This week, the Australian announced a $7.8 million investment in 17 innovative local companies. This funding offer announced yesterday was under the Australian Government’s Entrepreneurs’ Programme.
The investment is expected to benefit the mining, information technology, renewable energy and advanced manufacturing industry sectors.
Under the programme, funding offers between $69,000 and $1 million are expected to be granted to companies to aid them in the development of their products and services.
“This announcement sees (that) another 17 companies benefit from the government’s Entrepreneurs’ Programme that has already helped over 100 entrepreneurs get their ideas off the ground and into the global marketplace,” said Mr Wyatt Roy, Assistant Minister for Innovation.
In short, this programme will assist companies to co-invest in projects to turn their ideas into commercial realities.
“This support will help the recipients commercialise their ideas to take advantage of global market opportunities and protect their intellectual property, ensuring Australia sees the benefits.”
Some of the 17 projects supported in this announcement include:
- A device to optimise carbon use and maximise gold recovery for the gold mining industry
- A software and training platform for the agribusiness sector to help improve farm profitability, business management and sustainability
- A real-time, cloud-based data management system for intelligent buildings and smart cities
- Laser-based 3D printing for lighter, more easily produced metal components for aerospace and defence applications
- Advanced manufacturing for reliable, cheap and highly efficient silicon solar cells
- A world-first clinical diagnostics device to help assess the health of the human gut
Ultimately, this programme thus remains as a key measure of the National Innovation and Science Agenda to set Australia on the path to a more ingenious and entrepreneurial economy in time to come.
Image from See-ming Lee– CC BY 2.0