Circular Economy Business Support and Innovation Fund – Round 3 – Information Bulletin

Visual summary

This video shows a Powerpoint presentation conveying information about the Circular Economy Business Support Fund and Circular Economy Innovation Fund Round 3. This presentation is accompanied by a video of the person speaking.

The 2 key speakers are:

• Emily Adamson - Team Leader, Business Innovation Regions & Partnerships
• Laura Main - Project Lead, Business Grants Business Partnerships

[Opening visual of slide with text saying ‘Circular Economy Innovation Fund & Business Support Fund’, ‘Funding information session – Round 3’, ‘Circular Economy Business Innovation Centre, ’15 March 2023’, ‘Sustainability Victoria’]

[The visuals during this webinar are of each speaker presenting in turn via video, with reference to the content of a PowerPoint presentation being played on screen]

Emily Adamson:

Hi everyone and welcome to the information session for the Circular Economy Innovation Fund and the Business Support Fund. My name is Emily Adamson and I’m the Team Lead of the Circular Economy Business Innovation Centre and today I’ll be joined also by Laura Main who is our Grants Lead.

Before I begin I’d like to start with an acknowledgement of country. I acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the lands upon which we’re meeting today, the people of the Kulin nations, and pay my respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. I also pay my respects to the traditional custodians of the lands from which you are joining us online today. I acknowledge that we live and work on the lands of the world’s oldest and most sustainable culture, and I acknowledge the deep connection to the Earth of the First Nations peoples and their invaluable contribution to our understanding of climate change and the environment.

So we have a bit to cover today as we are doing an information session for two funds which is quite unusual for us to do. And just a bit of a warning. It’s not going to be the most riveting presentation either so I hope you can stay tuned and persist through some of the boring content.

Today I’ll give you a bit of a policy context, so where the program sits and where the funding is derived from. We’ll give you some general funding tips and tricks to keep in mind when you are submitting an application.

I’ll then give you an overview of both the funds and we’ll give you a high-level overview of the guidelines for the Innovation Fund and the Business Support Fund. But it is important that you do go through those guidelines yourself and read them in detail because they are quite extensive and if we were to cover them today in full detail we’d be here for a few hours. So please have a look at them in detail. Hopefully you’ve already had a look at them.

We’ll also go through some key dates. I’ll go over some frequently asked questions. I will have a Q&A session towards the end of this session but there are quite a few of you who are joining us today so we’re going to try our best to answer as many questions as possible. But if you have already had a look at the guidelines you’ll see that there is an inbox where you can send your questions to. That’s useful to use if your questions are a little bit more detailed.

And another thing to note is this session will be recorded and it will be published on the Guidelines page in the coming weeks. So, if you do miss something or need to come back to review a section you will be able to do so on our website.

Now the policy context. This grant is funded through the Victorian Government Circular Economy Policy which is called Recycling Victoria: A New Economy. Recycling Victoria has four goals and they’re focused around the four phases of resource flows through our economy. And those four goals are design to last, repair and recycle, use products to create more value, recycle more resources and reduce harm from waste. And there is a link there where you can read more about that policy.

The Circular Economy Business Innovation Centre is focused on the upstream solutions that prevent waste with design and keep products in use at the highest value. So, if you have a look at the policy, we sit towards the first two strategies. That is design to last, repair and recycle and use products to create more value.

If you are interested in finding out more about the program as well – because we do run several events and we also have a virtual hub with resources available for businesses – please visit cebic.vic.gov.au to learn more.

[Visual of slide with text saying ‘General funding information’]

Laura Main:

Thanks Em. I’m going to cover some general funding information about both funds.

The standard across most SV grant programs is that lead applicants require an ABN that’s been operating for a minimum of two years. Grants need to meet or exceed the minimum co-contribution requirements and the level of that co-contribution does differ between funds. So triple check that you’ve got the correct co-contribution fund that you’re applying to. Projects must be focused within Victoria and activities as part of your project largely must take place in Victoria and outcomes must be delivered in Victoria.

