Food and Beverage Accelerator (FaBA) and GRDC Investment Round – funding opportunity

Opportunity for

• Australian companies or foreign corporations that have assets in Australia that process Australian grains and/or legumes in Australia to apply for product development funding.

Opportunity description

Industry challenge

FaBA is Australia’s Food and Beverage Accelerator. The Australian Government’s Trailblazer Universities Program, delivered by the Department of Education, builds new research capabilities, drives commercialisation outcomes and invests in training.

The FaBA & GRDC Investment Round is an opportunity to build Australia’s food and beverage manufacturing sector using the following grains and legumes:

• Wheat
• Coarse grains – barley, cereal, maize, millets/panicums, oats, sorghum and triticale
• Pulses – chickpeas, cowpeas, faba beans, field peas, lentils, lupins, mung beans, navy beans, pigeon peas and soybeans
• Oilseeds – canola, linseed, safflower and sunflower.

Current opportunity

The Food and Beverage Accelerator (FaBA) and the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) have an agreement to support innovation projects that add value to the Australian grains and legumes industry. This agreement is for:

• The development of new and innovative food and beverage products and new ingredients using Australian grains and/or legumes.
• Incorporation of new technology or approaches for improving quality and/or reducing waste.

Consortia applications are also possible.

In deciding whether to apply, businesses should consider:

• Work will be completed at one or more of the three participating universities (The University of Queensland, QUT or the University of Southern Queensland) and would be funded 50/50 between the business and FaBA.
• Projects require an investment between $50,000 - $2 million from the business (i.e. project value would be between $100,000 - $4 million).
• The scheme is competitive and will require a formal Project Investment Application to the FaBA Project Investment Committee if the EOI progresses.
• All Intellectual Property (IP) that is generated by a project is owned by the business. FaBA is completely non-dilutive.