The Australian government’s Entrepreneurs’ Infrastructure Program has finalised the roll-out of its grant program, with the release of the Accelerating Commercialisation grant last week.
Accelerating Commercialisation assists entrepreneurs, researchers, inventors, start-ups, small/medium enterprises and commercialisation offices (associated with universities and research centres) to address the challenges associated with commercialising novel intellectual property, in the form of new product, process or service.
Grants of up to $250,000 are available for commercialisation offices on a 50% entity contribution basis. Grants of up to $1million are available for all other types of businesses on a 50% entity contribution basis.
Applicants can have no turnover; however, the maximum turnover for an applicant is $20million on a group basis for each of the last three years prior to the lodgement of the application. The applicant must have the ownership or access to the beneficial use of any intellectual property that is necessary to carry out the project.
The applicant must be able to demonstrate its ability to fund at least 50% of the eligible expenditure of the project. It’s not necessary to have all of the funding available at the beginning of the project. However, an adequate explanation needs to be provided, outlining where the funding contribution is going to come from.
Funding contribution could be from the company’s own funds or from new share capital to be raised from Business Angels or Venture Capital organisations. Cashflow generated from other activities the company already operates could also be a source of the company’s own contributions.
Grant funding is to assist in the final development and market testing of the product, process or service, to assist in sales maximisation.
Eligible projects are required to achieve at least one of the following:
- Complete development of a novel product, process or service.
- Prove commercial viability of a novel product, process or service to a customer, investor or strategic partner.
- Make the first sales of the novel product, process or service in Australia or overseas.
- Drive the business towards commercialisation of its novel product, process or service in the marketplace by engaging an experienced executive.
Funding may be utilised to enable the employment of an experienced CEO or other senior executive, who is expected to bring complimentary skills and experience to the business and to drive the business towards commercialisation of its product, process or service. The executive may be engaged in a part-time basis or a full-time basis, as long as they’re working a minimum of three days per week or equivalent.
Applications are assessed under six merit criterion, including:
- need for funding
- market opportunity
- value proposition
- execution plan
- management capability
- national benefits
All applicants must satisfy the ‘need for funding’ as the first requirement. If an applicant doesn’t satisfactorily comply with the merit criteria, the application will not be considered any further.
Additional waiting is given to the ‘national benefits’ criteria, if the applicant is involved in one of the five key industries known as the growth sectors for the Entrepreneurs’ Infrastructure Program. These are:
- Advanced Manufacturing
- Food and Agribusiness
- Medical Technologies and Pharmaceuticals
- Mining Equipment Technology and Services
- Oil, Gas and Energy Resources
Alternatively, the business could be engaged in enabling technologies and services provided for one or more of these five key industries in the growth sector by businesses operating in the following industries:
- Freight and Logistics
- Infrastructure Related Construction
- Information and Communications Technology (ICT)
- Professional Services
ESS BIZGRANTS is a cloud-based technology, which is available to subscribers 24/7, which enables subscribers to identify government grants for which individual small/medium enterprises might be eligible.
You’re invited to sign up for a no-obligation two-week trial of ESS BIZGRANTS, whereby you will be given the opportunity to test the system for a few clients. Click here to try ESS BIZGRANTS for free, or visit www.essbizgrants.com.au.
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