The grants are competitive. So read the guidelines and application form to check eligibility and alignment of the project before you apply. And applications are submitted through SmartyGrants which is our grant program platform. And I do recommend setting up your SmartyGrants account sooner rather than later so you can wrap your head around a new system and make sure you troubleshoot any issues early on.

Sustainability Victoria’s general Grant Funding Agreement will be used for successful applicants. So read the Ts and Cs carefully before you apply and if you have a legal team as part of your organisation get them to review it before you submit anything. When you sign the application form, you’ll be asked if you agree with the terms and conditions and if you do have any issues with terms and conditions you must raise them in your application. So, they’re generally non-negotiable and it’s misleading to ask us to assess your application on the basis you accept the terms and conditions and then negotiate them if you’ve been advised that you’re successful. You’ll also need to tick off on the Sustainability Victoria terms and conditions for the general grants program and that’s all in the guidelines.

This is a competitive grants program. All applications submitted will be checked for eligibility right off the bat and then the eligible application will be assessed by a panel using a merit-based system that’s to the right of the screen. So do pay attention to the weighting of how we assess those applications. And we don’t have any weighting on value for money or anything like that. But do check the guidelines and refer to 3.1. Also download the application form so you can see any specific questions you need to answer under any of the criteria.

So, some general grant writing tips. Avoid any jargon. Don’t assume the panel have expert knowledge specific to your application. And if you make any claims you need to substantiate them and reference them. Ensure the project’s purpose is clear in the project description. That’s in the application form and it’s essentially your elevator pitch for your application. Ensure that budget requests for SV contribution and co-contribution match the cost items. And that list of eligible cost items is listed in the guidelines, section 2.3. Refer to that as you’re developing your budget. Ensure that your milestone table sets out a clear timeline for your project. And avoid leaving it to the last minute particularly setting up SmartyGrants just in case you need to get in contact with us to troubleshoot any issues as I said before.

So, we will open the Q&A at the end of the session once we’ve gone over the grant in more detail. So maybe jot down any questions that you have as we go along. A couple of things to note. Please signal if you’re asking about the Business Support Fund or the Innovation Fund as there are some differences between the two. We’ll try to answer as many questions as we can. Emily and I will verbally respond to them otherwise we’ll respond in the Chat. All the answers will be published in a bulletin once this session is complete. And if you have specific questions regarding your project, I recommend just emailing grants.enquiries@sustainability.vic.gov.au just so we have more capacity to respond in detail. And you know the best detail in regard to your project, so we won’t have the right answers today.

[Visual of slide with text saying ‘CEBIC funding overview’]

Emily Adamson:

Great. Thanks Laura. I’m now going to give you an overview of both the funds. The Circular Economy Business Innovation Centre has two funds available with over $4.8 million in funding and that’s our Innovation Fund and our Business Support Fund.

Both funds are available for industry. WS are the Circular Economy Business Innovation Centre. We are focused on industry and market solutions. And we’re focused on projects that improve environmental outcomes of products, services, industries, supply chains or systems and contribute to Victoria’s transition to a circular economy.

For both funds the projects must focus on market solutions that prevent, minimise or eliminate waste and pollution in the first place and/or keep products and materials in use at the highest value for longer. So again, we’re after solutions above recycling and waste management in the waste hierarchy. SV has several other programs that really touch on this area of recycling. You can see sustainability.vic.gov.au. We’ll touch on this point a fair bit throughout the presentation as well with more information on some other funds that we do have available there.

If you are more of a visual person this is a way to visualise the funds. You may have come across this diagram before. Of course, this is relating to more of the technical circular economy. It is called the value hill. The left-hand side is the pre-use stage of a product for example, and this is where it’s estimated around 80% of the environmental impact is determined. So really looking for solutions that use design to prevent, minimise and eliminate waste and pollution at this stage.

