Two good funding opportunities, one from the Federal Government and one from the Queensland State Government, are now open to small and medium sized manufacturing businesses that want to get to the next level of growth through upgrading their technology, infrastructure and workforce.
Made in Queensland grant focuses on business transformation embracing Industry 4.0 (digitisation, interconnected factory, big data analytics etc.), leading to an increase in international competitiveness, productivity and innovation, and generation of high-skilled jobs for the future.
Businesses can apply for matching funding between $50,000 and $2.5 million for projects that consist of either:
- “the introduction of a process or technology not currently used by the applicant that is industry-leading (best practice) such as:
- implementing advanced robotics
- implementing a leading-edge, sector relevant system
- the development of a plan or strategy”
To be eligible, the project you are proposing must be directly related to recommendations of an independent evaluation report or similar independent business. So, if your business has had that next step mapped up for it recently, now is the opportunity to put the plan into action.
Manufacturing Modernisation Fund supports manufacturers to undertake projects that include technology upgrades, efficiency upgrades, such as energy or process optimisation, and associated reskilling.
The range of eligible projects is wide, as long as it will demonstrably improve your manufacturing competitiveness and lead to job growth.
Money is available in two streams:
- matched grants of between $50,000 to $100,000 for small scale technology and efficiency investments
- grants between $100,000 to $1 million, with you providing 75% of the cost, to support transformative investments in technologies and processes
Get in touch with ASA to discuss your eligibility, your potential projects and how we can help your business grow with the assistance of these and other funding opportunities.