Last year, the South Australian Government released South Australia’s Advanced Manufacturing Strategy, which outlined our ambitions to restore the state’s status as a manufacturing powerhouse, grow the local manufacturing sector, and bolster our industrial competitiveness and economic complexity.
South Australia’s Advanced Manufacturing Action Plan outlines the suite of support available to manufacturers to increase their competitiveness, resilience and sustainability – the key enablers of growth outlined in the Strategy – along with case studies that demonstrate their early impact.
Recognising the transformative potential of advanced technologies on productivity and competitiveness, the Department of State Development has opened applications for a new grant program to help manufacturers adopt these technologies.
The $1 million Manufacturing Technology Adoption Program will award grants of up to $50,000 in matched funding to support small and medium sized enterprises with the upfront costs associated with developing new or enhanced products, supporting entry into new markets, and increasing their productivity and competitiveness.
Technologies targeted through the program include, but are not limited to:
- artificial intelligence
- augmented and virtual reality
- additive manufacturing
- advanced composite materials
- robotics and automation
- machine learning and data analytics
- Industrial Internet of Things
- blockchain
- optics and photonics
- quantum technologies.
Applications are open now and close on Friday 28 February 2025.
Learn more and apply
In addition to this new program, local manufacturers will benefit from a new injection of skilled workers resulting from around 20,000 new training places for students undertaking manufacturing-aligned courses.
Funded through the Australian and South Australian governments’ $2.3 billion National Skills Agreement, these additional training places will give the local manufacturing workforce a boost of much-needed skills that will help manufacturers to grow and succeed in a changing economic environment.
