Deadline: 12-Apr-23
The Circular Economy Business Innovation Centre (CEBIC) is offering grants to support projects that focus on the research and development of innovative market solutions that apply circular design.
These projects prevent, minimise or eliminate waste and pollution and keep products and materials in use – at the highest value – for longer.
The projects must be:
- delivered by a Collaborative Partnership
- innovative (have never been done in Victoria before).
Objectives
- Projects must contribute to 2 or more of the following outcomes:
- creation of new Circular Products and Services
- avoidance of waste materials to any waste or Recycling destination
- increase employment through direct creation of jobs
- increase capacity to extend the useable life of products
- reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
- Lessons learned from the projects will be shared with the Victorian community to stimulate further Innovation and accelerate the transition to a Circular Economy.
Funding Information
- Each project can receive a grant between $50,000 and $400,000 (ex GST).
What will be funded?
- Projects must be collaborative and explore an innovative market solution that aims to improve the environmental outcomes of products, services, industries, supply chains or systems and contribute to Victoria’s transition to a Circular Economy.
- Projects must represent the research and development of an Innovation for Victoria – that it has not been done within Victoria previously.
- Projects should demonstrate Circular Economy design solutions/ strategies to eliminate or minimise waste and pollution and/or keep products/ materials in use at their highest value for longer.
- Examples of circular design solutions/ strategies that may be explored in projects include but are not limited to:
- Design for dematerialisation, minimise inputs, waste avoidance
- Design for durability, reuse, refill, sharing and resell
- Design for maintenance, repair, upgradability
- Design for Refurbishment, remanufacturing, disassembly/ reassembly
- Projects must contribute to two or more of the following outcomes:
- Creation of new Circular Products and Services
- Avoidance of waste materials to any waste or Recycling destination
- Increase employment through direct creation of jobs.
- Increase capacity to extend the useable life of products
- Reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
- All projects must also:
- meet all regulatory or planning requirements within 6 months of signing funding agreement
- ensure at least 50% of project activities are implemented in Victoria
- be completed by 15 December 2024.
- Project types:
- Research and development
- Project activities can include:
- research and feasibility studies
- case studies and business case development
- ideation or concept generation
- design and development of product, service, process and/or systems
- prototyping and testing
- experimental proof of concept
- small scale pilots, trials, and demonstrations.
Eligibility Criteria
- The project must be delivered by at least 2 organisations. In such a group application (known as ‘Collaborative Partnership’), the main organisation responsible for delivering the project is the Lead Applicant, and the others are the Collaborative Partners.
- Lead Applicant(s)
- All applications require a single Lead Applicant. Eligible Lead Applicant organisations must be one of the following organisation types:
- Research Institutions
- Businesses (Commercial for-profit)
- Social enterprises (must be currently registered with Social Traders or prove accreditation before entering into a funding agreement)
- Charities and other Not-for-profits
- Industry groups and Associations (also known as an industry trade association, Business Association, sector association or industry body, is an organisation founded and funded by Businesses that operate in a specific industry)
- Current Cooperative Research Centres
- Current Rural Research and Development Corporations.
- And must:
- have a current Australian Business Number (ABN). If the Applicant is a Trust, the Trustee – as the proper Applicant – must meet this requirement.
- have been operating for a minimum of 2 years by the application closing date (to be validated by the date that the organisation’s ABN is active from). If the Applicant is a Trust, the Trustee – as the proper Applicant – must meet this requirement.
- be able to demonstrate financial viability to undertake the project (will meet or exceed the minimum Co-contribution requirement)
- The Lead Applicant is the responsible Contracting Party and is accountable for the application and project delivery, including coordinating Collaborative Partners. Only the Lead Applicant will receive grant funding. Any allocations of grant funding or financial Co-contribution between Collaborative Partners and Delivery Partners must be managed by the Lead Applicant.
- All applications require a single Lead Applicant. Eligible Lead Applicant organisations must be one of the following organisation types:
- Collaborative Partner(s) (mandatory)
- The Lead Applicant must have at least one Collaborative Partner who are a:
- Research Institution
- Business (Commercial for-profit and Social Enterprises)
- Charity or other Not-for-profit
- Industry groups or Association
- Government or local government organisation
- Community organisation or group.
- Collaborative Partner(s) must:
- have a current ABN
- have a direct, clear role and demonstrated contribution (in-kind and/or cash contribution) that is significant to the delivery of the project
- not be Related Entities of the Lead Applicant. These will not count towards the minimum Collaborative Partner requirement.
- A letter of support (or equivalent) must be provided by the Collaborative Partner(s), signed by an authorised representative, and must be provided with the application, detailing their:
- commitment to be publicly announced as a Project Partner should funding be awarded
- financial and/or In-kind Contribution to the project
- role and responsibilities to the project.
- Each Collaborative Partner will be publicly announced as a Collaborative Partner should funding be awarded. The Collaborative Partnership must be then formalised through an agreement (MoU or equivalent) prior to the first milestone payment for projects who successfully receive funding.
- There is no limit to how many organisations are involved as Collaborative Partners.
- They encourage applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations.
- The Lead Applicant must have at least one Collaborative Partner who are a:
Ineligible
The following cannot apply for funding as a Lead Applicant (but can be a Collaborative Partner):
- Unincorporated Associations
- Federal, state, or local government, including water corporations (or entities owned by federal, state, local government and/or water corporations).
- Community organisations or groups
- Sole Traders.
For more information, visit Circular Economy Business Innovation Centre (CEBIC).