Guidelines for Applicants

1. Objectives

The aims of the UWA Pathfinder fund are as follows:

• To fund ‘early stage’ projects or concepts that are expected to have clear commercial potential.
• To shape early stage projects into ‘investor-ready’ or ‘IP licensing’ opportunities.
• To use the Pathfinder fund to leverage funds from other sources (eg COMET grants available from AusIndustry).
• For successful Pathfinder projects to return the sum awarded back to the fund at a later date, typically within 2 years of the project being completed

2. Pathfinder structure : A two stage process

The Pathfinder framework provides a maximum of $250,000 per annum for investment into Pathfinder projects. Introduced in 2002, the Pathfinder programme was reviewed in 2006 and was strongly endorsed by both UWA researchers and the external Pathfinder Panel.

As a result of the review, two key recommendations were made by OII and ratified by the UWA Executive:

a) Increase the upper limit from $40,000 to $60,000 

and,

b) split Pathfinder projects into two stages as follows :

Stage 1:  OII assesses the application and has authority to sign off up to $15,000 without reference to the external Pathfinder Panel. Applicants are strongly advised to include the following activities in your Stage 1 project plan:

• up to $5,000 for market scoping, plus
• up to $5000 to develop a basic business case.

…. unless there is prior evidence of the commercial potential and ‘market pull’ from an independent source. Other activities that can be funded in stage 1 include:

• Proof of concept experimental work (eg materials, access to external facilities or equipment).
• Investigation into the intellectual property position.  (e.g. do we have freedom to operate?  How can the IP be protected?  Is it worth patenting?).
• Project-specific activities that help to build a case to show that the concept will be commercially attractive.   

Stage 2:  Following a positive outcome to Stage 1, the applicant will be asked to present the outcomes of  Stage 1 to the Pathfinder Panel for review and discussion. Subject to a majority vote, the Panel has the authority to approve the second stage funds up to an additional maximum of $45,000.

3. Pathfinder Rules

The Pathfinder rules with which applicants must comply are as follows:

1. There is a lower limit of $5,000 per project and an upper limit of $60,000, split into two stages. Stage 1 maximum is $15,000, with a further additional maximum of $45,000 available for Stage 2.
2. Pathfinder projects should be completed within 12 months unless there is a compelling reason for extending beyond this duration.
3. Each Pathfinder sum awarded is to be repaid, without interest, within two years of the project being successfully commercialised. The definition of ‘successfully commercialised is the point at which the project starts to generate a financial return (either via a licence fee, product sales, on-selling of the technology or via a royalty stream). Should a Pathfinder project not be successfully commercialised, there is no requirement for the applicant to repay the sum awarded.
4. The Pathfinder project should clearly lead to the generation of new intellectual property (IP) or the enhancement of existing IP.
5. Pathfinder projects must be ‘outcome’ orientated, with clear and specific deliverables.
6. Pathfinder projects must have a clear commercialisation strategy, even though it may be some time before the technology is capable of generating any financial returns.

For answers to any questions you may have, please refer to our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page.

For information on the application process, please refer to the application process.