The first grants from the Australian Government’s AUD392 million Industry Growth Program (IGP) are beginning to flow. The Minister for Industry and Science Ed Husic announced the first round of recipients late last week.
The IGP is designed to help small and medium businesses overcome barriers associated with scaling up. Bigger picture, the program is growing manufacturing capabilities, creating stronger supply chains, and delivering more well-paid jobs. The first round of funding recipients include:
-
Cauldron Molecules: AUD4.3 million to support world-first, fully automated hyper-fermentation technology to make food, animal feed, fibre and fuel.
-
Li—S Energy: AUD1.7 million to support its high-tolerance lithium foil battery manufacturing process, which will produce next-generation, ultra-light batteries.
-
Electrogenics Laboratories: AUD1 million for its MOSkin patient radiation dose measurement system to reduce exposure risk during radiotherapy treatments.
-
Brandsec: AUD231,000 for its Unphish software tool, which can remove malicious phishing content from the internet, including from compromised websites and fake social media accounts.
-
Forager Automation: AUD157,943 for the development of its robotic blueberry picking device, which will reduce labour costs and increase yield efficiency for farmers.
“Today’s a milestone because now innovative small businesses can see the support starting to flow, helping them grow into bigger businesses,” said Husic when announcing the grants. “The government established the Industry Growth Program to work in conjunction with the National Reconstruction Fund to help propel small and medium enterprises into a solid growth trajectory, with this important avenue to grow our manufacturing capabilities using the cutting edge ideas of younger firms.”
IGP grants are aligned with the seven priority areas of the AUD15 billion National Reconstruction Fund: resources, transport, medical science, defence capability, renewables and low-emission technologies, agriculture, forestry and fisheries, and enabling capabilities. IGP funding is provided through two streams. Early-stage commercialisation grants provide matched grant funding from AUD50,000 to AUD50,000 to help establish the commercial viability of an innovative product, process, or service. Commercialisation and growth grants provide matched grant funding from AUD100,000 to AUD5 million to help push ideas from prototyping to market readiness stages. Grants will help develop strategies for entry to market and scaling up into national and international markets.
