Cicada x Tech23 Report

Deep Tech = Australia’s Productivity Boom

Australia doesn’t lack ideas. It lacks the systems to turn breakthrough science into productivity at scale.

The Cicada x Tech23 Insights Report 2025 reveals how deep tech founders are powering Australia’s next productivity boom. Drawing on firsthand insights from the nation’s most ambitious science-led ventures, the report shows why backing deep technology is essential to building a stronger, more resilient and competitive Australian economy.

Now is the time to back Team Australia. Essential reading for founders, policymakers, investors, and industry leaders shaping Australia's innovation and productivity agenda.

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About the report

This year’s report draws on insights from 136 deep tech ventures who applied to be one of just 23 featured on the Tech23 2025 stage. Together, their applications offer a rare, unfiltered view of Australia’s deep tech pipeline – the problems founders are urgently trying to solve, the breakthrough technologies taking shape, and the real-world constraints slowing their path to scale and impact.

Tech23 is not a trend report. It is built from founder applications, not surveys or secondary data

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Key Findings from the report

Australia’s deep tech momentum is national: 42% of Tech23 applicants are based outside NSW, with strong pipelines in VIC, QLD, and the ACT, and emerging nodes in WA and SA.

The pipeline is progressing: 56% of ventures are at idea or proof-of-concept, 28% are at MVP or pilot stage, and 17% already have paying customers.

Small teams, big ambition: Most Tech23 ventures are being built by teams of one to five people, developing technologies with the potential to reshape entire industries.

Deep tech is inherently multidisciplinary:78% of applicants combine multiple technologies, with AI used by 51% of ventures, alongside advanced manufacturing and clean energy technologies.

Capital remains the key bottleneck to scale: 24% of founders have raised no funding, and only 28% have raised more than $1 million, putting Australia’s productivity gains at risk without stronger pathways to scale.

Why this matters now

Australia’s labour productivity growth has slowed to 0.4% per year, less than a quarter of its long-term average.

Deep tech offers a direct path to lifting productivity by creating new industries, higher-value jobs and sovereign capability. But without stronger pathways to scale, Australia risks exporting its breakthroughs and importing the benefits back at a premium.

Cicada x Tech23

Cicada x Tech23 is Australia’s biggest deep tech festival, celebrating founders turning frontier science into world-changing technology. For more than 15 years, it has spotlighted ventures creating new industries, attracting global investment and building sovereign capability, while connecting founders with the capital, partners and networks needed to scale.

Meet the 23

Tech23 2023 Report

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Tech23 2024 Report

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