ANDHealth+

Applicants must:

• Be an Australian SME and registered Australian corporate entity.
• Employ no more than 199 employees.
• Meet ASIC small-business thresholds, including consolidated revenue below $50 million and/or consolidated gross assets below $25 million at the end of the previous financial year.
• Have at least one full-time employee engaged in the business.
• Have sufficient management capacity and resources to participate effectively in the intensive program.
• Have at least 6–12 months of operating runway to cover business-as-usual expenditure, with at least 12 months preferred.
• Be authorised to use all intellectual property required to undertake the project.
• Possess or control exclusive global rights to use novel intellectual property required for the project.
• Demonstrate that the primary benefits from developing and commercialising novel IP will accrue to Australia.
• Demonstrate gender diversity across the Board of Directors and Leadership team.
• Be willing to provide required outcomes data and reporting throughout the program and for three years following completion.
• Submit a fully completed application with all required attachments.

Companies with a single-gender Board or Leadership team are generally ineligible.

A stated intention to improve diversity does not satisfy this requirement, and Advisory Board members cannot be counted unless they are members of the Board of Directors or Leadership team.

Companies with up to five FTE-equivalent employees that have not established a Board of Directors are exempt from the Board diversity requirement. Other applicants must demonstrate meaningful gender diversity at both Board and leadership level.

The proposed technology must:

• Meet ANDHealth+’s definition of evidence-based digital or connected health technology.
• Align with the objectives of the MRFF.
• Have reached or substantially demonstrated proof of concept.
• Have a minimal deployable product sufficiently developed for meaningful clinical evaluation.
• Demonstrate externally validated clinical, health-system or end-user need.
• Have a pathway to a viable business or revenue model that can be independently verified.
• Be evidence-based and clearly focused on improving patient outcomes.

Eligible technologies can include software-based and software-enabled medical devices and connected medical devices where significant intellectual property and clinical benefit are incorporated into the technology.

Not-for-profit enterprises may apply if they satisfy all eligibility requirements, although ANDHealth+ is primarily designed for for-profit commercialisation-focused SMEs.

Eligible university, research institution and industry spinouts may also apply. Organisations relying heavily on a parent entity or major shareholder must demonstrate how ANDHealth+ activities will be ring-fenced from business-as-usual operations.

No percentage weightings are published by ANDHealth. Applications are considered across the following areas:

1. Patient value

Applicants should demonstrate:

• How the product improves diagnosis, prevention, treatment, mitigation and/or management of acute or chronic conditions.
• How these improvements ultimately deliver benefits to patients.
• Clear evidence that the technology is focused on meaningful health and clinical outcomes.

2. Understanding of end users

Applicants should demonstrate:

• A strong understanding of who will use the product and how.
• How the solution integrates into existing clinical workflows and/or patient journeys.
• A clear distinction between users, payers and beneficiaries.
• Evidence of Voice of User research and validation.

3. Uniqueness and competitive advantage

Applicants should demonstrate:

• A clearly defined problem and the specific pain points being addressed.
• Understanding of the limitations of existing solutions.
• Knowledge of current approaches used to address the problem.
• Analysis of direct, indirect and emerging competitors.
• Understanding of competitive and market forces that could create adoption barriers.
• A clear explanation of what is genuinely new and unique about the technology.
• Evidence of technological, methodological or application advancement over competing solutions.
• Superior outcomes for users and a compelling proposition for customers and payers.
• Defensible and sustainable competitive advantages.
• Barriers preventing competitors from easily replicating or superseding the technology.
• Sustainable market positioning and appropriate protection mechanisms.

4. Technology maturity

Applicants should demonstrate:

• Evidence that the technology has achieved proof of principle or proof of concept in a clinical or market environment.
• Access rights to essential data required for operation, where relevant, including AI and machine-learning training data.
• An appropriate patient data privacy and security strategy.
• Clinical evidence, including trials and technical certification where applicable.
• A considered regulatory strategy, including identification of relevant TGA regulatory classification.
• Evidence of product traction in clinical or market environments.
• Consideration of scalability barriers, including required integrations.
• Appropriate stakeholder identification and engagement.

