.

CSIRO’s Kick-Start program helps start-ups and small businesses overcome some of these barriers to pursue R&D activities, by providing an end-to-end facilitation service, including:

• help with articulating your research question
• connecting businesses with relevant CSIRO researcher expertise and capability – think of us as you in-house R&D division
• matched funding support to improve the affordability or expand the scope of R&D services.

Eligible projects

Your project scope could be anything from:

• Research into a new idea with commercial potential.
• Developing a brand-new product or service with commercial potential to increase your customer base – We helped CannPal discover natural products to promote better health and well-being for companion animals.
• Testing a novel product developed by the company – Wash Wild engaged CSIRO to test four key pathogens used in their cleaning products made from Australian native oils.

Your company needs to match the funding provided by CSIRO. For example, if we provide funding of $50,000, your business must also provide $50,000. This must be a cash contribution and cannot be in-kind.

Please note funding from CSIRO is not provided directly to your business; it is applied as a voucher to defray the costs associated with accessing CSIRO research and capability.

For further information please visit CSIRO Kick-Start – CSIRO