Local partners claim millions in Govt's Entrepreneurs’ Program funding push

Some of the most innovate partners operating in Australia have been handed a slice of the Federal Government’s Entrepreneurs’ Program funding, which has come to more than $100 million to date.

The dollars that have been dished out to the partners come as part of a new $7.4 million injection of funds that the government has so far shared with 15 local businesses in a bid to help them get their new products and services into the marketplace.

Among the recipients of the latest round of funding are CT4, Bluedot Innovation, CloudDC and Prism Systems.

Cloud services provider, CT4, received almost $1 million for its CT4 Canopy - Total IT Management offering. While the Microsoft, VMware and Citrix partner has offices in several locations around the world, it also operates in Australia and has done work for a number of local clients, including Business Professionals and School ACT.

Independent software vendor, Bluedot Innovation, a Salesforce, Oracle and Cognizant partner, received $200,000 for the commercialisation of its Bluedot Point with mobile commerce platforms and marketing clouds.

Other local IT services providers that have received funding over the past couple of years include Amazon Web Services (AWS) partner, Cloud Data Centre (CloudDC), which was given $1 million in 2015 for its OfficeBox offering, an IT platform aimed at “transforming” software and data delivery storage.

Systems design and integration services provider, and Microsoft certified partner, Prism Systems, received $988,901 in February for its HeliSAFE management system for helicopter operations aboard naval vessels.

Brisbane-based Insightus, which provides advanced telecommunication cloud automation and engineering professional services to managed service providers, received more than $420,000 in 2015 for its Insightus Cloud Services offering.

Also in 2015, Microsoft Embedded Partner and Intel Software partner program member, Clarinox, received $1 million for its locale-developed wireless technology for Internet of Things (IoT) connection.

“The funding, provided under the Entrepreneurs’ Program, will help these innovative businesses undertake commercialisation activities,” Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Arthur Sinodinos, said.

More than 200 Australian businesses to date have claimed a share of over $105 million in the government’s Entrepreneurs’ Program funding, along with support from experienced advisers, to help them navigate the often challenging process of getting their products to market.

The commercialisation grants are matched dollar-for-dollar by the business and help address challenges across key industries, including medical technologies and pharmaceuticals, advanced manufacturing, food and agribusiness, and mining equipment, technology and services.