Cicada expands deep tech expertise with two senior appointments
Cicada Innovations has appointed two new Venture Growth Experts, Professor Rob Gorkin and Sam Bruce, strengthening its specialist support for Australian deep tech founders across biomedtech, energy and critical industries.
Gorkin and Bruce bring additional senior industry and commercialisation expertise to Cicada's team and will work directly with Cicada's incubated ventures to challenge, coach and connect founders as they move from technical breakthrough to commercial scale.
Cicada Innovations CEO Liza Noonan said the appointments sent a positive signal about the strength of Australia's deep tech sector.
"Australian founders continue to tackle hard, important problems. Universities and industry continue to produce exceptional science and technology. And experienced people like Rob and Sam continue to choose to put their expertise behind the companies that can commercialise that work and take it to the world."
Based in Sydney, Professor Gorkin joins Cicada as Venture Growth Expert, BioMedtech. An engineer, serial entrepreneur and innovator, he has worked across five continents in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, digital health and health systems innovation, as well as advanced manufacturing, robotics and AI.
Professor Gorkin co-founded medtech company Eudaemon Technologies and has served on its board throughout, first as CEO, then as Executive Director, Innovation, and now as a non-executive director. He recently held Director positions at Western Sydney University’s Translational Health Research Institute and SPHERE, a nationally accredited Research Translation Centre, and has worked with international philanthropic funders including the Gates Foundation, bridging innovation to global impact.
"I know firsthand what it takes to move an idea out of a lab and build a company around it. The science is only one part of the challenge. You have to make decisions about product, customers, regulation, manufacturing, capital, people, and critically how to grow and deliver value," Gorkin said.
“Australia produces world-leading research, and we’re good at starting companies. Scaling is where we often fall short. Cicada understands we need more catalysts to improve the ecosystem, and I’m here to help it lead.”
Based in Victoria, Sam Bruce joins Cicada as Venture Growth Expert, Energy and Critical Industries. He brings significant experience supporting ventures across the full innovation lifecycle, from early-stage R&D through to the delivery of bankable, investment-ready projects. Sam’s career spans across EY, Fortescue Future Industries and Pollination where he has consistently been at the interface between technology development and business. He also spent five years at CSIRO where he worked on a series of research-industry partnerships, technology incubation programs, and led the development of several nationally significant strategies including Australia's National Hydrogen Roadmap and Critical Energy Minerals Roadmap.
"I've spent much of my career looking at how to develop and commercialise the technologies that Australia will need to build a more resilient and competitive economy. Many of those capabilities start with the kind of founders Cicada supports," Bruce said.
"Working directly with those founders and helping them transition their world leading IP into successful businesses is something I am really passionate about. These are difficult companies to build, but they can create significant value for Australia in a rapidly changing global economy."
The appointments come as the Federal Government considers Budget changes to the Research and Development Tax Incentive (RDTI), including a ten-year company age limit on access to the refundable offset. Cicada has warned the change could lock out deep tech companies that are still years from commercial revenue.
"When an Australian deep tech company succeeds, the return goes well beyond that company. It creates IP, highly skilled jobs, new industries, sovereign capability and solutions to problems that matter," Noonan said.
"In deep tech, company age isn't a proxy for commercial maturity. Many of these companies are doing their most capital-intensive R&D after year ten, while still pre-revenue. The RDTI needs to reflect that reality if we want to keep the value they create here."
The appointments are part of Cicada's broader investment in Australia's deep tech pipeline, including Cicada Assemble, a new program helping science-led ventures and technical founders move from validated invention to commercial readiness. Assemble begins in Victoria this month and New South Wales in November, bridging the gap between early-stage commercialisation support and larger accelerator, investment and grant opportunities.
"The pipeline is there and it's growing," Noonan said. "Our job is to put the right experience, networks, capital and opportunities around these founders so more of them succeed. Australia has the capability. We need to make sure the systems around it keep pace."
