Cutting-edge Australian companies have picked up grants worth almost $29 million from the Albanese government’s key startup program to develop and commercialise products like laser drilling, battery recycling and military drones.
In the latest sign the popular Industry Growth Program is picking up steam again after a quite election period, the government has revealed another batch of grants for 14 recipients.
Among them is Action Laser, which picked up $1.6 million to scale out its unique production process for laser drilled filtration screens into new industries.
Visionary Machines received one of the largest grants at $4.4 million to commercialise a passive drone detection system for defence and critical infrastructure. The IGP funding will help scale manufacturing as the Sydney firm looks to global markets.
Other recipients include Sydney biomaterial developer SDIP Innovations ($3.95 million), which can reduce operation and recovery time by filling bone gaps with a variety of fillers, and Iondrive Technologies ($3.9 million), which can recover more than 95 per cent of nickel, cobalt, manganese and lithium from spent Li-ion batteries.
The IGP is the Albanese government’s flagship support program for for startups and small and medium enterprises. In addition to the rolling grants, innovation experts also provide applicants with advise on commercialisation and help connect them with the sector.
“The Industry Growth Program invests in local jobs and local people with great ideas, keeping manufacturing, local industry and Aussie talent here at home: a key enabler of a Future Made in Australia,” Industry minister Tim Ayres said.
“This support also helps pave the way for these local businesses to step into international markets and take Aussie innovation to the world.”
Announced in 2023, the $392 million program was slow to get going, awarding its first grant one year ago and then following up later in 2024 and early 2025.
Announcements ground to a halt around the election and the government is now switching to announcing recipients via local MPs.
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