What is Automotive Innovation Lab Access Grants?
The Automotive Innovation Lab Access Grants is a program that will provide grant funding to support businesses to undertake a range of activities to enhance the automotive product design and development process including design, prototype and testing activities undertaken at specialised facilities and service organisations.
Objectives
The objectives of the program are to:
- support business to access automotive test facilities and design and prototyping services
- support new automotive product development and enhance business capability for Australian businesses, building their capacity to deliver diversified product offerings and supply to local and international markets.
The intended outcomes of the program are:
- increase in automotive design, prototype and testing activities
- expanded high value automotive manufacturing operations.
Funding
The Australian Government has announced a total of $7 million over three years for the program. For this grant opportunity, $4.56 million is available over two years from 2019-20 to 2020-21.
The grant amount will be up to 50 per cent of eligible project costs. The minimum grant amount is $50,000 and the maximum grant amount is $200,000.
Eligible Projects
Australian businesses can apply for funding to support a range of activities including:
- access to automotive test facilities
- access to design and prototyping services
- new automotive product development
- enhanced business capability
- building capacity to deliver diversified products
- building capacity to supply products to local and international markets
Your project must:
- use an external facility
- have at least $100,000 in eligible expenditure
- directly relate to the development of new or enhanced products with automotive application and can include
- design
- prototyping
- testing
You must provide evidence from your board (or chief executive officer or equivalent if there is no board) that:
- the project is supported
- you can complete the project
- you can meet the costs of the project not covered by grant funding
Eligible Applicants
To be eligible you must:
- have an Australian business number (ABN)
- be an entity incorporated in Australia (includes an incorporated trustee applying on behalf of a trust)
You must also engage in trading activities that either:
- form a significant proportion of your overall activities
- are a substantial and not peripheral activity of the corporation
Timing
Applications close 24 February 2020.
