The new face of innovation is here – and Australia needs to catch up
An advertising executive. An aerospace engineer. A doctor.
Not a punchline – but the profile of Australia’s new generation of innovators.
They’re not spinning out of Silicon Valley with SaaS platforms or apps. They’re solving real-world problems: clean flight, robotic surgery, sustainable materials.
They’re building deep tech. And they’re doing it in labs, in surgeries, on factory floors, and from places most wouldn’t expect.
At Cicada Innovations, we’ve had a front-row seat to this quiet revolution. Over the past 25 years, we’ve seen deep tech innovation explode.
According to our latest Tech23 Insights Report, 72% of deep tech startups in Australia were founded in the last five years. Yet despite this momentum, our systems, funding, policy, and support haven’t kept pace.
Deep tech doesn’t follow the classic startup playbook. It takes time, patient capital, and a long view, qualities that rarely align with fast-growth VC models. Our report revealed that just 17% of deep tech funding comes from venture capital. The rest is pieced together from government grants and early partnerships, which are often too little, too late.
That’s why platforms like Cicada x Tech23 matter.
Not as a showcase, but as a signal. A signal that these founders and technologies exist. That they’re ready to be backed. That we as a nation can no longer afford to overlook them.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of reconnecting with the Tech23 2024 alumni and I was again reminded how inspiring and necessary their work is.
Take Tina Funder, a former creative director, who founded Alt. Leather to reimagine leather using agricultural plant waste.
Her mission? Eliminate petroleum-based plastics from the materials industry. Alt. Leather has developed a 100% bio-based, high-performance alternative to traditional and synthetic leather to meet the demands of accessories, footwear, apparel, furniture, and even automotive interiors. It’s a big shift for a big problem, one that’s gaining traction fast.
After stepping onto the Cicada x Tech23 stage, the company raised $1.1 million in an oversubscribed seed round, scaled up its production capabilities, and secured new partnerships across their supply chain.
Aquila team members Muhammad Hanif, Rita Tri, Ruby Jones and Billy Jeremijenko.
Or Ruby Jones, who started her journey racing solar cars at university, and now co-leading Aquila, a company developing optical power-beaming technology.
Imagine charging drones mid-air, delivering power to remote communities, or keeping electric aircraft in the sky without landing. That’s the future Aquila is building: wireless energy networks that transmit power via light beams.
Since stepping onto the Cicada x Tech23 stage, Ruby and her team have received funding from the Industry Growth Program and were front-cover stars of The 2024 Australian’s Top 100 innovators.
Bob Criner, an aerospace veteran who’s worked with Airbus, Heart Aerospace, and GoogleX, before he co-founded Stralis Aircraft to take on one of aviation’s biggest challenges: emissions.
Instead of engines burning fossil fuels, Stralis is developing hydrogen-electric propulsion systems that emit only water. Their goal is to replace jet engines entirely, starting with short-haul commercial aircraft, and scaling up to transform aviation into a zero-emission industry. Since Cicada x Tech23 they’ve also received support from the Industry Growth Program, pitched at TechCrunch Disrupt, and secured contracts with a major international aerospace partner.
And finally, Dr Chris Jeffery, whose career spans military service, medicine, and engineering, is leading Convergence Medical where he’s building the world’s first robotic system dedicated to arthroscopic surgery. It’s designed to bring next-level precision to joint procedures, improving outcomes for patients globally.
Since Cicada x Tech23 Chris has since secured international funding and is moving toward FDA breakthrough device designation.
These aren’t hobbyists or dreamers. They’re builders of the next industrial age. But right now for many, this work happens in spite of the system, not because of it.
If we want to secure Australia’s future, we need to back these kinds of ventures from the start. That means reforming how we think about risk, how we allocate capital, and how we create pathways from research to real-world impact.
At Cicada x Tech23, we try to do our part to spotlight these founders, to connect them with the partners and capital they need, and to push the national conversation forward. And now we’re looking for the next 23 to take to the stage in September.
The future doesn’t just arrive. It’s built. Patiently, persistently, and often, against the odds.
The question is: are we paying attention?
Cicada x Tech23 will take place in Sydney, September 10, 2025.
The annual event is presented by Cicada Innovations, Australia’s home of deep tech, supported by Main Sequence, Addisons, CSIRO, RADIUM Capital and Techvisa.
Apply now — applications close 2 May, 2025.
- Sally-Ann Williams is CEO of Cicada Innovations
April 22, 2025 at 05:19AM
https://www.startupdaily.net/advice/opinion/the-new-face-of-innovation-is-here-and-australia-needs-to-catch-up/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-new-face-of-innovation-is-here-and-australia-needs-to-catch-up
Sally-Ann Williams