R&D funding up for grabs

Australian businesses will be given a leg-up in the form of research and development funding under the Global Innovation Linkages (GIL) program, which aims to advance Australia’s international collaboration and to leverage entrepreneurial expertise from key overseas locations.

The program is part of the National Innovation and Science Agenda and offers up to $1 million per project, provided over a maximum of four years.

Objectives of the program include:

• building linkages with priority economies to enable Australia to improve research and business performance, and access international supply chains and global markets;
• contributing to improvement in the competitiveness, productivity and sustainability of Australian and priority economies in line with government priorities;
• fostering high-quality solutions to identify end user challenges through international collaborative research partnerships between industry, research organisations and global partners;
• encouraging and facilitating small and medium enterprise (SME) participation in collaborative research.

Collaborative projects and participants must include, at a minimum:

• one Australian industry entity;
• one Australian research organisation; and
• one global partner from a priority economy.

Applications can be submitted via this form by 5.00 pm AEST Thursday, 20 September 2016. Interested parties will need to read the guide here before applying.

Successful applicants will need to sign a grant agreement with the Australia Government and to submit annual progress reports.

Priority economies include: European Union (with a focus on United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy), United States, India, China, Japan, South Korea, Israel, Taiwan, Vietnam, Brazil, Singapore, New Zealand and Switzerland.

A key consideration in the evaluation of projects will be the capacity of the project to leverage international funding and support. Grant funding cannot be used to fund activities of global partners.

Successful projects will come from one of the following priority areas:

• Advanced manufacturing
• Food and agribusiness
• Medical technologies and pharmaceuticals
• Mining equipment, technology and services
• Oil, gas and energy resources

These priority areas align with the Australian Government’s Industry Growth Centres Initiative. Applications for funding are expected to align with the relevant Growth Centre’s key themes, vision, strategic direction and/or Industry Knowledge Priorities and applicants are strongly encouraged to engage with the relevant Growth Centre in developing a proposal.

An organisation can submit up to two applications in the first round as the lead participant, but may be a participant in additional applications.