The next round of the revamped Export Market Development Grant (EMDG) opens on Wednesday, 6 July 2022.

The grant program, which attracted over 5,300 applications in the last round (2,600 of which were first-time applicants), aims to foster economic benefits for Australia by supporting the development and expansion of foreign markets for Australian products and services, specifically by providing funding for promotional activities and development of marketing skills to SMEs.

What funding is available?

There is a Tier 1, which is targeted at eligible exporters who are ready to export in the grant year, have not previously exported, have appropriate skills in marketing eligible products in a foreign country. There’s a maximum funding cap of $40,000 per financial year for up to two years and the grant will be up to $15,000 per financial year.

There is also a Tier 2, which is targeted at eligible exporters who are exporting eligible products or are seeking export promotion activity for eligible products. There’s a maximum funding cap of $80,000 per financial year for up to three years and the grant will be up to $23,000 per financial year.

Then there is a Tier 3, which is targeted at eligible exporters who are exporting eligible products and are seeking to expand their export promotion activity, and are ready to make a strategic shift in the marketing of eligible products in a foreign country. There’s a maximum funding cap of $150,000 per financial year for up to three years and the grant will be up to $35,000 per financial year.

 

What are the eligibility criteria?

Applicants must:

Be an Australian entity (sole trader, trust, partnership, incorporated entity) and hold an ABN

Have a turnover of less than $20 million for the financial year prior to the financial year for which the application will be made;

Be exporting or ready to export eligible goods, services, events, IP or know-how, and/or software that is of substantially Australian origin;

Be intending to incur eligible expenditure on promotional activities undertaken for the purpose of marketing eligible products overseas (excluding New Zealand), including:

Producing and providing promotional and advertising material;

Maintaining a representative in a foreign country;

Short trips to a foreign country or within Australia;

Foreign buyer visits or soliciting for business in a foreign country;

Providing free samples;

Engaging a consultant to do research or promotional activities.

 

Important points to note:

Exporters who have accepted a grant agreement for an EMDG application submitted in the 2021 round of the EMDG program cannot apply again until their current grant agreement (spanning either two or three financial years) has lapsed.

The EMDG program is an eligibility-based, demand-driven program, which means that all eligible applicants will receive a grant from the available funding pool ($157.9 million per year). However, as the grant amount an applicant receives depends on the number of eligible applications in the grant round, and the available program budget to be shared amongst all eligible applicants, applicants may not necessarily receive the specific grant amount they have requested.

Applicants have an obligation to match the dollar value of the grant funding awarded for each financial year (i.e. meaning applicants must spent double the grant amount on eligible export marketing activities).

The EMDG program has an eight-year cap and total grant amount cap of $770,000 – this means applicants can either claim up to eight years (non-consecutive) of EMDG grants, or a total of $770,000 (whichever comes first), until they are no longer eligible to apply.

The EMDG program closes for applications at 4pm on Wednesday, 17 August 2022.  Contact William Buck for advice on EMDG applications.

 

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