Support for innovative SMEs to commercialise and grow their business

2 July 2024

The Industry Growth Program provides Advisory Services and Grants for start-ups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) undertaking innovative commercialisation and/or growth projects that are within the priority areas of the Australian Government's National Reconstruction Fund (NRF), and will help build Australia's manufacturing capability for the future.

How it works

Eligible businesses will be connected with an Industry Growth Program Adviser who will provide specialised advice to support your commercialisation and growth opportunities. 

Once you have received this advice, you may apply for:

• grants of $50,000 to $250,000 to support early-stage commercialisation projects, 
• grants of $100,000 to $5m for commercialisation and growth projects.

You can apply for Advisory Services at any time throughout the duration of the Program through the online application form at business.gov.au.

Eligible Entities

You can apply for Advisory Services if you:

• have a combined annual turnover of less than $20m for each of the 3 financial years before lodging your application,
• are an Australian incorporated company, a co-operative or an incorporated trustee applying on behalf of a trust, and
• you are not an entity that is excluded from applying.

Eligible Activities

In order to qualify for Advisory Services, you must also have an innovative product, process or service that you intend to commercialise and/or grow to help build manufacturing capability in one or more of the NRF priority areas:

• Value-add in Resources
  
• Value-add in Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries
• Renewables and Low Emissions Technologies
• Transport
• Defence Capability
• Medical Science
• Enabling Capabilities.

An innovative product, process or service:

• is new, unique or significantly different to previous products, processes or services in the market or industry where it will be traded, or
• involves significant enhancements or developments of current products, processes or services that will let your business scale and transform.
  

You must also be able to demonstrate that you own or have access to any existing IP needed to carry out your project, and that you will own any IP generated from your project (or have exclusive right to commercialise the IP).

Grants Available

Once you have received Advisory Services, you may be invited to apply for matched grant funding to support your commercialisation and/or growth project: 

• Early-Stage Commercialisation grants of $50,000 to $250,000 are available for projects at the feasibility study, proof-of-concept and prototyping stages, for example, at TRL3 to TRL6, or
• Commercialisation and Growth grants of $100,000 to $5m are available for innovative projects that are in prototyping through to market-readiness stages, for example, at TRL4 to TRL9. This can include developing market entry strategies, accelerating growth, and scaling up into national and international markets. 

You can only apply for a grant if you have received Industry Growth Program Advisory Services and received an Advisory Service Report. 

Further information for Early-stage Commercialisation Projects can be found here. Further information for Commercialisation and Growth Projects can be found here. 

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Our team is skilled at preparing competitive applications and strategically positioning projects to align with program objectives and the factors that drive funding decisions. We have also developed processes and templates to ensure maximum efficiency.

Please reach out if you would like to discuss any of the above.