New grants of $50k to $5 million from the Industry Growth Program

In May’s Federal Budget, the Government launched the Industry Growth Program, an initiative under the Australian industry portfolio. This program aims to provide support to SMEs and startups operating in key industries with advice and matched grant funding ranging from $50,000 to $5 million. The program has a significant budget of $392 million allocated.

The grants aim to facilitate the commercialisation of ideas, drive business growth, and create a pipeline of investment-ready projects for further consideration under the $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund (NRF). In line with this, the Industry Growth Program focuses on supporting businesses in priority sectors under the NRF, including:

• Renewables and low emissions technologies

• Medical science

• Transport

• Value-add in the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries sectors

• Value-add in resources

• Defence capability

• Enabling capabilities

There isn’t too much detail available on other eligibility criteria at this stage, but it is great to see a grant program focussed at this size of business and stage of technology that can help feed meaningful investments by the NRF.