Faarms - Forecast And Automated Resource Management System

I had the opportunity today to attend the Sydney Commercialisation Australia briefing.  

(As a quick aside I do so love attending events hosted by NSW Industry & Innovation; their office reminds me of why I’m banging my entrepreneurial head against this particular wall, rather than one, say, in Cambridgeshire or Palo Alto. There is something about overlooking Sydney Harbour from the 47th floor on a perfect summer day, that no money can buy.)

Back to the event: CA is the new federal system of grants to help boost innovation in Australia. $196m over 4 years, which is not to be scoffed at, but not exactly in the upper echelons of countries investing in Tech. Oh, and this isn’t only for tech start-ups either, although to be fair, that is the low hanging fruit for innovation right now.

$196m over 4 years = $39m per year. With Market Commercialisation grants of up to $2m, there’ll only be about 20 or so companies each year getting a guernsey. That’s not many, not when you consider how many companies follow Anthill Magazine, are listed on ASSOB, registered with iPitchAU, or as Microsoft Bizspark partners (i.e. More than 500). To say this will be fiercely competitive is to understate the case somewhat. There were certainly many more than 20 companies represented just for NSW.

Faarms? Well, we’ve applied of course. Or at least, completed the “pre-application” process, which consists of completing a form, being assessed for eligibility to apply in a call with AusIndustry, and if you pass muster, being sent an application form. We passed muster. So the next step is to find “matching” funding, whilst neatly not being able to raise all the funding (If you can raise funding, you become ineligible for any CA grant). Actually, given the current investment landscape in Australia, this isn’t really too far off the mark anyway. There’s a lot to be said for an Angel ramping up leverage of an investment with a matching grant.

We also learned about the NSW I&I “Pathway’s” grant. This was new to me, so worth a quick check. At the very least it seems there’s a grant to help raise finance.

The biggest value from the day though, was networking with more and more start-ups – from skin replacement technologies to online reading and music solutions for kids – and despite the 8 months I’ve spent networking in this industry, there were a number of colleagues conspicuous by their absence. Hmmm….

The long and the short of it? There is no lack of Innovation, skill, talent, ideas, even execution, in Australia. A little investment will go a long way.