Every year, as we begin the search for the next Tech23 cohort, I write a manifesto.
It’s a simple exercise, but an important one. It helps us anchor around a clear mission for the event and the kind of founders we are looking for. It forces us to step back from the mechanics of running a national event and ask a bigger question:
What does the moment call for from deep tech right now?
This year, the answer felt unmistakable.
Deep tech has never been built in easy conditions. But the pressure right now is particularly visible.
Capital is cautious. Markets are moving slowly. Political headwinds are building. Timelines are stretching. Across Australia, founders are operating in an environment that demands more of them than ever before: more resilience, more patience, more belief.
Yet something important has not changed. They are still building.
Not because the conditions are easy. Because the work cannot wait.
These are the founders Tech23 exists to find.
Building a deep tech company has always required a different kind of commitment.
It means years of research before a product exists. It means proving technologies the world has never seen before. It means navigating regulatory barriers, technical unknowns and markets that may still be emerging.
Progress is rarely fast. It is often quiet. Breakthroughs happen slowly. Milestones are hard won. Validation can take time.
And the founders who stay the course are the ones who shape entire industries.
In labs, workshops and small teams around the country, teams are building technologies that could reshape entire systems.
New energy infrastructure. Transformative healthcare technologies. Advanced manufacturing systems. New materials and circular production methods.
Much of this work happens quietly, long before it becomes visible to the wider world. But the ambition behind it is unmistakable.
At the Tech23 2026 launch webinar, I caught up with three Tech23 alumni who gave a glimpse of what that looks like in practice.
Clayton Franklin, founder of EPCA in Western Australia, is retrofitting massive diesel mining trucks into full battery electric — with a team of six. Since Tech23, he's signed new contracts, expanded into India, and is preparing to electrify a 240-tonne truck that would put his tiny team in direct competition with Caterpillar.
Leigh Staines, CEO of Banksia Minerals in Queensland, is building a cleaner alternative to copper smelting, spun out of University of Queensland research. The company recently secured up to $5 million from ARENA and is preparing for a capital raise to fund its pilot plant.
Hitesh Mehta, co-founder and COO of Nutromics in Melbourne, is developing a wearable biosensor that can continuously monitor drugs in the body — their research was recently validated in a Nature publication. Since Tech23, the team has pulled its launch timeline forward by nine months, opened a Series B, and secured a new federal grant.
Three different domains. Three different stages. All building from Australia, all playing the long game.
Cicada x Tech23 was created to surface serious deep tech ambition and find founders like Clayton, Leigh and Hitesh.
Each year we select 23 of the most promising deep tech companies being built in Australia and bring them into the room with the people who can help them go further.
Investors. Industry leaders. Policymakers. Fellow founders who understand the realities of building science and engineering-led companies.
Tech23 is not about hype or short-term attention.
It exists to recognise the founders willing to do the hard work of turning science into companies and research into real-world impact.
Through the Search the Nation campaign, the Tech23 team is looking across Australia for the founders building technologies with the potential to shape industries. We are not looking for the loudest companies. We are looking for the builders.
Through applications, referrals and our national network, we are searching for 23 deep tech companies developing technologies grounded in science and engineering that could define the next generation of Australian industry.
If you are building something that will take years to realise but could matter for decades to come, we want to hear from you.
Applications for Cicada x Tech23 are now open.
Apply now → https://www.cicadainnovations.com/cicada-x-tech23