24 Australian manufacturers to commercialise world-leading products

The Sydney-based Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre has funded 24 projects launched by Australian manufacturing companies under a co-funding arrangement.

The latest round of co-invested projects announced via the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC)-managed Commercialisation Fund will see Australia’s manufacturing industry contribute over $32.4 million in funding alongside the Federal Government’s $9.03 million to drive commercialisation of world-leading Australian-made products. With $29 million of the $30 million Commercialisation Fund allocated to 55 projects just 10 months after the launch of the program, AMGC has revealed the spread of projects across Australia’s six National Manufacturing Priorities:

• 34 per cent of projects in Recycling and Clean Energy
• 23 per cent of projects in Medical Products
• 18 per cent of projects in Food and Beverages
• 11 per cent of projects in Resource Technology and Critical Minerals Processing

While the remaining 14 per cent is split equitably between the NMPs of Space and Defence.

All 24 co-invested projects are expected to create a substantial number of local jobs while driving additional revenues and export opportunities for the locally manufactured products.

“This latest tranche of co-investment demonstrates the broad capability of Australian manufacturing and its ability to drive jobs growth across the entire spectrum of manufacturing roles, known as the Smiley Curve – that is jobs in R&D, Design through to production, distribution, and highly-sought after sales and services positions,” according to AMGC Managing Director Dr Jens Goennemann said.

“The demand for targeted, well-managed, and appropriately sized co-investment has seen the Commercialisation Fund near exhaustion after just ten months,” he added. “This demonstrates the appetite for co-capital investment and the manufacturing industry’s willingness to match or better Federal investment to commercialise Australian ideas for domestic and international markets.”

The successful 24 co-invested manufacturing projects by National Manufacturing Priority include:

• Ceramisphere (NSW) – Medical Products – Development of a manufacturing capability of transdermal (skin) drug delivery system using its unique nanocomposite patch technology for pain relief. Total project commitment $2.17 million ($471,000 from Commercialisation Fund)
• Elenium (VIC) – Medical Products – Development of a biometric device that can be deployed into a range of environments to automate biometric identification for access control, ticketing, contact tracing (requiring Government integration), vaccination and antigen test status, and the capability to perform contactless fever detection once approved. Total project commitment $1.35 million ($553,364 from Commercialisation Fund)
• Examin (QLD) – Medical Products – Commercialisation of a 2-minute COVID-19 breath test using a novel electrochemical biosensor that detects viral load at a molecular level with a sensitivity and specificity of 97%-98%. Total project commitment $1.3 million ($647,665 from Commercialisation Fund)
• Vaxxas (QLD) – Medical Products –Scaling and automation of manufacturing capability to produce a novel, needle-free vaccination platform. The High-Density Micro-projection Array Patch (HD-MAP) aims to improve the efficacy, reach, safety and economics of vaccination. Total project commitment $1.59 million ($600,000 from Commercialisation Fund)
• Minomic Int (NSW) – Medical Products – Commercialisation of the MiCheck® Prostate test that is designed to detect life threatening aggressive prostate cancer in its early stages.  MiCheck® Prostate overcomes the low accuracy of conventional screening tests to reduce unnecessary intervention such as painful biopsies and improve overall management of the patient. Total project commitment $793,856 ($396,928 from Commercialisation Fund)
• TPS (QLD) – Food and Beverage –Commercialisation of advanced digital sensors for testing of water quality parameters in the food and beverage sector. Total project commitment $1.31 million ($444,875 from Commercialisation Fund)
• ICEE (VIC) – Food and Beverage –Commercialisation of Bouncee, a reusable and collapsible insulated crate and coolant system for short transit perishable logistics, such as click and collect, and home delivery. Total project commitment $1.31 million ($444,875 from Commercialisation Fund)
• Premcar (VIC) – Defence –Development of a manufacturing program to support the installation of a new, latest-technology, powertrain into land-based defence vehicles for local and export applications. Total project commitment $1.53 million ($699,931 from Commercialisation Fund)
• Microbio (QLD) – Defence –Establish sovereign manufacturing of Microbio’s unique InfectID PCR testing technology that provides rapid, highly sensitive bacterial, fungal, and viral pathogen identification in clinical samples for defence and civilian use. Total project commitment $1.11 million ($407,119 from Commercialisation Fund)
• Spiral Blue (NSW) – Space –Commercialisation of Rainbow Python: a world-first integrated hyperspectral instrument and onboard computer that allows for the chemical analysis of any location on earth from space for use in agriculture, forestry, mining, and other sectors. Total project commitment $2.97 million ($578,000 from Commercialisation Fund)
• Black Sky Aero (QLD) – Space –Establish sovereign manufacture of vital precursor materials for solid rocket propellant not currently produced in Australia. This will lead to significant domestic and export market opportunities. Total project commitment $1.1 million ($497,750 from Commercialisation Fund)