NEW EMDG SCHEME
The new Export Market Development Grants scheme will be different from the past, which will provide reimbursement to businesses after they spent money on marketing activities, based on the upfront grant agreement, offered by Austrade. Austrade gives greater upfront funding certainty to exporters with this new EMDG Scheme.
To be eligible, SMEs will need to be export-ready and have a turnover of less than $20 million.
Grants will be available in three stages called tiers, designed to provide different levels of support to SMEs as they grow their export markets at the different stages of their export journey:
- Tier 1: for eligible SMEs who are new to exporting.
- Tier 2: for eligible exporters who plan to expand their presence in current markets,
- Tier 3: for eligible exporters who plan to make a strategic shift in their exporting business.
How will EMDG work?
From 1 July 2021 the EMDG program will become an eligibility-based grants program, and the process for receiving a grant will be as follows:
- You apply for a grant before you spend money on promotional activities.
- Once all applications have been assessed, Austrade offers a grant agreement to each eligible applicant.
- You enter into a grant agreement with Austrade, then undertake your promotional activities as agreed in the grant agreement.
- You request milestone payments in accordance with your grant agreement.
- Your grant agreement will set out when your milestone payments should be made and what you need to do in order to receive these payments.
- You need to spend at least an equal amount of your own money on eligible expense.