The government’s Commercialisation Australia grant is now accepting applications. Although economic concerns may have overshadowed the scheme’s commencement in January, businesses are rapidly starting to take notice of this opportunity now that 2010 is well underway.

The grant is filling the void of the Commercial Ready program that was cancelled during budget cuts in 2008. This new program comprises of $196.1 million funding dollars until 2013, and 82 million for each year thereafter.

Competition is expected to be fierce, with demand that has accumulated over 2 years without funding in this area. However, the merit-based program's payoff is worthwhile. Up to 2 million dollars is available for companies to boost new products or services.

The programs consists of 3 major components:

• Skills and Knowledge support to help build the skills, knowledge and connections required to commercialise new ideas.
     • Up to $50,000 to pay for specialist advice and services
     • Up to $200,000 over two years to assist with the recruitment of experienced executives
• Proof of Concept grants of $50,000 to $250,000 to test the commercial viability of a product, process or service
• Early Stage Commercialisation repayable grants of $250,000 to $2 million to develop a new product, process or service to the stage where it can be taken to market.

Eligibility
There have been some businesses that have made the mistake of applying for the grant to use towards marketing or sales plans for existing products. This confusion may be due to the name, which would be more accurate if called the Pre-Commercialisation grant, since funding is intended primarily for innovation and product development.

Some eligible expenditures include:

• Product development
• Testing and documentation
• Tooling-up for full scale production
• Market validation
• Execution of IP strategy

The grant is open for non tax-exempts companies; for more specific details and alternatives, visit the www.commercialisationaustralia.gov.au.