State says grants help 'create more local jobs'
As support for its home-grown innovators, the Western Australian (WA) government awarded over $643,000 to 34 local innovative startups and small businesses through the Innovation Booster Grant (IBG) program, the WA Government said in a media statement.
According to the government, the IBG was designed to help local innovators advance their activities and create jobs in WA.
“Supporting our local innovators and providing a helping hand is the key towards diversifying the State’s economy and creating more employment opportunities for our local workforce,” Innovation and ICT Minister Stephen Dawson said.
IBG recipients
The government said that beneficiaries of the IBG include a diverse mix of founders and innovators, including 15 female founders, four regional businesses, and one Indigenous founder.
A total of 34 local innovative startups composed of 30 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) were awarded up to $20,00 each to “access professional skills, services or commercial knowledge to improve capability and advance their innovative activities in Western Australia through the New Industries Fund,” the government said.
Meanwhile, the remaining four recipients will be sponsored through “health and medical life sciences funding, which aligns with the State Government’s Health and Medical Life Sciences Industry Strategy,” the WA government further said.
Jobs and Trade Minister Roger Cook said that the IBG program reflects the commitment of the WA Government to diversify the State’s economy to attract investments and produce more local jobs for Western Australians.
“The IBG will also help strengthen WA’s health and medical life sciences sector by supporting startups and SMEs through commercialisation, innovation and research,” Cook said.
“Not only will this help these companies compete on the international stage, the program will support outcomes that help to improve the health and wellbeing of all Western Australians,” he added.
IBG’s history
According to the WA Government, the IBG is a part of the government’s New Industries Fund to attract investments and encourage economic diversification in the State.
It also said that IBG was first launched in 2011 as the Innovation Vouchers Program and has since awarded 233 grants to home-grown innovators worth approximately $3.7mil.
Moreover, the government said that one of the previous recipients was Soter Analytics, which used the grant to develop an “innovative wearable technology for industry safety projects.”
“Since then, Soter Analytics has raised approximately 18.5 million with multiple patents underway, expanded its market to the UK, USA and Europe, and has increased its employee numbers from 3 to 45,” the government said.
