Australia's flagship deep tech incubator Cicada Innovations is expanding with the opening of a health-focused incubator at one of Australia's largest health and biomedical research precincts, the Westmead Health and Innovation District, and supported by a grant from Investment NSW.

The incubator will be the first health-focused incubator funded by the NSW government to support pre-revenue health-tech startups in bridging the gap between research and commercialisation, and helping to bring life-changing research with real-world patient outcomes to the market sooner.

The incubator will act as a landing pad for project and research teams, as well as startups wanting support, space, and time to discover the commercial potential of their idea and find support to translate them.

It will also establish a strong foundation to grow hi-tech health jobs in Western Sydney, create improved health outcomes, and boost Westmead as a leading health innovation precinct.

In addition to commercialisation support and dedicated space in the incubator, located inside Westmead's Innovation Quarter, health tech companies will have facilitated access to the range of facilities and connections available in the broader Westmead precinct.

Cicada Innovations will deliver a series of health-focused programmes alongside Australasia's leading life science VC firm, Brandon Capital, which will provide membership for Westmead institutions.

At the new incubator, Cicada Innovations will offer health-tech residents early-stage incubation, capacity building programs, and links to institutional capital, mentoring, expertise, and support, connecting startups to the existing ecosystem and accelerating the commercialisation process.

The opening of the third incubator follows the recent announcement of a second, Melbourne-based, incubator delivered by Cicada Innovations in partnership with CSL, WEHI, and The University of Melbourne.