A dedicated annual grants program has been announced that will provide up to $17 million to Australian SMEs to grow a deeper and broader Australian defence industrial base.
The Sovereign Industrial Capability Priority Grants program supports the ten Sovereign Industrial Capability Priorities critical to the ADF’s operational requirements, identified in the 2018 Defence Industrial Capability Plan.
The plan concluded Australia’s defence industrial base is mostly composed of SMEs. This grants program aims to ensure Australian SMEs have the capacity and resilience to support Defence capabilities.
The grants program will provide support to eligible SMEs with fewer than 200 employees. A business can receive an unlimited number of grants over the life of the program, with a minimum value of $50,000 and the maximum value of $1 million and up to a total of $3 million over a three-year period.
The grants will help SMEs meet up to 50 per cent of eligible project costs including capital equipment, specialist software and security infrastructure, non-recurring engineering costs, design activities or enhancing workforce training and accreditation.
The program will be delivered through the Centre for Defence Industry Capability. More details are available here.