Food Innovation Precinct Western Australia

The Precinct explores the creation of a unique brand, trademark and relevant industry certification, which makes it a one-stop shop for WA's agri-food community.

Synergies have been optimised between the Precinct and the State Government’s Bushfire Centre of Excellence. The Centre and Precinct are situated next to one another with coordinated orientation of buildings and landscaping, joint parking areas and shared use of common facilities such as the Precinct's cafe and meeting rooms.

Research and Development

The Precinct works with businesses on a range of initiatives across the value chain of food production to consumption.

These include:

• Deploying a focus on improving farm level productivity
• Efficient use of natural resources all the way to developing new or enhanced F&B products
• Better connecting the food-health nexus through innovation in the functional food domain

Creating reliable and safe supply chains that enhance WA’s food traceability and provenance is also a focus.

Innovation Centre

A landing pad for businesses and entrepreneurs, the Innovation Centre is a hub of activity where individuals create new business collaborations, monetise their services, ideate on opportunities and expand their networks domestically and internationally.  

In addition to co-working spaces for small and medium enterprise and entrepreneurs, the Innovation Centre connects vital services to F&B businesses ranging from Asia focused export services, market and consumer testing, new agri-technology transfer and application programs, government related services, business planning and financial services. 

Recognising the need for the innovation focus to thrive, the R&D and Innovation Centre build talent, new skills and capabilities through regular workshops, seminars and events.

Production Warehouse

The State will provide a significant investment to create a common-use Food Technology facility at the Production Centre. The facility is intended to house advanced food manufacturing equipment that will assist primary producers and help food and beverage businesses develop, test and produce new and improved products.

Working alongside the R&D and Innovation Centre, businesses will be able to test market demand and buyers, allowing them to invest with confidence in new large-scale commercial production lines.

The Precinct has established 10 key success measures to guide its ongoing operations:

1. Optimal utilisation of the WA Food Innovation Precinct
2. Industry (including local growers and producers) utilisation of the R&D, Innovation and Production facilities
3. R&D Commercialisation (on-farm and post-farm gate)
4. Research translation for industry
5. Diversification of agri-industry into value-added
6. Agri-business growth – investment, innovation and jobs
7. Grow indigenous businesses, product and communities
8. Export growth (volume and value) and deeper international connections
9. Stronger WA agri F&B brand
10. Local jobs, workforce capabilities and student growth

Economic modelling indicates that the Precinct could increase Western Australia’s food and beverage sector output between one and three per cent in the first five years of operation.

This translates into between 17 and 51 new food businesses delivering benefits to the Western Australian economy, including:

• Growth in Western Australia's food and beverage sector output by between $110 and $33M
• Economic injection of between $245 and $737M in other economy sectors
• Direct job creation of between 169 and 506 jobs
• Indirect job creation of between 323 and 977 jobs

Western Australia is taking a deep dive into the production of alternative proteins with six pioneering businesses set to expand state efforts in the global market, with a particular focus on Singapore.

As participants in the X-Protein Lab program, a Western Australian Food Innovation Precinct initiative, the businesses are mentored by industry experts from Singapore and Australia, through their research and development efforts, technology readiness, intellectual property considerations, product-market fit, business models, consumer and market acceptance, investment potential and global relevance.

The businesses also interact with like-minded Singapore startups, link into the regional and global agri-food financing eco-system and receive three-months access to the Precinct’s Innovation Centre when it opens mid-2022.

Participating businesses and their initiatives:

Experts in Residence include:

• Dr. Natasha Ayers, Agristart WA
• Dr. Regine Stockmann, CSIRO VIC
• Gerard Chia, VisVires New Protein SGP
• Professor Paul Teng, A*STAR SGP

The Enterprise Support Program (ESP) is a $3.85M competitive grant program set up in partnership between the Shire of Murray, DevelopmentWA and the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD), whom contributed $2.5M.

The ESP provides up to $600K in 1:1 co-funding for agri-businesses seeking to pursue business development and innovation opportunities, through the leading-edge research capability, incubation space and technologies available in the Precinct.

Support will be available for small to medium agri-businesses, enterprises and entrepreneurs seeking opportunities to innovate, accelerate business development, commercialise research and to deliver projects that demonstrate:

• Innovation
• Diversification
• Export capability
• Product development
• Commercialisation of research

It is intended that the ESP will contribute towards economic diversification, jobs growth, food innovation and improving the export capability of agri-food commodities. Funding is available to eligible participants under the following three streams:

1. Business/product commercialisation, collaborative research and development
2. Common use equipment within the Precinct
3. User incentives to access the Precinct space, facilities and services

Prospective applicants may request up to $600K across the three streams. Successful applicants will have up to two years to complete their projects and acquit the funds.

Applications can be submitted at any time during the year with assessments made toward the end of each quarter. To enable consideration of your application at the quarterly meeting (March/June/September/December), ensure it is submitted prior to the 15th of the preceding month.

As part of the application process, your information will be made available to the assessing authorities, including the Shire Council. As a result, the application outcomes may be publicly available. 

As part of the grant submission and assessment process applicants may be asked to submit business plans, financial statements and other information that may be deemed relevant to the proposed project.