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Cicada Health Tech Hub Elevate 

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Enhance your fundamental commercialisation skills with the guidance of industry experts at this exclusive, complimentary 2-day workshop.

You’ve run the experiments and refined your idea. Now is the time to validate the market, pressure-test your thinking, and build momentum. Cicada’s HealthTech Hub Elevate is an intense, hands-on sprint built to make meaningful progress fast.
 
This specialised program helps early-stage projects in diagnostics, therapeutics, medical devices, and health innovation (TRL 1–3) to craft a clear, actionable commercialisation strategy.
 
Elevate is fully funded - No fees, No equity. It is backed by government and industry partners committed to seeing ventures like yours succeed. 

Who is it for?

Elevate is designed for ambitious individuals and teams ready to move their scientific innovation from discovery to market.
We are actively recruiting Western Sydney-based health and med tech teams, particularly those from allied health, nursing, clinical, and academic backgrounds.
The program is ideal for:

• Founders, researchers, or early-stage teams working on science or engineering-led technologies.
• Individuals wanting to understand how to assess which ideas have commercial potential and what to do next.
• Innovators seeking honest feedback, practical tools, and expert support.
Eligibility: To be eligible, you must be based in Australia and working on a deep tech solution grounded in scientific or engineering innovation. You do not need a registered company, ABN, or a finished product, just a compelling idea and the drive to explore its potential.

What's involved?


Program Components
If accepted, your team is encouraged to participate together.
• 4–6 hours of online preparatory learning.
• 2-day in-person workshop (9am–5pm daily) delivered at the Westmead Health Precinct.
• Three coaching sessions after the workshop with relevant experts.
 
Key Outcomes
You will walk away with clarity, confidence, and a concrete plan to move forward.
 
• Clear Commercial Strategy: Master proven frameworks and tailored advice on how to articulate your business, engage customers, and validate the market opportunity.
• Investor and Industry Connections: Gain connections and support to pursue capital and grants.
• Continued Support: You’ll stay part of the Cicada community, with ongoing access to events, mentorship, and future opportunities.

Important dates

Registration Close Date
February 5th, 2026
Application Reviews Begin
January 31st, 2026
Elevate Workshop
February 26th–27th, 2026

 

We strongly recommend applying early to secure your spot, as applications will be considered on a first-come, first-serve basis and reviewed based on suitability and technological readiness.

Apply for the next round

Elevate Experts:

Martin Hayes

Martin Hayes
Founder
MAYES Healthcare

 

Rebecca Addisons

Rebecca Dooley
Senior Associate
Addisons

 

Silvia

Silvia Pfeiffer 
Founder and Director
Coviu

 

Katja

Katja Beitat
Head of Health Tech
Cicada Innovations

Lilly

Lilly Bojarski
General Manager
Cicada HealthTech Hub

Harikesh Elevate

Harikesh Pushpapathan
Investment Manager, Stoic Venture Capital

Nicholette Conway
Mike Kulikov (1)

Nicholette Conway
Board Chair of Genetic Alliance Australia and Co- Founder and Director of AxisHealthCo.

With over 25 years of experience, Nicholette has worked across the pharmaceutical, medical device, and diagnostic industries. Her expertise spans clinical development (Phase 1-3), Health Technology Assessment (HTA) new product planning (NPP), market access, and reimbursement (MSAC & PBAC) and commercialisation, and is committed to delivering timely access to life changing treatments and improving health outcomes for patients through cross-disciplinary collaboration, building strong relationships and embracing new technologies. 

Mike Kulikov
Customer Relationship Manager, Radium Capital.

Radium Capital is Australia’s leading R&D finance provider, Radium Capital powers Australian innovators by partnering with them to provide access to vital non-dilutive funding, resources, and connections. As Customer Relations Manager for NSW at Radium Capital, Mike Kulikov, PhD, talks daily with innovators, directors, and CFOs who are tackling some of the world’s biggest challenges. Before joining Radium Capital, Mike founded and led an EdTech start-up, gaining invaluable insights into entrepreneurship and the financial landscape for start-ups and scale-ups. He understands the complexities businesses face when trying to access funding and is passionate about supporting and helping innovative companies unlock their full potential by accessing their R&D tax refunds early.


Rebecca Addisons

Rebecca Dooley
Partner, Addisons

With nearly a decade’s experience in corporate and commercial law, Rebecca provides listed companies, SMEs, start ups and investors with legal advice relating to M&A and capital raising. Rebecca also provides legal advice on other corporate and commercial matters, including contracts, corporate governance and employee share plans.


Rebecca is well placed to help her clients given her thorough knowledge of Australian corporations law, contract law and the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) Listing Rules. This knowledge is supplemented by an understanding of relevant market practice and trends, which enables Rebecca to help clients navigate both legal and commercial issues.

Aleta Knowles (1)

Aleta Knowles
Investment Manager, Uniseed

Aleta brings extensive commercialisation, clinical research, and product development experience from the animal health industry where she has been involved in and led the development of pharmaceutical and biological products from discovery to product launch within large multinational companies. Her most recent role was leading the Clinical Research and Regulatory Affairs teams at Virbac where she was responsible for driving the strategy and implementation of Virbac’s innovation pipeline in Australia.

Often working at the nexus of university research and business, Aleta has held roles at UNSW and in industry that encompass external innovation, technology licensing, commercialisation, and technology transfer.

 

 

About Cicada HealthTech Hub

Located inside Westmead Health and Innovation District, The Cicada HealthTech Hub will be a home to early stage health companies, a space for collaboration and commercialisation activation, and a landing pad for industry seeking solutions to their research and business challenges. Helping to contribute to the vision of making Westmead a world-class innovation district in health and education.

Westmead office-6

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