ManuFutures awarded $500,000 federal incubator grant

Deakin University-headquartered ManuFutures has received $500,000 from the federal government’s Incubator Support Initiative, which the incubator says will be used to accelerate manufacturers’ entry to global markets.

Deakin University Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research Professor Julie Owens and federal Corangamite MP Sarah Henderson made the announcement today. Owens said the funding would help ManuFutures Export Acceleration Program (MEAP) offering business skills training, highly skilled mentors, support through project teams of Deakin’s Work Integrated Learning students and interns, access to researchers, and subsidised access to trade missions.

“ManuFutures is supporting small up-and-coming advanced manufacturing enterprises fast track new products to the global market, grow their businesses and help shape the future economy and this new support from the Federal Government recognises and is a result of just what it has already achieved in only its first year of operations,” said Owens.

“Through MEAP, we will aim for our ManuFutures enterprises to achieve self-sufficiency within two years, taking a multi-faceted approach to building their business expertise and capacity. It will provide skills enhancement and mentorship and will establish subsidised outbound and inbound trade missions to target markets best matched to ManuFutures’ tenants’ client mix.”

ManuFutures officially opened in April this year, and currently has 11 tenants, including Partington Advanced Engineering, Conflux Technology, and FormFlow.

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