Then we have our use and post-use phase towards the right-hand side. So in these phases of a resource lifecycle, we really want to capture and retain as much value as possible before it gets to recycling, which is the last place where we can retain some value. So, this is why we’re focused on keeping the products and material in use at the highest value for longer using some of these strategies that are listed there such as repair, reuse and refurbish. They’re just a few examples.

In the application form you will see a few questions under the heading of ‘How does your project contribute to the transition of Victoria to a circular economy?’ Make sure you’re really justifying how your solution is aligned to either this sort of value creation phase of preventing, minimising, eliminating waste and pollution or that more value retention side by keeping products in use at the highest value for longer.

What differs between the two funds?

If you have a look through the guidelines, you’ll see its eligibility, the criteria and the co-contribution requirements. And we will go through these a bit more in detail and point them out for you. But basically, the Circular Economy Innovation Fund is aimed at supporting projects that focus on the research and development of new innovative market solutions that apply circular design. When we talk about innovative it’s never have been done before in Victoria. Perhaps there’s a solution that’s been done overseas and you can test will it work in this market, or it could be something completely new that you’re testing the feasibility of.

These must be a collaborative partnership. They must have a minimum of two organisations involved in the project. Round three has over $765,000 so it is a smaller fund compared to Business Support Fund but this is a similar amount that we’ve had available in previous rounds. Grants of between $50,000 and $400,000 are available for this fund.

When we’re looking at the Business Support Fund this is focused on more of those proven circular solutions and we’re really aiming to increase the efficiency and uptake of them.

We’re looking to support projects that identify. So that might be identifying a waste opportunity and a solution within your organisation or supply chain. We also focused on implement which might mean implementing something in your business to gather a little bit more evidence or commercialising and scaling something proven that you have the evidence for and you’re ready to make it reach more customers.

The other thing that is eligible under this fund is projects that build capabilities within industry to prevent waste and pollution or keep products at the highest value for longer. We’re really trying to look at the circular skills gap there as well to enable more of these solutions to come to life.

This is for individual orgs and collaborative partnerships. Round three has over $4 million available so again it’s a bigger fund but it is very similar to the previous rounds that we’ve had. Grants of between $50,000 and $1 million are available under this fund. And you can have a look at sort of the difference in scale of projects that we’re looking for between the two funds – because that’s another key difference – and that’s reflected in sort of the grant money that’s available there.

We have been talking a lot about our Grant Guidelines and this is how you can find them which probably should have been at the very beginning. If you go to our website, you can look at the Grants, Funding and Investment page and you’ll see Grants and Funding, a button there which will take you through to the guidelines. And you can see in red we’ve got the Business Support Fund there and the Innovation Fund there. If you click through the details criteria will be listed for you.

The other thing I’ll point out here is we do have access to previous funded projects so you can read through what we’ve previously funded in other rounds. Just keep in mind though that the guidelines do change between the rounds so there might be some slightly different projects in there.

[Visual of slide with text saying ‘More about the Circular Economy Innovation Fund’]

So now I’ll dive a bit deeper into the Innovation Fund. Again it’s research and development of new and innovative market solutions, applying those higher order strategies that I’ve spoken about. And they must be collaborative, they must be innovative.

Projects must contribute to two or more of the following outcomes. So the outcomes we’re after are creation of new circular products and services, the avoidance of waste material to any waste or recycling destination. So again that prevention side. The increase of employment through direct creation of jobs, the increased capacity to extend the useable life of products and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

You can have a look at the application form for more detail on how these are measured and what information we’re after under each outcome. But again, you must select at least two and if you can select more that’s fantastic. Please do so.

