Deadline: 19 February 2018
The Global Connections Fund (GCF) is seeking proposals for its Priming Grants program 2018 to enhance collaboration specifically between Australian small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and researchers with SMEs and researchers in 17 priority economies.
The grants will support Australian SMEs and researchers to:
- enable initial exploratory partner meetings to take place
- undertake consortium meetings (travel-related costs), assistance with minor project expenses; and /or costs associated with establishing formal relationships (legal agreements) or funding applications for joint activities.
- support potential SME-researcher partnerships in exploring the viability of an intended research and development (R&D) collaboration or technology solution
- explore avenues for follow-on project seed‑funding
Grant Information
Priming Grants offer total funding of $7,000 AUD/applicant to eligible SME-researcher partnerships for activities preparing cooperative, international R&D projects or facilitating technology solutions.
Priority Economies
The following are the priority economies that Australian entities can engage with when applying for GCF Priming or Bridging Grants.
Brazil, China (excluding Special Administrative Regions (SARs)), European Union Member States – (the 28 Member States are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom) , India, Israel, Japan, Korea, Republic of, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, Taiwan, United States of America, Vietnam.
Eligibility Criteria
- The applicant must be an Australian citizen or an Australian permanent resident, living in Australia at the time of submitting the grant application (note: if successful, Priming Grant applicants will need to provide proof of citizenship or permanent residency if requested, as a condition of receiving funds).
- Australian SME applicants must:
- Meet the business.gov.au definition of an SME, which is the term used to refer to micro-businesses, small businesses and medium sized firms. A small business has less than 20 employees, a medium business has between 20 and 199 employees and SMEs have less than 200 employees;
- Have an Australian Business Number (ABN);
- Be incorporated and registered for GST; and
- Must not be engaged in any litigation, arbitration, administrative proceedings, investigations, or before any court, tribunal, commission, arbitral body or other agency in any jurisdiction in the Commonwealth of Australia (for enterprises based in Australia) or in the nominated priority economy.
- Australian research applicants: are defined as those employed by a tertiary education institution, publicly funded research organisation, not-for-profit research organisation, or cooperative research centre.
- The Priming Grants only support the following partnering arrangements:
- International SMEs from a priority listed economy seeking to partner with Researchers from Australia.
- Australian SMEs looking to partner with Researchers in a priority listed economy.
- International Researchers in a priority listed economy seeking to partner with Australian SMEs.
- Australian Researchers seeking to partner with International SMEs in a priority listed economy.
How to Apply
The application process consists of two stages:
- Submission of an Expression of Interest, which is assessed for eligibility, and if approved in this step
- Preparation and submission of a formal Priming Grant application.
For more information, please visit Priming Grants.