Minister Barr: CBR punches above its weight to win commercialisation grants
- Written by ACT Government
Released 03/06/2015
Two Canberra companies have won funding from the Federal Government’s Entrepreneurs’ Infrastructure Program announced yesterday by Federal Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane.
The Australian Government’s Entrepreneurs’ Infrastructure Programme has announced funding offers made under the Accelerating Commercialisation stream of the program. I’d like to congratulate the two successful Canberra companies. They are:
• InterfereX Communications Pty Ltd - received $325,000 for radio optimisation trials for maximising customer experience of mobile broadband; and• MyHealthTest Pty Ltd - received $1,000,000 for the commercialisation of dry blood spot pathology testing.
Both of these companies are products of Canberra’s dynamic innovation ecosystem – a business start up community which is now punching well above its weight at the national level. Canberra’s share of the total pool of funding announced was 13%.
Both InterfereX and MyHealthTest have accessed important company acceleration initiatives supported by the ACT Government – the Innovation Connect early stage innovation program and the ANU’s Discovery Translation Fund, the latter being a joint initiative between the ACT Government and the ANU. InterfereX is also a product of NICTA developed technology.
This new breed of companies is important for the future of our economy and exactly what our business policy is aiming to achieve.
In yesterday’s Budget I announced $11.75 million in new funding to support Confident & Business Ready: Building on Our Strengths, the ACT Government’s new business development strategy. The Strategy provides $6 million for programs and initiatives to accelerate business innovation, trade and investment. The Strategy seeks to building on Canberra’s strong knowledge economy foundations and through strong partnerships between the Government and business community and our world-class education and research institutions.
I am also very pleased to see the GRIFFIN Accelerator program going from strength to strength.
Earlier this week the CEO of GRIFFIN Accelerator announced the names of the seven local companies that will be part of the 2015 program for the 70 plus expressions of interest registered. This is a great sign of the health and vitality of our business start up community and the value of initiatives such as GRIFFIN.
In 2014/15 my Government provided $70,000 in establishment support for the first GRIFFIN Accelerator program and that support continues to be provided through our base funding to the CBR Innovation Network.
Under the GRIFFIN program participant companies will receive investment of $25,000 in return for 10% equity, three months of intensive mentorship and move into GRIFFIN’s shared office space at the CBR Innovation Network. The equity investments are drawn from a pool of funds provided by local business mentors and successful entrepreneurs – a great way of putting back in to the development of new businesses.
Of the seven teams selected three are former participants in the ACT Government’s Innovation Connect program – Solution Solution, Dilkara and SignOnSite.
When combined I know that these initiatives will continue to accelerate business innovation so that Canberra businesses will continue to thrive locally and on the national stage.
- Statement ends -
Section: Andrew Barr, MLA | Media Releases
