The challenge of commercialising deep tech in Australia has never been about the lack of ideas, talent or ambition, according to outgoing Cicada Innovations chief executive Sally-Ann Williams. But we suffer from a fragmented policy landscape and persistent failure to treat procurement as our most powerful tool for industrial transformation.
“We’ve got this wonderful phrase now about a ‘Future Made in Australia’. Great. But are we going to buy it here?” she posed, speaking on InnovationAus.com’s Commercial Disco podcast. “Too many of our companies land their first customer overseas. And once that happens, it’s very hard to bring them back.”
After backing promising Australian deep tech ventures for a quarter of a century, Cicada Innovations has helped to foster hundreds of startups that are building world-first capabilities in fields from biotech to space, and robotics to AI. The incubator has supported over 400 companies, helped raise $6.1 billion in capital, and contributed to the creation of thousands of jobs.
But Ms Williams says this success has come despite inconsistent policy support, particularly around how governments engage with early-stage Australian innovations as buyers, not just funders.
“Procurement is something that’s often talked about, but rarely done well,” she said. “It’s an absolute crying shame when a company receives funding at the state or federal level, only to find their first customer is in Canada, the UK, or Japan.”
She cited the example of SpeedX, a diagnostic health tech company tackling antimicrobial resistance. Despite multiple rounds of domestic funding, its early customers were overseas. Similarly, Telematica, which provides overhead monitoring systems for rail networks, has struggled to secure procurement in NSW despite selling successfully interstate and internationally.
“It’s a question of risk appetite,” Ms Williams said. “Other governments walk through the halls of Cicada and make purchasing decisions on the spot. Australian governments, for some reason, hesitate, and that sends the wrong message to founders and investors alike.”
For Ms Williams, the real risk isn’t in buying early-stage Australian tech. The risk is not buying it, and allowing other nations to capitalise on our R&D investments and leaving Australian taxpayers to buy the finished product at a premium.
“Risk in Australia is always framed as, ‘What if we fail?’” Ms Williams said. “We need to reframe it as, ‘What if we do nothing?’ Because the cost of inaction is enormous. When a startup moves offshore, it’s not just IP or jobs we lose, it’s entire industries.”
She believes governments can mitigate this risk through staged procurement models, co-development arrangements and stronger incentives for corporates and primes to integrate Australian tech into their supply chains.
“There are policy levers everywhere – from tax, to R&D, to skills and infrastructure,” Ms Williams said.
“If any one of them is misaligned, you create a new valley of death. And our competitors overseas are smoothing all of those out.”
While Cicada continues to expand, with three current sites in NSW and Victoria, it is operating at near capacity. Around 83 per cent of resident companies are building physical products, but the infrastructure to scale them domestically remains limited.
“There’s a real gap when it comes to shared manufacturing facilities,” Ms Williams said. “Once companies graduate from Cicada, there are very few places for them to go that have the right kind of equipment and capital structure.”
She sees promise in initiatives like the National Reconstruction Fund, but calls for bolder, more coordinated investment in advanced manufacturing capability, akin to Taiwan’s UMC partnership that catalysed its $147 billion semiconductor industry.
“What’s our version of that?” Ms Williams asked. “And can we do it nationally? Not duplicated across every state, but done well in a few key areas with deep commitment?”
Ms Williams also challenged prevailing assumptions about where deep tech companies come from. While the public conversation focuses on university spin-outs, she says the majority of Cicada’s founders come from industry, not academia.
“About 75 per cent of our companies are founded independently by people who’ve worked in industry, seen a problem, and are stubborn enough to solve it,” Ms Williams said.
“They’re not all PhDs. They’re engineers, domain experts, often aged 35 to 45, and just relentless in their pursuit of a better way.”
That said, she sees great value in partnerships with universities once the venture is underway. Founders hire graduates, license research, and often establish collaborative programs.
“It’s not about a broken linear pipeline. It’s about building an ecosystem of exchange.”
Asked what Cicada Innovations might look like in another quarter-century, Ms Williams doesn’t hesitate.
“We need to be the glue connecting founders, researchers, government, community and capital. If we can do that consistently – if we stay true to the mission – we’ll not only help build great companies, we’ll help reshape Australia’s economic base,” she said.
The key, she says, is sustained commitment and clear signals.
“Procurement, non-dilutive capital, infrastructure, and a Team Australia mindset. That’s the policy suite that will keep our companies here—and make Australia a place where deep tech can thrive.”
Do you know more? Contact James Riley via Email.