This page provides information for the ‘Business history’ eligibility criteria for the Business Innovation stream (subclass 188A) visa.
If you have not completed a bachelor’s degree or higher in a STEMM field or have an MBA, then you must have at least 3 years’ experience operating a business in the following target sectors in Victoria, or an equivalent overseas sector.
Health, medical research, and life sciences
The health sector consists of businesses providing medical services as well as those involved in related medical education, research and development.
The medical research sector includes activities such as drug development, clinical trials, health product manufacturing, medical devices and digital health.
The life sciences sector is composed of many industries such as the medical technology, biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Companies involved in food processing, nutraceuticals and cosmeceuticals may also be considered to form part of the life sciences sector.
Digital
The digital sector makes use of technology and innovation to drive economic growth, productivity, and competitiveness. If you operated a digital business for at least 3 years, we may consider it relevant business history. Some examples of highly regarded digital areas include:
- Health / Medtech
- Digital games
- AI and analytics
- Education tech
- Robotics and automation
- Agri Tech
- Fintech
- Transport tech
- Cloud software / Saas
- Cybersecurity
- Smart cities and infrastructure tech
- Device software
- Energy and resources tech
- GPS, imaging and geospatial
Agri-food
The agri-food sector includes food research and development, innovation in developing food growth and production of food products as well as the modernisation and innovation of the agri-food sector.
An example of an agri-food business could be adopting technology and innovative packaging to improve the storage time of produce.
Advanced manufacturing
The advanced manufacturing sector produces high-value products, secures new global value chain connections, embraces new advances in technology such as additive manufacturing/3D printing, digital technologies, Industry 4.0 technologies, robotic and automation, and improvements in sustainability.
The advanced manufacturing sector includes industries such as defence, automotive, pharmaceuticals, medical technologies, aerospace, rolling stock, zero emission vehicles, renewable energy, advanced materials and composites, food processing, off-site and modular construction and new emerging technologies such as green hydrogen and green steel.
An example is a business that uses robotics to improve consistency of work in an automotive assembly line. Another example is a business using advanced materials to create precise blends of glass to make high strength medical devices.
New energy, emissions reduction and circular economy
This sector includes industries such as clean energy, renewables, bioenergy, carbon capture and energy storage. It also includes recycling and waste reduction.