Battery manufacturing headlines young companies in their commercialisation stage that have received some of the first funding from the federal government’s Industry Growth Program.
The IGP, which is intended to lead to investment through the $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund should scale up be successful, is worth a total of $392 million.
The Minister for Industry and Science Ed Husic announced the funding by officially opening battery manufacturing facilities at grant recipient Li-S Energy in Geelong, Victoria (pictured).
Li-S is developing low-weight, highly durable lithium sulphur batteries suitable for aviation and defence industries.
Successful grant recipients in this round include:
- Cauldron Molecules $4.3 million to support world-first, fully automated hyper-fermentation technology to make food, animal feed, fibre and fuel
- Li– S Energy $1.7 million to support its high-tolerance lithium foil battery manufacturing process to produce next generation, ultra-light batteries
- Electrogenics Laboratories $1 million for its MOSkin patient radiation dose measurement system to reduce exposure risk during radiotherapy treatments
- Brandsec $231,000 for its Unphish software tool which can remove malicious phishing content from the internet, including from compromised websites and fake social media accounts
- And Forager Automation $157,943 for the development of its robotic blueberry picking device that will tackle labour costs and increase yield efficiency for farmers.
The CEO of Li-S Energy Dr Lee Finniear said: “With the support of the IGP Grant we can build Australia’s first lithium metal foil manufacturing line.
“Essential for advanced batteries including our own and adding value to Australia’s own vast lithium reserves, the global lithium foil market is primed for massive growth in the coming years.”
“With Australia mining 52 percent of the world’s lithium ore, this new sovereign manufacturing capability for lithium foil gives Australia an opportunity to position itself as a leading player in this growth market.”
IGP funding is provided through two streams.
The Early-Stage Commercialisation grants stream of the programme provide matched grant funding from $50,000 to $250,000 to help establish the commercial viability of an innovative product, process, or service.
Commercialisation and Growth grants provide matched grant funding from $100,000 to $5 million to help push ideas from prototyping through to market readiness stages.
Grants will help develop strategies for entry to market and scaling up into national and international markets, according to the government.
IGP grants are aligned with the seven priority areas of the $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund: Resources; Transport; Medical Science; Defence Capability; Renewables and Low Emission Technologies; Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and; Enabling Capabilities.
Picture: L:i-S Energy/Dr Lee Finniear/$10 million Phase 3 2MWh production facility, Geelong Victoria
