An Australian-first fellowship program is set to launch to accelerate home-grown entrepreneurship – boosting the state’s startup economy and creating at least 50 new local jobs.
The program will establish up to 50 new startup companies by supporting early-stage researchers and PhD candidates to accelerate their ideas into market.
Backed by a $7.5 million investment the program is available for current undergraduates, postgraduates and recent graduates from all Victorian universities and medical research institutes and will contribute up to $150,000 per startup to fund research commercialisation, plus tailored mentoring and skills development.
The program will support the development of local innovations and manufacturing capabilities, while building a pipeline of Victorian products to invest in and create more jobs across the state. In addition, it will attract local, interstate and international entrepreneurial talent to Victorian universities.
Breakthrough Victoria invests in Victorian innovation, entrepreneurs and ideas to accelerate technologies into market to improve the lives of Victorians, and to support business growth and job creation.
Economic Growth Minister Tim Pallas said “This new program is going to help more brilliant Victorian researchers take their research to the next level and get products into market – boosting jobs and supporting business growth in the state while cementing Victoria as a world-class startup hub.”
More information: breakthroughvictoria.com/breakthrough-victoria-fellowship.
