With this year’s federal budget 12 days away, industry minister Ed Husic says grant applications are now open for the $392 million Industry Growth Program (IGP) that was announced in last year’s budget.
It comes after the government selected four not-for-profit industry organisations through the Industry Partner Organisation (IPO) grants scheme that Husic announced in February.
The four have been awarded $6.9 million over the next two years, and will provide “expert, sector-specific advice to support the growth of Australian SMEs” to the successful IGP grant applicants.
The four IPOs are:
- Food and Agribusiness Network Limited (FAN);
- Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Hub Ltd (ARM Hub);
- MTP-IIGC LTD (MTPConnect) – a life sciences innovation accelerator; and
- Hydrogen Mobility Australia.
FAN was awarded close to the maximum IPO grant of $2 million, and told Food & Drink Business it will use the funding to establish “ClusterConnect”, a system to facilitate collaboration and commercialisation opportunities for food and agribusiness SMEs.
Also supporting grant recipients will be the Industry Growth Program Advisers, which have already been advising more than 340 companies since November.
Husic said, “The Industry Growth Program is about filling in the “missing middle”, growing small start-ups into bigger start-ups so they can go to the NRF with an investment-ready proposal.
"More than 340 businesses have already accessed the advice side of the IGP, showing a healthy pipeline of new know-how that’s ready for commercialisation.
“The grants we’re opening today are all about taking that next step.”
Grants of up to $5 million will be awarded to innovative start-ups and high-growth SMEs to help them commercialise their ideas, with two grant streams:
- Early-Stage Commercialisation grants – from $50,000 to $250,000 to help establish the commercial viability of an innovative product, process, or service.
- Commercialisation and Growth grants – from $100,000 to $5 million to help push ideas from prototyping through to market readiness stages. Grants will help develop strategies for entry to market and scaling up into national and international markets.
For more information about the Industry Growth Program, including eligibility for the advisory service and the grant opportunities, click here.
