Over and above the Federal Government’s recently announced $1.5 billion Modern Manufacturing Strategy, Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews has announced an additional $30m to be made available on a dollar-for-dollar basis.
The Commercialisation Fund aims to foster projects that bring industry and researchers together to commercialise new manufacturing products and processes.
“Making science and technology work for industry is one of the central pillars of our Government’s $1.5 billion Modern Manufacturing Strategy and this fund is just one of the ways we’re delivering on that,” Minister Andrews said.
“[We are] positioning Australia’s manufacturing industry at the cutting edge of innovation and this fund will help bring together the best of research and manufacturing capability to generate commercial outcomes.
“We know that by making our manufacturers more competitive and helping them to take on the world, we will create jobs for Australians – both for the COVID-19 recovery and for generations to come.”
Consistent with all programs under the Modern Manufacturing Strategy, this fund will support projects within the government’s six National Manufacturing Priorities.
These priorities are: Medical Products, Food and Beverage, Resources Technology and Critical Minerals Processing, Recycling and Clean Energy, Defence, and Space.
Commercialisation Fund grants will be between $100,000 and $1 million and must be matched by industry. These smaller-sized grants will complement the larger projects that will be supported through the $1.3 billion Modern Manufacturing Initiative.
Projects must include collaboration with a research partner and a minimum of one industry partner.
The fund will run over an 18-month period. The first round of funding, which is now open, will provide $20 million whilst a subsequent round will deliver the remaining $10 million.
The fund will be managed and administered by the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC), in collaboration with the five other Industry Growth Centres AustCyber, Food Innovation Australia Ltd (FIAL), MTPConnect, METS Ignited and National Energy Resources Australia (NERA), and the CSIRO.
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