News and Updates

Tips on turning your ideas into valuable IP and money

by Tristan Boyd

They say the average human brain has 50,000 thoughts per day and for the inventive entrepreneurial types, a lot of those brain sparks are potentially the next big business idea. This coupled with the concept of multiple discovery (also known as simultaneous invention) which is the hypothesis that most scientific discoveries and inventions are made independently and more or less simultaneously by multiple scientists and inventors within a similar set time period, suggests maybe your ideas aren’t as new or unique after all.

Given the theory above and using it as a catalyst and motivator to protect your idea whilst also thinking about how you monetise your IP, we break down below how you can navigate this complex landscape.

The current global challenges placed before us highlight the need and opportunity for technological advancement, both to overcome the medical and healthcare challenges facing us, as well as address, as one prime example, the new reality of and need for remote and distributed work, social and lifestyle capabilities. If ever there was a time for technology and business innovation, it is now.

AusIndustry has advised that it has extended the deadline for lodging Applications for Registration of R&D activities for the 30 June 2019 income year (FY19) to 30 September 2020, without the need to request an extension. You will still be required to provide your R&D Tax Incentive registration receipt number when you lodge your R&D Schedule with the Australian Taxation Office.

The ‘Boosting Female Founders Initiative’ is a new competitive Federal Grants program to support more Australian women in work and supports Australia’s international obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). 

Politics counts… unfortunately

Another state election has passed and the Canberra mothership braces itself for the Federal version in May. I hate talking politics, I really do, but in the world of grants and incentives this counts. Why? Elections can change governments to a different flavour. Even if they remain, portfolios can change, Ministers reshuffled and policies inevitably change. That’s the part that affects things on the ground. Grants, funding, services, and infrastructure are all tools of policy delivery. Throw in an election promise or a budget (even a mini) and then you have the virtual bookends.

What's the truth behind grants? Why are they there? Can I really get one? These are the questions we hear all the time from small business owners when they start investigating grants. So let's debunk some common myths and get to the bottom of things.

Research and development has an image problem. For a lot of people, when a conversation turns to R&D, we tend to think of people in lab coats and safety glasses, pouring blue liquid in beakers into test tubes full of bubbling pink stuff. But when you think of R&D, you should be thinking about money. Here's why.

Launching a start-up company is like a game of snakes and ladders: sometimes you get the right combination of ingredients like a great team, a kickass idea, and the funds to climb those ladders. Sometimes it seems like the world is pitted against you and the snakes have loaded the dice!

Here are some quick updates on the Export Market Development Grant (EMDG) and results from Austrade's survey to businesses who have applied for the grant scheme in the last grant year.