Get advice and funding to take your novel idea to market

Your facilitator will develop recommendations and a plan for your commercialisation project, including:

• areas for improvement in your business and commercialisation strategies
• opportunities for specialist advice, expertise and to expand your business networks
• pathways to commercialise your intellectual property
• alternate ways to raise capital and pursue other funding avenues.

To get your project to the commercialisation stage after receiving guidance, you can apply for the Accelerating Commercialisation grant. This grant is awarded based on how well your application meets the merit criteria.

Your facilitator will continue to provide support throughout the grant process.

Your matched grant will cover 50% of the cost of your project, up to the maximum amount agreed. The minimum grant amount is $50,000.

• Up to $500,000 for Research Commercialisation Entities and Eligible Partner Entities
• Up to $1 million of matched project funding for all other applicants.

The minimum grant period is 12 months and a maximum of 2 years.

The grant may be applied for in progressive stages, up to the maximum dollar amount as long as it is for the same novel product, process or service.

When you apply for the grant, you must prove your ability to fund your half of the contribution, without in-kind (non-financial) contributions or other government grants or programs. The remaining costs of your project, beyond the matched grant amounts, will need an additional contribution from you or your investors.

Grant assessment

Your final grant application will be submitted to the Entrepreneurs’ Programme Committee, who are a subcommittee of Industry Innovation and Science Australia – an independent statutory body. The Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources will determine whether your application is eligible and the committee will assess your application against the assessment criteria as part of this process.

The assessment criteria for the grant are:

• impact of the grant, such as your need for funding, whether your project supports the growth sectors and the broader economic benefits expected
• management capability, including how you will structure your business around the project and the management plan you have in place to complete the project
• market opportunity (including how your product, process or service is novel), outlining how your project meets an unmet market niche and providing evidence of buyer demand
• value proposition, highlighting why a customer would choose this product, process or service you intend to commercialise
• project delivery, providing a plan for delivery of your project that includes initiation, planning, execution and closure.

The grant opportunity guidelines have further information about the assessment criteria.

A novel project is a genuine innovation with evidence of a compelling value proposition, backed-up by market demand for the novel product, process or service.

A novel product, process or service is significantly different to any previous innovations in the market or industry in which the product, process or service is intended to be traded in Australia or globally.

Someone else should not be able to easily replicate your product, process or service without doing a significant amount of research and development.

Examples of novel projects our clients have worked on include:

• CitrusAd founders, Brad Moran and Nick Paech, created unique self-service software for e-commerce retailers, allowing them total control over when, where and how often their ads are shown.
• Rob Watkins, owner of Natural Evolution, discovered that green bananas that would otherwise be wasted could be turned into a new kind of gluten free flour through a novel process of extraction.

Your business will:

• have an annual turnover of less than $20 million for the last 3 financial years combined
• be non-tax exempt
• be registered for the goods and services tax (GST).

It must also be one of the following entities:

• a company incorporated in Australia and a trading corporation
• a Research Commercialisation Entity or Eligible Partner Entity.

If your business is a company, your trading activities must:

• form a sufficiently significant proportion of the corporation’s overall activities as to merit it being described as a trading corporation
• be substantial and not merely peripheral activity of the corporation.

Your business will have a turnover or operating expenditure of less than $20 million for each of the last 3 financial years. If you are a Research Commercialisation Entity or Eligible Partner Entity, this turnover must be in isolation of less than $20 million for each financial year, 3 years prior.

Not eligible

You are not eligible if you are:

• an individual
• a partnership
• an unincorporated association
• a trust (however, an incorporated trustee may apply on behalf of a trust)
• a non-corporate Commonwealth entity.

Your project will be a novel product, process, or service, significantly different to any previous innovation that offers value and solutions to the market or industry it will be traded in.

Your novel project will need to demonstrate:

• scalability, offering a one to many solution if it is a service
• technical feasibility, with research and development for your working prototype
• market acceptance, but not had its first sales
• intent for trade within Australia and/or overseas markets
• ability to rapidly increase trade and make sales across multiple markets
• ownership, access to or beneficial use of, any existing intellectual property.

Activities that are not eligible for your project include:

• research and development or technical experiments to create your prototype
• increasing production or marketing for product, process, or service that have had commercial sales
• internally focussed innovations and solutions that won’t reach an external market
• developing iterations of your existing product, process, or service.

The grant opportunity guidelines have further information about the eligible expenditure for your project that are covered by your grant.

Research Commercialisation Entities

A Research Commercialisation Entity is part of a Publicly funded Research Organisation, or an eligible corporation controlled by one or more Publicly Funded Research Organisations. They assist researchers to commercialise their intellectual property.

Publicly Funded Research Organisations include:

• Australian higher education providers listed in the Higher Education Support Act 2003
• federal, state and territory government departments or agencies which undertake publicly funded research.

If a research organisation is not a Publicly Funded Research Organisation they can apply to be an Eligible Partner Entity.

Eligible Partner Entities

An Eligible Partner Entity is an Australian organisation whose primary focus is research, but they also assist researchers to commercialise their intellectual property.

To learn more about the process to become an Eligible Partner Entity and to request an application form, email ACGrants@industry.gov.au.

Registered Eligible Partner Entities

Our current registered Eligible Partner Entities are:

• The Australian Wine Research Institute Ltd
• The Burnet Institute
• The George Institute for Global Health
• The Murdoch Childrens Research Institute
• The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
• Medvet Science Pty Ltd
• Brien Holden Vision Institute.

The grant opportunity guidelines have further information about the Research Commercialisation Entities and Eligible Partner Entities.

Applications for guidance are assessed continuously, as they are made. A Customer Service Manager will contact you to discuss your application within 5 working days of the receipt of your complete application. We’ll notify you of the outcome within 12 working days of receipt of your complete application.

If you are successful, they will connect you with a facilitator if you have not already nominated one. If you are not successful to proceed to the guidance stage, we will provide feedback and refer you to other relevant government services.

Applications for the grant are processed in 6 to 8 week cycles, following the guidance stage with your facilitator. All applications for the grant are evaluated against the merit criteria before the assessment stage with the Entrepreneurs’ Programme Committee.

Due to the complex nature of Accelerating Commercialisation grants, this stage can take up to 75 days to complete.

We know many businesses have concerns about the impact of COVID-19 on grant applications and grant management. When applying for a grant, consider timeframes and constraints that may impact grant activities due to COVID-19.

If COVID-19 has impacted your ability to meet the obligations of your grant agreement, to discuss your circumstances and how we can assist you, you should contact:

• your customer service manager
• an agent at our Contact Centre.

You can find further COVID-19 government financial assistance and support for Australian businesses on our coronavirus information and support for business page.