What projects are eligible? I ’s research and development which is focused on those activities that could include research and feasibility studies, case studies and business case development, ideation and concept generation, design and development of products, services, processes and/or systems, prototyping and testing, experimental proof of concept, small scale pilots, trials and demonstrations. So again, they’re the small-scale pilots, trials and demonstrations. The larger scale ones are most likely for BSF. Please refer to the guidelines under section 2.3 for specific details here.

What projects are ineligible? So again, look at section 2.4 for these details because I haven’t included absolutely everything here. But we will not provide funding for projects – and a few that I’ll call out are council focused initiatives. We’re focused on business and industry initiatives. And Sustainability Victoria do have the Circular Economy Councils Fund which is currently open so if that’s more relevant for you please do check that out at sustainability.vic.gov.au. We’re not focused on community focused initiatives. They’re ineligible here because again we have another program that really dives deep into these ones and that’s our Circular Economy Communities Fund. We’re not focused on individual business initiatives because we are after more those collaborative ones that helps spur innovation forward.

A few other things. Research that is not primarily based in Victoria. Again, we’re a Victorian Government program with Victorian Government funding so we are really after sort of having benefits within Victoria.

Large scale commercialisation is ineligible, and this is because you’re most likely relevant to the Business Support Fund if that’s you.

And funding will not be provided for projects that focus on recycling, waste management, energy recovery phases or other end of life strategies. And this includes the R&D into recycled content products. And the reason here is because we have several funds that focus on this area. We have our Markets Acceleration Fund which is kind of focused on that recycled content products stage. We have other funds such as our Waste to Energy Fund, our Recycling Infrastructure Fund and our Recycling Modernisation Fund. We also have the option if you are focused on recycling that you can reach out to invest@sustainability.vic.gov.au to access our investment facilitation service to see what other pathways may be relevant for you there.

But again please refer to the guidelines and make sure you’re eligible before you apply.

Who is eligible? This can be found in section 2.1. A lead applicant can be a research institution, a business, a social enterprise, a charity and other not for profits, an industry group and association, a current CRC, a current rural research and development corporation. As Laura mentioned before lead applicants must have been operating for a minimum of two years by the application due date and this is a standard across Sustainability Victoria grant programs of this size.

Collaborative partners can be a research institution, a business, charity or other not for profit, an industry group or association, a Government or Local Government organisation and a community organisation or group. You can have more than one collaborative partner, but you must have one. There must be two of you in this project partnership. And the collaborative partner must have a direct clear role in the project. They must have a current ABN although there isn’t the two year requirement there, and they must have a demonstrated contribution. That’s in-kind or financial to the project delivery.

An important thing to note here is that related entities of the lead applicant will not count towards the minimum collaborative partner requirement. They can still be involved but they just won’t count to that minimum of two.

Who is not eligible? You can find more detail in section 2.2 of the guidelines but the following are not eligible to apply but they can be a collaborative partner if they’re listed under section 2.1. We have unincorporated associations, Government, and that includes entities owned by Government, community organisations and groups and sole traders.

So as discussed before we do have a co-contribution requirement for both the funds. You will note that this is something that does differ between the funds as well in terms of the percentage of cash that’s required. We are doing a dollar-for-dollar contribution, so that’s $1 from the project party and then that’s to $2 of SV funding. It is quite a little bit higher than what we’ve previously done before. The co-contribution can be financial. That’s cash or in-kind. Some examples of in-kind costs are staff time to manage the project implementation. They must be dedicated staff. And time spent on project activities by volunteers as well as donated goods or services related to the project.

For the Innovation Fund at least 10% of the co-contribution must be in cash. Other grants cannot be used for co-contribution and co-contribution must be for eligible costs, which I’ll take you through in a second, but it’s in section 2.3 of what will be funded. And when we talk about that it must be for eligible costs that’s including the cash and in-kind.

