Clever Culture Systems, an Australian-based company, has received a $1.07m R&D tax incentive.
The company develops automated technologies to improve the speed, accuracy and efficiency of microbiological testing, with applications across pharmaceutical, manufacturing and cleanroom environments.
The R&D Tax Incentive programme is designed to support Australian companies investing in innovation by providing refundable and non-refundable tax offsets for eligible R&D expenditure.
According to research, the Australian Government plans to invest $15.1bn in R&D in 2025-26, which is 1.4% higher than the $14.9bn allocated in 2024-25.
The company, which specialises in AI-driven microbiology automation, said the payment relates to eligible research and development activities undertaken during the reporting period.
The technologies are designed by microbiologists for use in microbiology, and allow teams to automate laboratory research and diagnostics and provide environmental monitoring plate reading.
The company said that the expectations of accuracy, consistency and data integrity has never been higher, and in environmental monitoring, that means moving away from manual, subjective processes toward automated, intelligent systems.
The company has received global regulatory clearances, FDA, CE Mark, TGA, and has been featured in 25 publications in leading academic journals.
Clever Culture Systems has established strategic pharmaceutical partnerships with AstraZeneca and Bristol Myers Squibb, leveraging its AI‑driven APAS Independence platform to automate culture plate reading and reduce reliance on manual processes.
Following a pivot from clinical microbiology to pharmaceutical quality control, the company’s automated plate reading technology is gaining traction with major global pharma players.