Australian businesses share in $5.4m of grants

The Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, Karen Andrews MP, recently announced that 12 Australian businesses have been offered Accelerating Commercialisation grants under the Entrepreneurs’ Programme.

The Entrepreneurs’ Programme is the Australian Government’s initiative to improve business competitiveness and productivity. It uses experienced Advisers and Facilitators, drawn from industry, to ensure businesses get the advice and support needed to improve their competitiveness, productivity and to seek growth opportunities.

Accelerating Commercialisation grants worth $5.4 million have been offered to assist the 12 Australian businesses undertake commercialisation activities to bring their new products, processes and services to market.

The latest funding offers will assist:

• Four Queensland businesses:

• Pure Battery Technologies to help build a pilot manufacturing plant for its cheaper and more environmentally friendly processing of nickel and cobalt into battery materials.
• Yondo to help commercialise Live Experience, the company’s product to record and edit pitch-perfect online demos, online classes and online walkthroughs to present as live events with real-time interaction. This will be done by expanding Yondo’s local staff and going to market in Australia and North America.
• Evorce to help commercialise a platform which allows the speedy and collaborative resolution of post-divorce financial settlements.
• Tom and Kath Long to help commercialise and market their sustainable packaging solution for transporting seafood – The TomKat Koolpak.

• Four Victorian businesses:

• Hemideina to help commercialise and gain equity investment for the Hera Wireless Implant, a low-powered, low-cost hearing solution.
• Drawboard to help commercialise Bullclip in North American markets. Bullclip is a real-time drawing and document mark-up system for design and construction industries.
• Immediation to help commercialise its online dispute resolution platform through pilot customer trials and the development of family law and workplace relations solutions.
• Matrak to help commercialise a platform that automatically converts plans and drawings into a shared, interactive portal for efficient material tracking in the construction industry.

• Two New South Wales businesses:

• Energetique Mining Vehicles to support the establishment of a pilot production facility to manufacture its specialised heavy-duty lithium batteries for electric mining vehicles.
• ShotTrack to help develop commercial prototypes and conduct trials at mine sites of its Remote Access Vibration Analysis product which relates to controlled explosions for the mining industry.

• Two South Australian businesses:

• Daitum to help build a production release version of its analytics software application, which makes artificial intelligence and machine learning accessible to everyday users in areas such as mining, asset management and health.
• Ping Services to help commercialise its aero-acoustic device which continuously monitors wind turbines for blade damage, significantly reducing detection times and reducing repair costs.

The Entrepreneurs’ Programme Accelerating Commercialisation grants help Australian entrepreneurs, researchers and small and medium businesses find commercialisation solutions.

It aims to:

• accelerate the commercialisation of novel intellectual property in the form of new products, processes and services;
• support new businesses based on novel intellectual property with high growth potential; and
• generate greater commercial and economic returns from both public and private sector research and facilitate investment to drive business growth and competitiveness.

Accelerating Commercialisation grant applications can be lodged at any time for access to expert advice and matched funding grants of up to $1 million. These grants cover eligible commercialisation costs and help take products to market.

More information on the grant recipients is available at www.business.gov.au/ac-funding-offers. To apply for an Entrepreneurs’ Programme Accelerating Commercialisation grant, visit www.business.gov.au/ep