Is your business involved in manufacturing? The Australian Government has prioritised businesses involved in manufacturing to receive government grants and funding.
The government understands the importance of manufacturing for the overall prosperity of Australia’s economy and offers millions of dollars’ worth of funding for manufacturing and capital expansion projects every year.
The aim of this funding is to help businesses fund projects that will stimulate the economy, ensure businesses can grow organically and to generate new employment opportunities whilst avoiding the need to embark on costly, capital raising exercises.
This is great news for anyone in the manufacturing sector…. But what does it mean for your business and are there any catches?
The bad news is most grants have a limited funding pool, meaning there is a limited number of projects that can be funded per grant cycle.
Most grants are not required to be paid back, so many companies subsequently apply for the funding, making grant applications highly competitive.
In fact, some government grants only award funding to five per cent of applicants
The reason many grant applications are unsuccessful is not because the project doesn’t warrant funding, but the difficulty in communicating complex CAPEX acquisition and financial plans in a succinct way.
A grant application may also require you to submit a cashflow forecast, balance sheet forecast, cost-benefit analysis of the project, industry and competitor analysis, marketing and sales analysis and more. All of this is in addition to the actual grant application writeup detailing the project.
Many businesses would need to allocate a staff member to writing the grant application, meaning you may be taking a valuable engineer, manager or staff member off their current work to complete these specific documents.
How can I increase my chances of winning a grant?
The first thing to be aware of is what manufacturing projects are funded, so you can increase your chances of success. At Avant Group, our team has helped clients win more than $100 million in competitive grant funding to date.
We understand what makes a good application great and offer a competitive grant writing service to help companies win via successful grant applications.
Here are our top six tips for making sure your manufacturing project gets funded.
1. Your project is well defined, scoped out, manageable and has a realistic project plan with measurable milestones
2. Your company and project have exceptional future vision, an understanding of the competitive marketplace and is offering product/service innovation
3. Your project has a realistic budget with preliminary quotes and in-depth, long term financial analysis
4. Your project will have a positive impact on the community, workforce, wider industry or country
5. You can prove your project demonstrates value for money, whether that be due to creating jobs or marketing opportunities
6. You can communicate all of the above in a succinct, transparent and authentic way
What if I need help writing and submitting my grant application?
Avant Group is a specialised, grants consultancy firm. Our team can assess your eligibility for a grant and advise you on your chances of success.
We are also able to write your application from start to finish, making sure your project meets the top six tips above, whilst also writing any specialised documents your application may need e.g. cashflow forecasts, industry analysis, competitor analysis etc.
What current grants are available for the manufacturing industry?
There are hundreds of grants for the manufacturing sector available, however below are a few major grants that are currently available.
NATIONAL
Accelerating Commercialisation
This competitive grant offers up to $1 million in matched funding to commercialise novel products, processes and services. The grant is ongoing and open to businesses across Australia.
This program provides eligible businesses with a $20k matched funding grant for any consulting work they may need to help their business grow.
There are also tax incentives for investment into research and development activities:
Research & Development (R&D) Tax Incentive
The R&D Tax Incentive is an entitlement grant, which offers a tax rebate on eligible research and development activity for Australian businesses. The level of tax rebate depends on your business turnover and level of research and development activities. The maximum tax rebate a business can receive is 41%.
More information about the R&D Tax Incentive here
NSW
The Regional Growth Fund provides grants up to $10 million for major transformational projects. The project must be able to show it will support long-term growth and support growth in the regions.
Financial support to startups and emerging and fast-growth small to medium enterprises (SMEs) to build momentum and grow jobs.
VIC
Most programs are still in caretaker mode however we anticipate the following programs will reopen in the new year:
LIFT/FIMP – Future Industry Manufacturing Program
A program that provides a 25% co-contribution towards capex expansion with a minimum project spend of $250k. The grant is linked to the creation of new jobs.