What costs are eligible? The costs need to be directly related to the project. There’s a big, long list on section 2.3 but a few I’ll call out are new and existing staff costs that are demonstrated to be directly related to the project. We’ve got procurement of materials and services supporting research and development, product testing and validation to ensure environmental and human health performance, consultants, we’ve got project management costs, capital costs, project evaluation, the development of educational material that shares learnings, so for example case studies or material there, which is an important one for the Innovation Fund because we really want to share the learnings as much as possible. And the purchase of specialised vehicles where the equipment is integral for the project to occur, you must be able to demonstrate that. Your project can’t proceed without that.

The below are ineligible costs and there’s a big, long list here so please make sure you’re not trying to claim any of these in the budget table either under SV funding or under your co-contribution.

A few I’ll point out. IP costs aren’t included, the repair of facilities damaged by vandalism, staff costs that aren’t directly related to the project, travel conferences and other internal staff education activities, and the purchase of non-specialised vehicles as well as any associated vehicle costs such as fuel, registration, servicing.

I’ll now hand back to Laura to take you through the Business Support Fund.

[Visual of slide with text saying ‘More about the Circular Economy Business Support Fund’]

Laura Main:

Thanks Em. I’m going to cover the Business Support Fund which funds projects focused on identifying, implementing, commercialising or scaling circular market solutions that prevent, minimise or eliminate waste and pollution or keep products and materials in use at the highest value for longer.

Eligible projects are also focused on building capabilities and capacity within their industry to apply that circular design to achieve the above outcomes.

The Business Support Fund project outcomes must have two or more of the following outcomes. Avoidance of waste materials to any waste or recycling destination, creation of new circular products and services, increase employment through direct creation of jobs, increase capacity to extend the useable life of a product, reduce greenhouse gas emissions or improving the capacity of industry for acting on sustainability. It’s worthwhile downloading the application form to understand how these outcomes are going to be measured and how you apply them to your project.

So check 2.3 in the guidelines to have a look at what projects are eligible as part of the BSF. But the project activities can include but are not limited to facilitating, networking and collaboration based on circular economy business opportunities, rolling out business led product stewardship initiatives, not recycling, and this has to happen in Victoria, developing, delivering or accessing circular economy assessment tools or services, the activation of waste avoidance solutions in published industry business focused action plans and roadmaps, baseline studies to understand issues and opportunities for circularity, developing and delivering capability building for businesses and purchasing, installing and commissioning infrastructure. You can also come up with your own which is awesome, and just add that to your application.

Emily Adamson:

I think I’ll just add you as well can have more than one activity in your project.

Laura Main:

Yes.

What projects are not eligible? Please refer to 2.4 in the guidelines for a rcomprehensive list but the funding will not be provided for projects that focus on litter, microplastics and illegal dumping, community initiatives or Government initiatives. There is a fund that focuses on that and you can have a look at it on our website. Aggregates and soils, energy emissions or water. And funding will not be provided for projects focused on end-of-life strategies such as recycling, waste management and energy recovery phases. But there are suitable programs on our website that you can look at that might meet these points above. Otherwise contact invest@sustainability.vic.gov.au specifically for recycling projects.

Who is eligible for our BSF? Once again, this is covered in greater detail in 2.1. But the lead applicant for this fund must be an individual business or an industry group or association, a charity, a current CRC corporation. And what is different to the Innovation Fund is you don’t have to have a collaborative partner. It’s optional. The collaborative partner must have a current ABN and a direct clear role in the project. But to go over again – we have said it a few times and we’ll keep saying it – but lead applicants must have been operating for two years under a current ABN by the date of the application being due.

Who is not eligible? But the people that I’m going to list here can apply as a collaborative partner. An unincorporated association, Federal, State or Local Government including water corps, schools, unis and TAFEs or sole traders.

The co-contribution fund requirements are a little bit different to the Innovation Fund. There’s a minimum of $1 for the project party to $2 of SV funding. That will be provided by the lead applicant and collaborative partners. Co-contributions can be either financial, cash or in-kind support. 80% of the co-contribution must be a cash contribution. And you can’t use money from other grants to cover your co-contribution cash cost. And when you are looking at your co-contributions, they must be for eligible costs so I’d check 2.3 in the guidelines which covers what can be funded in this point. I’d triple check it.

