Second round of Innovation Fund grants open for applications

The Circular Economy Business Innovation Centre (CEBIC) is delivering the second round of the Recycling Victoria Innovation Fund on behalf of the Victorian Government.

There is $750,000 available in funding to support collaborative projects that design out waste to improve environmental and economic outcomes for Victoria.

Both streams are seeking applications for projects that take action within the make phase or the use phase of the resource lifecycle in a circular economy.

Types of solutions that may be considered include:

• those proposing products that use fewer materials and are designed to be more durable, repairable and recyclable
• projects that help extend the life of products or support the reuse and repair economy.

The streams are:

• Stream 1: Textiles Innovation – This stream will provide grants of between $75,000 and $150,000 for collaborative projects that explore, test and/or demonstrate innovative circular solutions that design out textile waste in the make phase or use phase.
• Stream 2: Collaborative Innovation – This stream will provide grants of between $150,000 and $250,000 for collaborative projects that explore, test and/or demonstrate innovative circular solutions that design out waste in the make phase or use phase from multiple organisations within a specified supply chain, sector or region.

To be a successful applicant, your project must be innovative, something that has never been done previously in Victoria.

For more details about the project types that are eligible for funding, see:

• Stream 1: Textiles Innovation guidelines
• Stream 2: Collaborative Innovation guidelines.

Previous funding

Round one closed in March 2021. Grant recipients included:

• RMIT University’s Victoria Circular Activator program – The project aims to provide a physical circular economy hub with partners Swinburne University of Technology and Circular Economy Victoria.
• STREAT – The Open Sauce innovation project aims to develop circular retail products from by-products of produce from a network of food social enterprises.

For the complete list of grant recipients, see Innovation Fund – Funded projects.

Victorian Government support

The funding is being delivered by us as part of the Victorian Government’s $515 million investment to transform the waste and recycling sector. This including $380 million towards Recycling Victoria: a new economy, helping to position Victoria as the national leader in recycling.