$600K funding available for FIAL Cluster Program
A total of $600,000 in matched funding is available for new and existing agri-food clusters across Australia, supporting their ability to capture growth opportunities.
The injection of funds will support the Food and Agribusiness Growth Centre’s (trading as FIAL) Cluster Program, which aims to increase collaboration between businesses across the value chain.
Clusters are regional groups of related businesses, researchers and government agencies that create local ecosystems of resources, shared labour, infrastructure, knowledge and relationships.
FIAL said the additional funding is an important step towards keeping Australia’s 180,000 agri-food businesses on track to unlock more than $200 billion in value and create an additional 300,000 jobs by 2030. The roadmap towards these goals was released in FIAL’s Capturing the Prize report late last year.
“Clustering is the answer for how Australia’s 180,000 agri-food businesses, 98% of which are small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs), can achieve the economies of scale required to harness the growth opportunities that are guiding the sector toward a $200 billion [increase in value] by 2030,” said FIAL Managing Director Mirjana Prica.
The current funding builds on FIAL’s Cluster Program that provided $900,000 of matched funding to equip four clusters — FermenTasmania, Food and Fibre Gippsland, Central Coast Industry Connect, and Food and Agribusiness Network — with the resources and support to sustainably grow.
“Funding received through FIAL’s Cluster Program in 2017 has supported the agri-food businesses in regions to commercialise new products and export to new markets. I encourage as many new, emerging or existing clusters to apply for a share of the $600,000 now available,” Prica said.
“FIAL’s 2021 Cluster Grant Program is an investment in our nation. Supporting agri-food businesses to collaborate will supercharge their abilities to scale up, compete internationally and create jobs for Australians,” said FIAL Chair Michele Allan.
For more information on FIAL’s Cluster Grant Program 2021: https://www.fial.com.au/cluster-grants-program.
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