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NSW Government
Chief Scientist & Engineer

Synthetic Biology and Biomanufacturing

Emerging Industry Infrastructure Fund Round 2

The second round of the Emerging Industry Infrastructure Fund (EIIF) for Synthetic Biology and Biomanufacturing provided funding to two university-led consortia. Further information on the recipients can be found at the link below:

The Emerging Industry Infrastructure Fund (EIIF) supported the recommendations of the Turning Ideas into Jobs: Accelerating research and development in NSW Action Plan (ARDAC Report). The ARDAC Report recommends supporting emerging infrastructure to:

  • Turbocharge precincts – systematically develop precincts to attract national and global technology industries and investment, and drive collaboration with universities, research organisations, start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs to commercialise R&D (Priority Action 3).
  • Target strategic support for NSW Universities – collaborate on research that will drive the state’s future strategic growth industries and research-led attraction of industry, and form partnerships to better leverage Commonwealth Government research funding (Priority Action 4).


The NSW 20-Year R&D Roadmap identified biotechnology as a key technology theme, with the applications of synthetic biology and biomanufacturing (including cell-based meats and other applications), and genetic engineering identified as competitive advantages.


Consultations conducted by OCSE indicated that there is an unmet demand for access to shared infrastructure supporting synthetic biology and biomanufacturing including precision fermentation, bioreactors and PC2 labs. This is further supported by several research sector and government reports including the 2021 National Research Infrastructure Roadmap, the Australian Council of Learned Academies Report - Synthetic Biology in Australia: An Outlook to 2030 and the CSIRO Report – A National Synthetic Biology Roadmap


Round 2 of the EIIF provided up to $6 million to support Synthetic Biology and Biomanufacturing specific infrastructure, facilities, equipment and platforms which could allow activities such as prototyping, scaleup and testing of products. The supporting staff could connect researchers, industry, startups and supply chains. Programs could include incubation and acceleration support.


If you have questions regarding the EIIF, contact us through:

grants@chiefscientist.nsw.gov.au