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08 Jun, 2023, 15:45 CST

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SYDNEY, June 8, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Australia's flagship deep tech incubator Cicada Innovations has announced its first cohort of deep tech founders chosen to showcase their world-changing innovations at Australia's longest-running annual deep technology conference, the newly-named Cicada x Tech23.

Cicada acquired custodianship of Tech23 last year, with both organisations sharing a longstanding mission to celebrate and support Australian deep tech innovators, and a lengthy track record of nurturing some of Australia's most successful companies.

The 23 ventures were selected from over 130 applications from across Australia - the highest number received for the conference in 13 years of operations.

Cicada, which coincidentally also celebrates its 23rd birthday this year, will stay true to Tech23's DNA of celebrating radical Australian innovation and deep technological advancements, but has given the conference a makeover by moving away from pitches and prizes.

Instead the 23 will appear in a series of inspirational talks and in-depth panel discussions that focus on a systems, not siloes, approach to solving some of the world's biggest problems that transcend individual industries or technologies.

The 23 have been grouped under five overarching categories aimed at asking big questions about how we build the future, while finding systemic solutions to broad-reaching problems:

Sally-Ann Williams, CEO of Cicada Innovations, said: "Deep technologies are remarkable breakthroughs in science and engineering, with the potential to have a far-reaching impact on big, seemingly intractable, issues in the world. Deep tech ventures, like the 23 companies at Tech23, are finding commercial applications for these innovations.

"To really understand the impact of deep tech ventures, we must think systemically, not through niches of technology or individual industries.

"These ventures often utilise or develop innovations in fields such as AI, biotech, robotics, quantum, and it's rare for these innovations to have applications in one sector alone, such as aerospace or medicine.

"For example, we might see space technologies used to monitor agricultural conditions or provide healthcare solutions, or an AI technology might be applied both to the monitoring of a patient and as a smart cities solution.

"At Cicada x Tech23, we want to spark this meaningful conversation and ask questions that urge us all to dream big, imagine new holistic approaches and think in systems, not silos."

Some notable past Tech23 winners include Culture Amp (Tech23 2009), Morse Micro (Tech23 2018), Regrow (Tech23 2017), and Inventia (Tech23 2018). The combined capital raised by Cicada Innovations and Tech23 companies eclipsed $5.7 billion by year-end 2022.

Cicada x Tech23 is proudly sponsored by NSW Government, Main Sequence Ventures, Australian Government Department of Industry, Science & Resources, CSIRO, University of Sydney, UTS, South Eveleigh, University of Queensland, Addisons, CFO Plus, IP Australia, Radium Capital and Third Hemisphere.

To attend: www.cicadainnovations.com/cicada-x-tech23

2023 Cicada x Tech23 companies:

Ending waste

Rebuilt environments

Shifting the mindset in medicine

Co-designing with nature

Reimagining time

Cicada Innovations (www.cicadainnovations.com) is the home of deep tech in Australia. The Sydney-based incubator with a twenty-one year track record of developing deep tech ventures tackling some of the world's most pressing problems.

Working at the forefront of innovation, it supports ventures seeking to create life-changing technology – applying cutting-edge science such as advanced materials, synthetic biology and AI to challenges like the future of human health, food security and the climate crisis.

Since inception, Cicada has seen an unprecedented $1.3 billion in exits from six deep tech ventures in the last two decades, and helped over 330 companies to raise more than $1.7 billion in funding. It has twice been awarded 'Top Incubator in the World' by InBIA, and delivered commercialisation training to thousands working in science & technology.

SOURCE Cicada Innovations