What costs are eligible? It’s a long list - very similar to the one that Emily just went through but the specific details are in 2.3. We only fund project costs directly related to the project. It can include installation and commissioning of infrastructure, the purchase of specialized vehicles that without you couldn’t run your project or get it to where you need to for success. That is something that can be covered in the project costs included in your budget.

Things like venue and equipment hire and legal costs such as the costs that you might need to obtain intellectual property.

What costs are not eligible? Check 2.4 in the guidelines. It’s a very long list. Very similar to the one that Emily ran through. But as you could purchase a vehicle that is required for you to successfully deliver your project there are no other associated vehicle costs like fuel or rego or servicing that you can claim as part of your budget. Existing staff costs such as salaries that are not directly related to the project, repair of facilities from any kind of issue that wouldn’t be covered by insurance, or the lease or purchase of land. But I would have a look at 2.4 for all of that info.

[Visual of slide with text saying ‘Key dates’, ‘(Q&A now open)’]

The Q&A is open. Our team will be answering as best they can. Emily and I will read some of them out loud in a little while. But just to make sure let us know what fund you’re referring to with your question. That’s integral. And if it is a detailed question, send it on to our email at grants.enquiries@sustainability.vic.gov.au.

Now, I’ll cover some key dates. I’m sure you are all aware that the applications opened Feb 28. The information session is today. Applications close on Wednesday the 12th, one minute before midnight. We will hopefully announce outcomes around July, but this is subject to change.

The important thing is you will probably start your project around September but the specific start date will be discussed when you’re establishing your Funding Agreement and milestones and fleshing them out with the team. Can be earlier depending on the project. But the really big one is that projects must be completed by the 15th of December 2024. And when you are building your application anticipate any delays particularly in the ordering of things. Given the climate there can be delays. And I would address this when you are writing the risk section of your application form. Bear that in mind.

Back to you Emily.

[Visual of slide with text saying ‘Frequently asked questions’]

Emily Adamson:

Great. Thanks Laura. So now while you’re busy away submitting some Q&As – and hopefully our team can get to answer as many as possible but as discussed if there’s any we don’t get to that aren’t covered in the guidelines we’ll publish them and hopefully we can get you support. Otherwise you can email grants.enquiries@sustainability.vic.gov.au.

So a few questions we get asked very often. So can I meet with someone to discuss my project idea or application? Again as this is a competitive process we can’t do this unfortunately as it would be deemed unfair. So we can support if you’re really stuck on questions around eligibility but again you’re the best person to really judge if your project is eligible against the criteria.

So my project will focus on… Is it eligible or which funding program is best appropriate? Again we really need you to read the guidelines in depth. You know your project in detail so we think you’re the best person who can really assess whether you are eligible or not.

Make sure you go through that in detail. Go through the application form as well. And again if you still have questions you can go to the Grants Enquiries email address and can see what we can offer for support there.

Why are recycling focused projects not eligible? The latest rounds of CEBIC funding is focused on waste avoidance and prevention and the make and use phase or design and use phase. We also as mentioned above run several other programs that address recycling, other end of life strategies. And I mentioned a few before like the Recycling Modernisation Fund, our Market Acceleration Fund, our Waste to Energy Fund. We also have our Investment Facilitation Support Service available and I’ve put the email address there if that’s more suited for you.

What if my project is focused on upcycling? Is it eligible? So upcycling is a bit of a confusing and often misinterpreted term. It’s really important to ask is your solution creating more value or keeping something at value for as long as possible or is it actually devaluing something. It’s important to note that the funds do not fund products made from recycled content and an example I’ll give you is the jumper made of recycled water bottles. It’s hard to justify this as upcycling as these bottles now cannot go back into the food systems so they are devalued. There is also limited scope for that jumper to be recycled and it’s likely to end up in landfill which is again devaluing.

