Restarting Australia’s Business Events Sector

The Business Events program provides delegates, including buyers and sellers, with financial support to attend and participate at exhibitions, conferences and conventions. The initiative will instil confidence back into the business events sector and encourage businesses to return to the event forum.

The Business Events Grant program aims to support the event industry including the tourism sector to fund Australian businesses to participate as buyers or sellers at pre-approved business events including exhibitions, conferences and conventions from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021. It aims to ease the financial pressure for business event organisers and to incentivise Australian business to participate as buyers/sellers at pre-approved events.

Funding is to support the sustainability of events in government priority areas and to cover the cancellation costs that may occur to planned events due to COVID-19 outbreaks.

The objective of the program is to:

• support delegates that are buying or selling to participate in ‘business events’. Business events includes exhibitions, conferences, and conventions
• promote Australian businesses, including to a domestic audience.

The focus of the program is to support the promotion of Australian business capability, including to a domestic audience, bolster supply chain resilience, enhance industry match making opportunities and Australian product and service value add. Events will need to have a trade element that brings together buyers and sellers.

Approved events are listed on the Schedule of Approved Business Events on the Austrade program website. The Schedule of Approved Business Events will be updated from time to time as new events will be added once approved. It is therefore important that you check the list at the time you submit your application. A list of eligibility criteria and the application process for the schedule of events, along with the relevant priority sectors will be published on the Austrade program website.

What are the eligibility criteria?

To be eligible you must have an ABN and be one of the following entities:

• an individual (sole trader)
• a partnership
• a company, incorporated in Australia
• an incorporated trustee on behalf of a trust
• an Industry Association promoting the selling or buying of a product or service on behalf of its members.

We can only accept applications where:

• you intend to register to attend one or more of the events on the Schedule of Approved Business Events
• your attendance at an approved event will assist your business to do one or more of the following:
  • develop your marketplace diversification (particularly to the domestic market)
  • improve supply chain value and resilience for the Australian economy
  • enhance your ability to pivot to new markets
  • support Australia’s regional economy
• your business aligns with a government priority sector and the sector benefits from your attendance and participation in the event
• you have a minimum of $20,000 in total eligible project expenditure
• you can provide evidence from your board (or chief executive officer or equivalent if there is no board) that the project is supported, and that you can complete the project and meet the costs of the project not covered by grant funding.

How do you apply?

You should read the grant opportunity guidelines and sample grant agreement before you apply.

To apply, you must submit your application through the online portal. You’ll need to set up an account when you first log into the portal. The portal allows you to apply for and manage a grant or service in a secure online environment.