The Australian Government announced in the 2017-18 Budget the $100 million Advanced Manufacturing Fund (the Fund). Part of the Fund is the $47.5 million Advanced Manufacturing Growth Fund (the Growth Fund) which runs over 4 years from 2017-18 to 2020-21. There is $16.4 million in grant funding allocated to Round 2 of the Growth Fund and applications for grants of $500,000 to $2.5 million are now open, closing on 28 February 2018.
What is the Growth Fund?
The aim of the Growth Fund is to help transition the manufacturing sector from traditional, heavy industrial processes to knowledge based manufacturing of higher value products and help to boost innovation, skills and employment in advanced manufacturing in Victoria and South Australia.
Grant funding of between $500,000 to $2.5 million is available to small and medium enterprises to cover up to a third of eligible costs for capital projects that establish or expand advanced manufacturing activities in Victoria and South Australia. Examples of projects funded in Round 1 include manufacturing dental aligners, an olive nutraceutical ingredient extraction facility, development of a high-volume molding process for carbon fibre wheel manufacture and manufacturing to achieve human IV fluid supply.
Who is eligible to apply?
To be eligible for a grant from the Growth Fund the enterprise must be:
- A small or medium enterprise with up to 199 full time employees;
- Be an Australian entity with an ABN;
- Be registered for GST; and
- The trading activities related to the project must represent a sufficiently significant proportion of the overall activities of the corporation.
The enterprise is not eligible if:
- It is income tax exempt;
- It is an individual, partnership or trust (however, an incorporated trustee may apply on behalf of a trust); or
- It is a Commonwealth, state and local government agency or body (including government business enterprise).
What is an eligible project?
In order to be eligible, the project must occur in Victoria and/or South Australia with at least $1.5 million in expenditure and it must include the buying, constructing, installing or commissioning of manufacturing capital equipment which results in commercial production ready manufacturing.
The following activities are eligible costs under the scope of the Growth Fund:
- Design and engineering activities directly related to the project;
- Fit-out, alterations and/or extensions to buildings directly related to the project; and
- Training directly related to the project.
How applications are assessed
Applications are assessed on a merits based system. There are 3 merit criteria and the higher the score of the project, the more likely it is to be awarded the grant.
The merit criteria are as follows:
- The advanced manufacturing benefits of the business and the broader economy;
- The impact of the grant funding on the project; and
- The businesses capacity, capability and resources to deliver the project.
Applications opened on 14 December 2017 and close 28 February 2018 at 5:00pm AEDT.
How we can assist
Given applications close at the end of next month, we can assist you in reviewing eligibility for the grant and preparing the application.
This article was written by Nima Sedaghat, Partner and Alina Sedmak, Associate.