Grant Services
Interested in grants for 50% of your project for ‘green’ technologies?
Green Car Innovation Fund
The latest grant program announced is for the two streams of the Green Car Innovation Fund. This program will support automotive companies, or suppliers of technology and/or componentry to the industry.
The current announcement is for consultation on the proposed framework for the program, and we anticipate companies will be able to apply for funding from April 2009.
If you’re working on R&D or Commercialisation of a technology that could reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions, you may be eligible for the Climate Ready grant program.
Climate Ready
Climate Ready grants are competitive, merit-based grants delivered in four annual rounds with federal government budget funding of $75m over four years. Funding is generally dollar for dollar and will support R&D, proof of concept and early stage commercialisation activities for projects of 6 months’ to 3 years’ duration.
The results of the first round of Climate Ready were very encouraging, with the government delivering $27.7m of grants, which was more than a third of the program’s four year budget amount. Applicants for this program had a 65% funding success rate, which was also very positive.
In March 2009, however, the government announced the results of the second round: less than 10% of applicants in this round received funding, the total value of which has not yet been announced.
At this success rate there will be few consultancies willing to help companies through the process of applying for grant funding. MJA will help companies by coaching and reviewing applications rather than undertaking any significant risk-sharing arrangement. If you would like our assistance to get through this program, please feel free to fill in our contact form or call the office.
Other Grant Programs
Unfortunately, there are few other large government grants for innovation and technology commercialisation. In May 2008 the federal budget eliminated $250 million per annum funding for the previously successful Commercial Ready program, which had helped companies from many industries with the development and commercialisation costs for their projects.
At the same time a Review of Australia’s National Innovation System has been underway, with an expert panel producing a report called Venturous Australia in September 2008. Initially, the government’s response to this report, a ten year National Innovation Policy, was due in December 2008, but that was deferred initially until early 2009, and the most recent word from the Minister is that we can expect the response to be released as part of the May 2009 federal government budget.
It’s difficult to speculate beyond that time frame as to when implementation will commence, but some initiatives will probably be immediate, with others deferred until 2010/11, or the next electoral cycle.
This delay is very frustrating for participants in the National Innovation System. By way of illustration, one of the recommendations of the report was for a new grants program. We expect that these grants will be directed towards private sector areas to be the priorities for Australia’s Innovation policy, selected to leverage our distinctive geography, economy and capabilities:
- Resource industries
- Space and Astronomy
- Finance and Risk Management
- Marine Industries
If these are the sectors supported, and the funding is as expected, MJA will deliver services appropriate to companies and other organisations interested in these grants.
Watch this space…
To be informed when the government’s National Innovation Review program is completed, and the policy has been announced, you may wish to subscribe to the MJA Update using the form below, or follow our innovation policy blog, which has its own subscription process at Innovation is Industry Policy.
About Michael Johnson Associates
Founded in 1983, Michael Johnson Associates (MJA) is Australia's leading specialist R&D tax concession firm. We work with organisations of all sizes to help them understand the benefits of a compliance approach to R&D tax concessions and grants.
We know the complex legislation, amendments and guidelines related to government programs inside out - we deal with them every day. We also write the commentary on the R&D tax incentive for the CCH Federal Tax Reporter.
Please Contact Us to see how we can be of help to you.
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