A new round of Acclerating Commercialisation grants is offering $5.4 million to 12 Australian businesses.
The Accelerating Commercialisation Grant scheme is part of the Australian Government's Entrepreneurs' Programme, a flagship program introduced under the former Abbott Government's 2014 Industry Innovation and Competitiveness Agenda.
It provides matched funding of up to $1 million to businesses commercialising an new product, process or service. To date, the scheme has supported 284 businesses with over $142 million.
Global Connections Fund Priming Grants
Applications have opened for Global Connections Fund (GCF) Priming Grants of up to $7000 for organisations to collaborate internationally, and to explore overseas markets.
The grant scheme is part of a Global Innovation Strategy under the $1.1 billion National Innovation and Science Agenda.
The new round of Priming Grants will be open for Expressions of Interest until 5:00pm (AEDT), 19 February 2018.
Highlights in the latest round also provide examples for successful innovations from research-enterprise partnerships. They include 3RT Technologies, a privately owned Melbourne-based company that also runs an Innovation Centre in Adelaide's Tonsley Innovation District. Since 2010, the company is working together with researchers from Flinders University to integrate materials science and nanotechnolgy processes in the development of its products.
The company says that its technology mimics natural growing processes to convert low value and locally sourced plantation wood into high value product that has qualities similar to tropical hardwood.
Another successful innovation, the Ground Breaker Precision Planter technology from Toowoomba Engineering, has previously won several prizes and grants, including the 2016 and 2017 Piper Prize for Innovation awarded by the Western Australian Council of Grain Grower Organisations Ltd (COGGO), worth each $75,000. Toowoomba Engineering was also awarded a $240,000 grant from the Queensland Government's $20 million Made in Queensland program in 2017.
The Acceleration Commercialisation grant of $395,000 will support the commercialisation of the technology, which covers a range of precision planters specifically designed for Australian growing regions and apply patented precision technologies.
The other successful projects are: