Office of Industry and Innovation

Pathfinder will fund a broad scope of activities related to funded projects at stage 1 and stage 2.

These can include:

• Eligible expenditure stage 1 allowable costs
• Eligible expenditure stage 2 allowable costs
• Ineligible expenditure

Note: there are some activities which cannot be funded within this program - please refer to the ineligible costs list.

Stage 1 allowable costs

• Costs (excluding capital costs) of performing the "proof of concept" experiment(s) or demonstrations to support further investigation or funding of the project. For example, to demonstrate that a particular experimental outcome is repeatable or applicable to more than one use.

• Independent consultants or service providers* to undertake:

  • development of a brief, commercially-focussed business case (up to $5,000); and
  • market research / market scoping (up to $5,000).
• Investigation into the intellectual property position.
• Project-specific activities that help to build a case to show the concept will be commercially attractive.

* We will recommend a number of local business development and market scoping-consultants who are experienced in early stage commercialisation.

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Stage 2 allowable costs

Commercialisation activities and extending prototyping and "proof of concept" activities contracted to non-UWA organisations, companies or suppliers; including:

• Externally conducted trials, product testing or product approvals.
• Field trials (such as equipment hire and travel costs to the trial site).
• Professional services from approved consultants for commercial activities such as patent searching, market research and business planning.
• PhD research students / technical officers contributing specific skills to a Pathfinder project on a short-term basis. Maximum allowable daily rate = $150.00. Note that the research student must agree to assign any IP generated via their work on a Pathfinder-funded project to UWA.
• Component parts for the development of a prototype (for example, to build a demonstrator / prove the concept / develop a working prototype).
• Capital equipment rental costs or usage charges for the duration of the Pathfinder project.
• Marketing materials (such as website and promotional literature), where the technology will be commercialised directly out of a UWA centre / school.
• Purchase of external services (for example, software development, printed circuit board design, rapid prototyping, laboratory analytical services, e-commerce services).
• Economy travel within Australia to present a proposal for investment funding to a pre-seed fund, early stage venture capital provider, or for the negotiation of licences.
• Contribution towards a COMET Tier 1 grant, up to a maximum of $12,800.

This list is not designed to be exhaustive. Researchers should contact us for guidance on whether a proposed activity would be considered an allowable cost. The Office of Industry and Innovations' decision is final.

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Ineligible expenditure

The following costs are all ineligible for Pathfinder funding:

• UWA academic staff time that is expended on the Pathfinder project. The Pathfinder fund is not intended to underpin academic staff costs.
• Capital equipment purchases above $2,000 per item.
• Travel to conferences, seminars and the like.
• External or internal consulting by UWA staff.
• General advertising or promotional expenses.

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