RFAs: Mentoring and Funding for NT businesses in Australia

The Business Innovation Program is a Northern Territory Government initiative to support businesses to develop and commercialise innovation and increase investment in Northern Territory startups.

The Program provides advisory, funding and investment opportunities to businesses who are willing and able to develop and scale their innovation.

Program Structure

• The program is run in the following 3 stages. Before you begin, you will undergo an enrolment process. During this process, you will nominate an advisor from an approved list to help you with stage one. To ensure your advisor is a good fit for your business, you should contact them beforehand.
  • Stage 1 – planning
    • In stage 1, you will get a $2,000 voucher which will be used for your provided advisor’s services. You will work with your advisor to develop an innovation project plan and pitch presentation. This plan and presentation will help form your application that you submit for grant funding. To be considered, you must submit your application before the closing date.
    • Applications are assessed competitively based on its:
      • strong value for the Territory and
      • likely to scale-up and attract investment.
    • If your application is successful, you will be offered grant funding and the opportunity to move to stage 2.
  • Stage 2 – development
    • During stage 2, you will get up to $30,000 to develop your innovative idea to an investment-ready product.
    • You will be offered a formal funding agreement which will outline your:
      • milestone and
      • reporting requirements.
    • This will be based on your innovation project plan.
    • Once your product has been developed and is investment ready, you will progress to stage 3.
  • Stage 3 – commercialisation
    • During stage 3, you will get opportunities to:
      • access support to commercialise your product and
      • maximise investment opportunities.
    • Your advisor will help you reach at least $50,000 in revenue or of new investment.
    • When you have achieved this, you will graduate from the program and become an alumnus.
    • You will also get grant funding of up to $10,000 to cover the costs of securing funding.

Funding Information

• You can get up:
  • $30,000 in government grant funding
  • $2,000 in advisory services from an approved advisor
  • $10,000 for expenses incurred in commercialising your innovation.

Eligibility Criteria

• To participate in the Program, an Advisor must register for the Program as an Eligible Advisor. An Advisor is only eligible to participate in the Program if the Advisor:
  • has a registered ABN
  • has capacity to deliver professional advisory services to program participants
  • can demonstrate value for Territory (how services directly create value for Territory)
  • demonstrate previous experience successfully advising early-stage innovators or developing innovation
  • can demonstrate a clear methodology to assist clients through problem framing, customer and solution validation and pitching their innovation; and
  • satisfies all the requirements of the Department specified in the application form.

For more information, visit Australian Government.