The latest edition of Commercialisation Australia’s Value Proposition publication has revealed where government funds are going to support start-ups at the commercialisation stage.
New South Wales received the most funding, with $56.8 million going to 110 companies. Queensland has the most businesses and researchers funded, with $36.1 million going to 114 companies.
Businesses focused on health and medical ($44 million), business and communication ($29 million), and energy, mining and resources ($26.1 million) are receiving the majority of the $178.1 million in funding.
The leading industry achieving funding in South Australia ($5.4 million), Victoria ($11.7 million) and New South Wales ($16.1 million) was health and medical.
Mining, energy and resources was the leader of industry investment in Western Australia, at $10 million. Only two companies in the Northern Territory received funding, totalling $650,000.
The defence and security industry received the most investment in the Australian Capital Territory with $2.4 million, and food and agriculture in Tasmania at $887,000.
Of the 430 businesses or researchers receiving funding, 18% are in regional Australia.
Doron Ben-Meir, chief executive of Commercialisation Australia, wrote it was hardly surprising regional small and medium-sized business had more negative views about the economy than metropolitan ones, according to recent findings of the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
“Aspiring entrepreneurs in the vastness of regional Australia confront many challenges not faced by their city contemporaries, from a lack of readily available to expert advice to a plethora of communication and transport issues,” he wrote.
“Yet the regions have a critical role to play in keeping the economy vibrant, with primary industries alone making up close to two-thirds of Australia’s exports.”
David Mac Smith, a Commercialisation Australia case manager, described access to capital as especially hard.
“Money is always an issue, because access to funding is significantly worse than in the cities,” Smith says in the magazine.
“One of the consequences of this undercapitalisation is that businesses grow at a slower rate.”
The full report and previous issues can be downloaded here.
Rose is the current head of growth at Rampersand Ventures. She was formerly a reporter at StartupSmart.
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