Boost your Business – Food Innovation Vouchers

Food Innovation Vouchers up to $50,000 are available to to assist your business innovate, grow, and take new products to market.

The vouchers can be used to engage an advisor to provide specialist one-to-one advice.

Applications for round 2 of the vouchers are now open. Applications close 5pm 13 July, 2018.

Boost Your Business Vouchers are available to Victorian Small/Medium Enterprises are available under the following streams:

• Food Innovation – Support for businesses within the food value chain, including agriculture (except forestry and fishing) and food and beverage manufacturing, to access facilities, services, advice or expertise from approved service providers to help businesses innovate, diversify, improve productivity and take products to market;

• Advanced Manufacturing – Manufacturing businesses on a growth trajectory to support projects to deliver long term benefits such as improved productivity, jobs growth or export capability;

• Asia Gateway – Supporting businesses seeking to increase their export and business capacity in an Asian market;

• Social Enterprise Capability – Providing support for social enterprises (businesses with a community benefit which re-invest the majority of the profit from their trade into the fulfilment of their mission) in building business capacity and skills action area to support the viability, sustainability and growth of social enterprises.

Businesses eligible for the Food Innovation Voucher stream include agricultural businesses which employ 20-200 staff or have annual turnover of more than $1.5 million.

The main objectives of the Food Innovation Voucher Stream are:

• foster industry engagement and collaboration between R&D providers and businesses;

• increase commercialisation rates of research through development of innovative products, packaging and processes in growth oriented SMEs;

• improve productivity levels by shifting the food sector’s focus and culture from reactive to proactive, and from survival to competitive and disruptive; and

• reduce the barriers and challenges faced by businesses which are limiting the level of investment in disruptive innovation.

The Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport & Resources (DEDJTR) has established the Vouchers to support Victorian businesses to become more productive, employ more people, improve market access and in general, increase their scale, diversity and profitability.

For further information, visit http://www.business.vic.gov.au/support-for-your-business/grants-and-assistance/Boost-Your-Business/Food-Innovation-Voucher-Stream