However an example of keeping a product at its highest value that could be considered as upcycling is surplus food that would have otherwise gone to animal feed or compost but is now being kept at the level of human consumption. If you’re unsure on this one, because we do understand it is a bit of a – there are some blurred lines there, you can reach out to our Grants Enquiries line again.

Can I be a project partner in more than one application or funding application? Yes you can. You can definitely be a project partner in more than one funding application.

Can I apply for multiple funding programs? So you can only receive funding for a project from one grant. The guidelines do differ between the Business Support Fund and Innovation Fund. As we’ve discussed this includes the activities, the costs, the eligibility criteria and partnership as well as the scale of the project. So you should really review the guidelines carefully and only pick the fund that is most in line to your project.

As discussed it’s a competitive process that really takes into account the alignment of the fund criteria so we don’t really want you wasting your time applying for both funds if it’s more suited towards one or the other.

Can I submit multiple applications for different projects? Yes you can. You can definitely do this but please do not submit one application for multiple projects because that would confuse everyone.

All right. So we might have a check in on how Q&A is going.

Laura are there any worth calling out?

Laura Main:

Yep. I’ve got a couple.

Q: For the Business Support Fund, in the post-use section of the hill chart can you clarify the definition of remanufacture in this context, particularly the line between a remanufacture and recycling project?

Emily Adamson:

Yep. Definitely. And I think there should be a glossary term as well in the guidelines that can help clarify this further. So basically remanufacturing is using parts again before it’s sort of gone through that process of mechanical breakdown which recycling is. So it’s sort of that step before that. It might be for example remanufacturing – I don’t know why I’m trying to provide examples – remanufacturing a piece of equipment and use parts already to make that again. So that’s probably the best go I can have live but I’m pretty sure there is a glossary definition. If there isn’t we’ll put it up for you.

Laura Main:

Q: For the Business Support Fund would operating an ABN under an unrelated business be acceptable even if the new business venture is relevant to the funding?

Emily Adamson:

No. It does have to be you are the lead applicant and your business must be the lead applicant and you do have to have that ABN requirement. So it does have to be related and everyone in a project partner does have to be demonstrating they are relevant and have a direct and clear role in the project. So that would not count unfortunately.

Next question?

Laura Main:

Q: You mentioned value for money is not weighted. Is this used as a comparative measurement between applications if they have received basically the same weighted score on other areas?

Emily Adamson:

Yeah. So it is taken into account overall within sort of the panel. So we are obviously wanting projects that are value for money. The other things that are taken into account are some diversity criteria as well to make sure we’re getting a good mix of projects. So there are a number of things which I think we do detail in the guidelines a bit more about that. So you can see diversity criteria there. But yeah sorry. That was probably a bit of a jumbled answer but happy to clarify more if that’s needed.

Laura Main:

Another one is:

Q: If the collaborator is based in another state, the lead applicant is based in Victoria and the research is conducted in Victoria is this okay?

Emily Adamson:

Yep. That’s perfectly fine. So that’s fine and we’ve had similar cases of that before. Again we’re just really after that most of the activity and most of the benefit is for Victoria.

Laura Main:

Q: Can you apply for a BSF if the project is already in progress and we are looking for funding to expand?

Emily Adamson:

So we don’t fund projects that have already commenced. So it does need to be sort of a new project or a next stage of a project. But we can’t do that because you also can’t claim for activities that are already being done so it does have to be a project that hasn’t been started.

Laura Main:

Q: Can you submit an application if you are currently delivering a successful grant from round two?

Emily Adamson:

Yes you can. As long as it’s for a different sort of project or different activity.

Laura Main:

Q: This is a yes and from another question I’ve just asked but for the Innovation Fund can the lead applicant be headquartered outside of Victoria, have operations in Victoria but the project and its beneficiaries be in Victoria?

