Open Call: Ignite Ideas Fund (Australia)

Objectives

• The Ignite Ideas Fund supports the development of awesome and innovative products, processes or services to help make Queensland a major centre for Australian innovation and startups.

Goals

• strengthen key industries in Queensland
• diversify the Queensland economy
• compete in domestic and global markets
• engage and/or benefit regional Queensland
• create new jobs, now and into the future

What does it involve?

• Supporting businesses with an innovative product or service that is at the viable product stage to go to the next level by tapping into new markets and helping to attract investment.

Focus Areas

• Applications relating to the following focus areas are welcomed and would be highly regarded:
  • Tourism industry development through:
    • ecotourism
    • sustainable aviation
    • housing solutions for staff in regional tourism locations.
  • Waste technologies addressing the:
    • breakdown/recycling of material at end-of-life
    • reduction of litter and its harm in the environment
    • reduction of pollution from manufacturing facilities.
  • Protecting the Great Barrier Reef, including:
    •  that reduce runoff.
  • Safeguarding private protected areas through increased landholder knowledge of:
    • the condition and value of the biodiversity on properties
    • fire management

Funding Information

• Two tiers of funding are available.
  • Tier 1: Up to $100,000 (excluding GST) for projects of up to 12 months duration.
  • Tier 2: Greater than $100,000 and up to $200,000 (excluding GST) for projects of up to 24 months duration.
• Successful applicants will be eligible for additional business development support through the Ignite+ program. This program will provide support across sales and marketing, customer acquisition, competitor analysis, intellectual property/legal support, financial structure, connections to mentors and sponsors, and access and introductions to business and investment networks.

Eligible Costs

• The Ignite Ideas Fund expenditure must be related to project specific commercialisation activities and fall within the following eligible cost categories:
  • salary expenditure (including salary-related on-costs) for new employees directly contributing to the delivery of the project
  • salary expenditure (including salary-related on-costs) for founders and existing employees directly contributing to the delivery of the project (capped at 20 per cent of the total grant)
  • services provided by (unrelated) external parties
  • equipment not exceeding $10,000 per item (capped at 10 per cent of the total grant)
  • consumables
  • travel, accommodation and subsistence costs.

Eligible Projects

• For the purpose of this program, the project must relate to commercialising an innovative product or service in one, or more, of the following contexts:
  • innovative solutions to existing problems
  • new to world innovation
  • innovation diffusion (a unique application of a technology that is significantly different to any previous innovation in the market)
  • innovation in the Indigenous context (identified by the applicant as innovative to cultural and community practices).
• To be eligible for funding, at the time of application, projects must:
  • have an existing minimal viable product for a product or service that is scalable to meet industry/market demand
  • demonstrate that the product or service is ready for market entry
  • demonstrate that the product or service is not currently in market.

Eligibility Criteria

• To be eligible for funding, at the time of application and for the duration of the funded project, you must:
  • be a business headquartered in Queensland
  • have no more than 50 full-time-equivalent employees
  • not be a subsidiary of a group of companies that has more than 50 full-time-equivalent employees
  • not have received funding for the proposed project activity from either the state, federal or local government
  • be registered for GST (at time of full application submission).
• If applying for tier 1, the applicant organisation and/or related parties must:
  • not have received an Ignite Ideas Fund grant previously
  • make a cash contribution to the project that is at least equal to 20% of the value of funding sought.
• If applying for tier 2, the applicant organisation and/or related parties must:
  • not have received an Ignite Ideas Fund tier 2 grant previously
  • not be applying for a product or service that has previously received Ignite Ideas funding
  • make a cash contribution to the project that is at least equal to the amount of funding sought.
• If the applicant organisation has previously received an Ignite Ideas tier 1 grant for a different project, this must have been completed successfully before submission of a new tier 2 application.
• Organisations and their related parties are limited to one application per funding round.

For more information, visit Advance Queensland.