Funding to determine the feasibility of lower-cost, accurate technical solutions for measuring soil organic carbon
This information reflects the previous government. It is in the process of being updated.
National Soil Carbon Innovation Challenge – Feasibility Study Grants
What do you get?
Grants from $50,000 to $100,000.
Who is this for?
Australian researchers, entrepreneurs, inventors, start-ups, AgTech companies, and other carbon or soil service providers who have a novel product or process to commercialise, which will lower the cost of soil carbon measurement.Overview
The National Soil Carbon Innovation Challenge: Feasibility Study Grants support successful applicants to conduct feasibility studies that demonstrate the technical viability and commercial potential of your soil carbon measurement solutions.
The objectives of the National Soil Carbon Innovation Challenge program are to:
- fast-track the development of lower-cost, accurate technical approaches to enable land managers to quantify the impact of their land management activities on soil organic carbon
- secure co-investment and foster partnerships that trial and deploy novel soil carbon measurement technological solutions.
There will be other grant opportunities as part of this program, supporting proof of concept and validation and deployment stages of technology development. This stage does not have to be completed to be eligible for future grant opportunities. We will publish details of opportunities in the future.
Eligibility
What are the eligibility criteria?
To be eligible you must have an Australian business number (ABN) and be one of the following entities:
- an entity, incorporated in Australia
- a publicly funded research organisation
- an Australian State/Territory Government agency or body.
We can only accept applications where you certify that:
- your project is supported by your board (or chief executive officer or equivalent if there is no board), and that you can complete the project and meet the costs of the project not covered by grant funding
- you have or will have relevant intellectual property arrangements in place in order to undertake your project, should you proceed to subsequent stages of the grant program
- you will be willing to provide research data and outputs to the government and any nominated third party for the purposes of improving knowledge of quantifying soil carbon under different management practices, if you proceed to future stages of the program.
You are not eligible to apply if you are:
- an organisation, or your project partner is an organisation, included on the National Redress Scheme’s list of ‘Institutions that have not joined or signified their intent to join the Scheme’
- an individual
- partnership
- an unincorporated association
- any organisation not included in section 4.1 of the grant opportunity guidelines
- a non-corporate Commonwealth entity.
If you are ineligible to apply, you can be a partner to a joint application where the lead organisation is eligible to apply.
Applying
How do you apply?
The National Soil Carbon Innovation Challenge – Feasibility Study is closed to applications.
We assess your application against the eligibility criteria and then against the assessment criteria. Only eligible applications will proceed to the assessment stage.
The amount of detail and supporting evidence you provide in your application should be relative to the project size, complexity and grant amount requested. You should define, quantify and provide evidence to support your answers. The sample application form displays character limits.
The Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction decides which grants to approve taking into account the application assessment and the recommendations of the committee and the availability of grant funds.
The Minister decides which of the eligible applications are successful.
To be competitive, you must score highly against each assessment criterion.
Assessment criterion 1: How your proposed solution could provide lower-cost and accurate soil carbon measurement (30 points)
You should demonstrate this by identifying how your proposed solution:
- will meet the challenge
- complements, builds on and utilises current research
- is different to or improving what is already in the market.
Assessment criterion 2: Your market opportunity of your proposed solution (30 points)
You should demonstrate this by identifying:
- the market need for your proposed solution
- the landscapes and management contexts your proposed solution will be used in
- your plan to deliver the solution and the route to local and/or global markets (a market analysis should be included)
- how you will measure the success of your project.
Note: more detailed commercialisation planning will be requested if you apply for future National Soil Carbon Innovation Challenge grants.
Assessment criterion 3: Capacity, capability and resources to deliver the project (30 points)
You should demonstrate this by identifying:
- your track record managing similar projects and access to personnel with the right skills and experience
- your access, or future access to, any infrastructure, capital equipment, technology and intellectual property
- how you will plan to manage and monitor the project including mitigating delivery risks (including national and cyber security risks) and secure any required regulatory approvals.
Assessment criterion 4: Impact of grant funding (10 points)
You should demonstrate this by describing:
- the quantum of co-investment (cash or in-kind contributions from your entity, other levels of government or project partners)
- how the grant will impact your project scope including the likelihood your project would not proceed without the grant
- the predicted outcomes (environmental/social/scientific/technological) of your proposed solutions
- any additional investment the grant will leverage and explain how this benefits your project.
If your application is successful, you’ll receive a written offer. If you are unsuccessful, we’ll notify you in writing and give you the chance to discuss the outcome with us.
Successful applicants must enter into a grant agreement with the Commonwealth.
We’ll pay 100% of the grant on execution of the grant agreement. You must report how you spent the grant funds at the completion of the project.
Payments will be made by direct credit into a nominated bank account.
Need help?
Let us answer your question via phone, email or live chat. And if we can't help, we'll put you in touch with someone who can.
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Open Hours:
Monday – Friday, 8am – 8pm across Australia
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Information session
National Soil Carbon Innovation Challenge – Stakeholder briefing
We hosted an information session providing an overview of the National Soil Carbon Innovation Challenge – Feasibility Study Grants, including eligibility requirements and key points from the assessment criteria. It also covers the associated programs, the Soil Carbon Data Program and the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment’s National Soil Strategy.