Emily Adamson:

Yep. So that’s another case where again the location of the lead applicant isn’t as important but the benefits and the project activity is what we’re focused on for Victoria.

Laura Main:

Q: For the Innovation Fund large scale commercialisation activities are ineligible. Could you define or give examples of what activities you would consider to be under the umbrella of large scale commercialisation? Thank you kindly.

Emily Adamson:

Yeah. And that’s a great one. I guess it would be like rolling out a really large scale trial. Because if you think about the Innovation Fund we’re really testing feasibility and we’re experimenting. we’re looking for more of those smaller stage ones before you would go to the stage of a bigger one that might lead to commercialisation. It’s really testing to come up with examples on the spot but I’m happy to provide a bit more information on that in the information bulletin too to help give some more clarity. But again just think about Innovation Fund, it’s really sort of that start, the feasibility, the experimentation. Sothings that are on the smaller scale. When we’re talking about bigger scale pilots and trials it’s usually when maybe you’ve identified an opportunity within your business of a proven solution and then you’re looking at rolling out maybe a bit of a trial there to scale it up. So that’s just a little bit of a difference.

Laura Main:

This one is for the Innovation Fund.

Q: Is the fund focused on technological innovation or could the projects be a combination of technology and social innovation?

Emily Adamson:

Yeah. Absolutely. They can be technological, they can be social as well. Or it could be a business model innovation for example. We’re quite open to what the innovation is, as long as you can justify that it is innovative for Victoria. And make sure you have a look through the application form to make sure you can sort of answer the questions as well as make sure you’re meeting the outcomes that we’ve specified for the Innovation Fund.

Laura Main:

Q: You advised in business support no soils and ag. Will fertilisers be covered?

Emily Adamson:

Yeah.

The reason we don’t really focus on those areas is because we do have a Markets Acceleration Fund around organics. But in terms of fertilisers, I might have to take that one offline and come back to make sure I give the most accurate answer for you. Because generally we’re kind of – I mean it really depends on what the project is I guess as well. So that might be one for our Grants and Enquiries line if you want to send that through and we can do a bit more of an assessment to help you there.

Laura Main:

This might be a tricky one Emily. Apologies in advance.

Q: We are a CRC and would be a lead applicant for a BSF grant. We will seek cofunding from an industry body and a research centre in South Australia. Can we also receive SV funding for the same activities?

Emily Adamson:

No. So as mentioned before you can only receive one grant or funding for a project. And it would be actually interesting if you can send that one through to Grants and Enquiries because they will be clarifying on what type of funding you’re receiving to make sure that we can give you the right answer there. But the collaboration sounds fine. But we just do need to clarify a bit more about that funding question.

Laura Main:

Q: How many applications can be submitted by one applicant in the Innovation Fund?

Emily Adamson:

So there is no limit but I would encourage you to make sure you’re kind of putting your best projects forward because as mentioned it is a competitive process. Make sure you’re putting it in for different projects, you’re not submitting sort of the same project over and over again.

Yeah. So you definitely can submit more than one.

Laura Main:

I think that’s nearly it.

Emily Adamson:

Perfect. This is a very speedy one. But again everyone if you do have any questions – and we will publish this and we will try and share the slides with you as well – you can, and the best place to direct them is to our Grants and Enquiries line. We can do our best to support you to clarify some things there.

But I’d just like to thank you all for joining us today. Sorry. I’m already out of breath from speaking so much. I’d like to thank you for coming today and for having an interest in these funds and our program. On behalf of the CEBIC team and everyone at Sustainability Victoria we wish you all the best of luck in your application and please do reach out if you need any further clarity from us.

Thank you.

[Closing visual of slide with text saying ‘Thank you and good luck!’, ‘Sustainability Victoria’, ‘Victoria State Government’]

[End of Transcript]