Government Grant Guru
http://www.government-grant.com.au

I went through the guidelines and i believe they did think things through from the ground up.

In regards to matching funding… i’m glad they’re doing this because it means that people are putting their own money as well… so government risk is reduced. Remember that this money is our tax money and I don’t want it to be wasted on dodgy projects.

Obviously i help people out with getting grants and most of the phone calls i get are from people that i wouldn’t invest a dollar in… and i hope the government doesn’t either! Most people work hard for their money and it would a waste if those tax dollars are wasted on dud projects.

The government is not there to “take on your risk”, it’s there to help people who have already reduced the risk of their project by having invested their money and time into… rather just rocked up asking for a buck.

Anyway, if anyone here needs some assistance, you can contact me.
we only deal with the “Proof of Concept” and “Early Stage Commercialisation” grants … so you’ll need to have Matching Funding.
We do charge a substantial upfront fee because:

1 Significant effort is required to prepare the application
1 We only want to deal with serious people

http://www.grantsolutions.com.au/commercialisation-australia.html

I agree that the fallout of the dollar-matching program is that the rich will get richer.

As a Startup owner who had some initial investment a couple of years ago, but who just missed out on Commercial Ready due to its premature demise, and who was not able to receive COMET due to being too early stage, and who had strong investor interest the week the GFC hit which of course now has evaporated; I was able to keep my business alive (just barely) throughout the GFC only by receiving RnD grants, which as of July 2010 I will now no longer qualify for (thanks to Labour’s change of the requirements for Innovation *or* SIE to now require both).

So, I’m left with none of my original investment, no hope of receiving RnD, no industry or State funding for my particular industry and now no hope of receiving Federal Funding through Commercialisation Australia due to not being able to match it dollar for dollar.

All this despite having revenue, a huge global market, extremely impressive web stats and a Webby Honnoree.

Commercialisation Australia fails to take into account the dearth of private investment available in Australia.

Having kept this business alive just long enough to hear the conditions of Labour’s innovation grant replacement, all this news brings me is the unfortunate process of insolvency.

This all sounds like we the public have been taken for fools, why? because firstly commercialisation Australia is actually paid for by our tax money and if you read the fine print you will see that the criteria clearly states “only people with $250,000 dollars need apply for the commercial ready grant. This translates so; “our new commercialisation facility only recognises Innovation from Australians who are already wealthy……… this in fact defeats the object of having a “MERIT” system.
What is happening here is the government have taken away a billion dollar system designed to help & inspire all Australians to be at their innovative best and replace it with a system that informs everyday Australians not to bother being all they can be because if they haven’t the got over $250,000 to invest (after they have spent out already creating their product / service) then they need not apply.
This new initiative actually has announced that they are “taking our hard earn’t tax payers money and are “ONLY” interested in giving it to the rich?
I thought we live in a democratic society where all men and women are equal, the staff of this new initiative will be highly paid individuals and so far the vibe from their criteria is shouting load and clear “WE ONLY WANT TO WORK WITH PEOPLE WHO COME FROM SIMILAR OR SAME CLASS BACKGROUNDS AS OURSELVES” Since when in the history of mankind has the best innovative ideas come from the upper classes? True ground breaking Innovation has come from our working population and as so the Initiative should stop being afraid to work with the public just because we voice our opinions loudly, since when has it be appropriate to use our money only to support the personal wealth creation of the upper classes? The Initiative clearly state their intention is to only support innovation that (and I quote) Innovation which supports only the promotion of high salaried positions, it supposed to say: The commercialisation Australia Initiative welcomes all Australian Innovators to submit their Innovations which will be accessed and “competently” merited by our professional staff and Innovation which is desperately needed in Australian society will be merited accordingly and will be confidently promoted for full funding due to the perceived future value of the innovation being in high regard.

We are a very small multicultural, multi skilled and experienced nation we are very savvy and it is not acceptable for our government to tell us that we cannot apply for innovation funding because we have committed our budgets already in creating our innovations.
I say come on Australian Innovators see this initiative for what it is, since when should the Australian tax payer be cut out of the funding loop, since when should we accept being thrown a bone without any meat left on it when we had a huge stake to eat before?
Innovator everywhere want to pay back what they owe and we don’t mind terms and conditions but we do mind being shafted out of the chance to have our innovations funded by self serving bureaucrat’s only looking only for an easy time dealing with “THEY DEEM” DESERVING OF THEIR TIME & OF COURSE OUR MONEY.

I am an innovator and I can speak for all Australian Innovators when I say; This Initiative has been set up on a “lazy self serving benchmark” none of the employees must have actual innovation experience, none of them “under this criteria” must have confidence in their own abilities to give advice and to predict market need of an innovators work, none of these employees must want to work with Australia’s majority general public and their innovations, none of the staff seem to want to step out of their comfort zones and challenge themselves to working with us Aussie Innovators actually at the coal face!!
It all seems too cosy, too comfortable, too convenient and too uninspiring, Innovator over the past few years have had to jump through hoops and humiliate themselves on TV competition shows such as dragons den etc just to be get funded, Innovation is a serous subject as it can change everything for everyone, I quote The International Monetary Funds Chief Advisor Dominique Strauss Kahn believes it is only BOLD INNOVATION that will get us out of this global financial mess we are in and that also goes for getting us out of the trillions of dollars we have to “NOW” reluctantly pay back.

Innovators should respected accordingly because each and everyone of us will have our lives positively affected by one of us in our lifetime, it may be something that saves our lives or a loved one’s life or an economic system which will ensure your employment, the employment of your sons and daughters by ensuring business enterprises in Australia have a new strong business platform to operate on or should such Innovation go to our American cousins instead?

I will be looking at your review of these opinions and that of nineteen other innovators.