A system to improve safety at remote railway level crossings is one of seven Australian projects sharing in $3.5 million of funding to accelerate commercialisation and create new business, export and jobs opportunities.

Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews announced the grants to help businesses from New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia take their products to market.

“The grants will help businesses accelerate the development of high quality projects, which had strong local and export market potential, and are an example of ideas that keep Australian businesses competitive and promote economic growth,” Minister Andrews said.

“These grants are part of the Australian Government’s Entrepreneurs’ Programme and make an important contribution to supporting business innovation,” Minister Andrews said.

“To date, 335 grants worth more than $166 million have been provided to Australian businesses to commercialise their ground breaking technologies.”

The latest funding offers will assist:

• Three New South Wales businesses:
  • Aldridge ITS to finalise development and testing of its low-cost system to improve safety at remote rural railway crossings, combining solar power and wireless technology;
  • Lucky Health for commercial trials of an app to help chronic disease patients stick to their medication schedule; and
  • Checkedin Care to conduct commercial trials of its product Care Cohort, an app developed to enable elderly and disabled Home Care clients to stay in their homes longer. 
• Two Queensland businesses:
  • Concept Safety Systems to commercialise a Spatial Plan Service platform to deal with fire and other emergencies in commercial buildings; and
  • Technobake to commercialise a pocket-bread baking machine that can be operated by a single person in the high-volume food retail sector.
• Two South Australian businesses:
  • Real Time Data to capitalise on market opportunities in North America for Deckhand, its advanced commercial fishing e-reporting and analytics software; and
  • Fivecast to develop and commercialise a new product, Fivecast AI to address a large, international market for very high-volume automated risk analysis.

The grants consist of matched funding of up to $1 million to cover eligible commercialisation costs and help companies take their products to market.

More information on the recipients is available at www.business.gov.au/ac-funding-offers. Accelerating Commercialisation grant applications can be lodged at www.business.gov.au/ep.

For more information on the Entrepreneurs’ Programme visit www.business.gov.au/assistance/entrepreneurs-programme.

Media contact: Minister Andrews' office 02 6277 7070