Six commercialisation grants, new plant protein facility opened

Industry minister Ed Husic has announced co-investment into a further six projects under the final tranche of the Commercialisation Fund.

The six from Queensland, Victoria and South Australia will share $2,120,496 in federal funding to bring their innovations to market and generate commercial outcomes.

When paired with industry contributions and in-kind funding the final tranche of the Commercialisation Fund will inject $9.18 million into the manufacturing industry.

The biggest grant went to The Hygiene Co. Pty Ltd which received $644,728 to develop an automated wet wipe conversion and packaging plant to to produce plastic-free compostable wet wipes at a lower price than imports.

The plant, at Woodville North in Adelaide, will be the first of its kind in Australasia with a capacity to provide plastic free wet wipes in soft packs, canisters and bulk rolls.

Husic made the announcement during the opening ceremony for a state-of-the-art facility to produce plant-based proteins in Western Sydney.

The Harvest B facility at Penrith is Australia’s first plant-based meat ingredient manufacturer, and will process locally sourced grains suitable for the manufacture of plant-based meat products.

Harvest B Co-founder and CCO Alfred Lo (pictured) said: “When investigating the plant-based protein market, it became apparent that there was not a single large-scale ingredient brand supplying high-quality, locally made plant proteins to Australian food manufacturers.

“Now food manufacturers have the option to source locally developed products leveraging local inputs rather than resorting to international suppliers.”

Harvest B estimates the new facility will also deliver about 30 new jobs in Western Sydney, as well as opportunities for the nation’s farmers and agribusinesses.

The company received $1 million in co-investment from the Government’s $30 million Commercialisation Fund, administered by the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC) in June 2021 to build the new facility.

The six companies awarded grants under the Commercialisation Fund are:

• Harvest B
• Laronix Pty Ltd (Southport, QLD) – received $408,768 to further product
  development activities for its breakthrough artificial voice box that generates a natural
  sounding voice for people suffering from voice-loss.
• Provectus Algae Pty Ltd (Noosaville, QLD) – received $525,000 to commercialise
  its high-value algae-based products and AI platform for the food and beverage
  industry.
• Process Plants International (Coolum Beach, QLD) – received $220,500 to
  commercialise its anti-block sparge (sprinkling system) for the pressure-oxidation
  (POX) autoclave industry
• Vypex (Richmond, VIC) – received $200,000 for the development of an Advanced
  5.1-based Bluetooth system to track, trace and alert warehousing staff on items
  within the work environment
• And OptoTech Pty Ltd (Southbank, VIC) has received $121,500 to develop a laser-based inspection system capable of non-contact measurements of medical implants
  such as parts for cochlear implants.

Picture: Alfred Lo