5. Market and business case

Applicants should demonstrate:

• A feasible and credible business model.
• A strong value proposition for identified payers.
• Evidence of market demand and appetite.
• Voice of Paying Customer evidence.
• Understanding of the size and characteristics of the target market.
• A credible pathway to market.
• A clear intellectual property strategy and position.
• Understanding of barriers to market entry.

6. Team

Applicants should demonstrate:

• Commercial acumen and business development capability.
• Experience navigating healthcare markets and engaging relevant stakeholders.
• Strategic planning and execution capability relevant to digital and connected health commercialisation.
• Technical expertise appropriate to the innovation.
• Core technology development and engineering capabilities.
• Appropriate regulatory and quality assurance knowledge.
• Healthcare-appropriate product development methodologies.
• A track record of commercialising healthcare technologies or products.
• Ability to engage healthcare providers, payers and patients.
• Ability to scale operations and achieve sustainable growth.
• Diversity across the Board, Leadership team and wider organisation.
• Inclusive leadership and organisational culture.

7. Program impact and fit

Applicants should demonstrate:

• How proposed projects will materially improve the clinical readiness of the technology.
• How proposed projects will materially improve commercial readiness.
• Why participation in ANDHealth+ will accelerate the company’s commercialisation pathway.
• Why the organisation is a strong fit for the ANDHealth+ model and intensive support structure.
• A strong understanding of the complexity involved in commercialising digital and connected health technologies.

Preference is given to companies demonstrating significant understanding of the challenges associated with commercialising digital and connected health products.

To strengthen an application for ANDHealth+, applicants should demonstrate:

• A compelling evidence-based digital or connected health innovation with clear potential to improve patient outcomes.
• Proof of concept or proof of principle and a sufficiently mature working product.
• Validated clinical, health-system and end-user need.
• A clear understanding of the problem being addressed and weaknesses in existing solutions.
• Strong differentiation from direct, indirect and emerging competitors.
• A sustainable and defensible competitive advantage.
• Evidence of clinical or market traction, such as pilots, customers or product use.
• A credible clinical evidence strategy.
• A clear regulatory pathway and understanding of applicable TGA requirements.
• Strong data privacy, cybersecurity and quality-management considerations.
• A viable and scalable business and revenue model.
• Evidence of market appetite and Voice of Paying Customer validation.
• A credible go-to-market and growth strategy.
• A clear intellectual property strategy and sufficient rights to commercialise the technology globally.
• A capable team combining commercial, healthcare, technical and regulatory expertise.
• Appropriate gender diversity across leadership and Board structures.
• Sufficient operating runway and organisational resources to participate fully without relying on ANDHealth+ funding for normal operations.
• Well-defined Stage 1 and Stage 2 activities capable of materially improving clinical and commercial readiness.
• A clear explanation of how the proposed activities will help attract investment, secure enterprise customers or accelerate market entry.
• A strong organisational fit with ANDHealth+’s intensive, milestone-based commercialisation model.
• An understanding of the complex commercialisation pathway for digital and connected health technologies.
• Capacity and willingness to engage closely with ANDHealth, the Industry Advisory Panel and other program experts.

Applicants should prepare:

• Completed online application responses.
• Proposed project outline.
• Investor Pitch Deck, limited to 15 slides.
• ANDHealth Lean Canvas using the mandatory one-page landscape template supplied through the application platform.
• Product demonstration provided via a link, such as YouTube or Vimeo.
• Letter of Board Support using the provided template.
• CEO letter where the applicant does not have a Board.
• Financial forecasts covering at least three and up to five years.
• Capitalisation table identifying major and notable shareholders.
• ASIC Company Extract.
• Stage 1 and Stage 2 Project Plan Overviews using the supplied template.
• One-page Risk Register using the supplied template.
• Evidence confirming Australian SME status.
• Evidence of sufficient operating runway.
• Evidence of rights to relevant intellectual property.
• Evidence demonstrating compliance with Board and Leadership gender-diversity requirements.
• Relevant supporting documents directly related to the business and technology.

Applicants must also read and agree to the cohort company expectations document when submitting their application.

Applications must be submitted online through the Gust application platform.

Register your interest with GrantHelper to explore your alignment with this program and how we can assist you to increase your chances of success.