Investment NSW innovation boss Liza Noonan departs government to run deep tech incubator Cicada Innovations

Investment NSW director of innovation Liza Noonan is leaving the government to become Cicada Innovations CEO.

Noonan replaces Sally-Ann Williams, who stepped down in mid-2025.

Noonan will take the helm of the Sydney-based deep tech incubator on November 3.

The move ends a 3.5-year stint in various roles inside the NSW government, during which Investment NSW was moved under the control of premier Chris Minns.

Noonan had only returned to Investment NSW in July following a 4-month sabbatical earlier this year, after serving  7-months as Create NSW CEO. The government subsequently swung the axe on the arts body, cutting its workforce by 25%.

She was also left to deal with the NSW government’s shambolic closure and relocation of the Sydney Startup Hub, fronting budget estimates just weeks into her new role to defend explain the decision.

Cicada Innovations chair Katherine Woodthorpe said Noonan has extensive experience in innovation leadership, systems change and global collaboration.

“She has a great appreciation of the missions that deep tech founders and the public service share in trying to build a globally competitive sovereign tech economy,” she said

“What unites the facets of Liza’s career is a clear throughline: a commitment to building vibrant, inclusive and connected innovation ecosystems. This is work that closely aligns with Cicada’s mission to grow Australia’s deep tech economy and support ventures tackling society’s greatest challenges.”

Noonan’s CV includes founding CEO of Springboard Australia, a startup accelerator focused on high-growth, women-led companies, as well as senior roles at Alcatel-Lucent. She’s worked in the UK, Europe, Singapore, and Australian markets. Prior to signing up for the NSW public service in early 2022, as executive director of the Westmead and Macquarie Park innovation districts, she spent six years at CSIRO, launching the ON Accelerator in 2015 when deep tech founder Dr Larry Marshall ran the national science agency.

Noonan went on to become CSIRO’s global director overseeing ASEAN and global innovation partnerships.

The incoming CEO’s move back to the private sector at Cicada comes at a time when she believes both momentum and funding favour deep tech founders.

“Deep tech requires time and patience – not only because the science is so new, but because the problem space is highly complex. As a result, founders need more than just investors; they need access to industry groups, public policy networks, regulatory guidance, and global peers,” Noonan said

“We’re at a moment where Australia recognises that it holds both the natural endowments and the intellectual capital to arrest the assault on planetary boundaries, build national sovereignty in intelligent productivity and innovate to ensure the future resilience of our health system.

“But to realise this potential, Australia must position itself as a globally effective collective – one capable of attracting and securing the talent, customers, and capital needed to deliver at scale.

“I believe that over the next 5-10 years Cicada can become a leading force in accelerating transformative, science-based innovation – particularly across the Indo-Pacific.”