{"id":44906,"date":"2023-10-20T15:39:30","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:39:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/queensland-to-get-a-further-10-million-in-startup-funding-but-a-prominent-aussie-entrepreneur-says-the-scheme-is-fundamentally-flawed-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:39:30","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:39:30","slug":"queensland-to-get-a-further-10-million-in-startup-funding-but-a-prominent-aussie-entrepreneur-says-the-scheme-is-fundamentally-flawed-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/queensland-to-get-a-further-10-million-in-startup-funding-but-a-prominent-aussie-entrepreneur-says-the-scheme-is-fundamentally-flawed-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Queensland to get a further $10 million in startup funding but a prominent Aussie entrepreneur says the scheme is “fundamentally flawed” – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Queensland government has announced a further $10 million in funding for early-stage startups, but the scheme is \u201cfundamentally flawed\u201d according to a prominent Australian entrepreneur.<\/p>\n

Announced by minister for innovation, science and digital economy Leeanne Enoch last week, the Advance Queensland Ignite Ideas fund will provide $10 million across three years to \u201cstartups with innovative ideas to accelerate the development of new products and services with high-growth potential\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany Queensland businesses have great ideas but need a financial boost or expert help to get business growth and creating jobs for Queenslanders,\u201d Enoch said.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The fund is] about helping businesses get products to market faster, boosting business growth and creating jobs for Queenslanders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Queensland startups can apply for funding of up to $250,000 and will be assessed by an expert panel.<\/p>\n

But prominent Australian entrepreneur and founder of TechnologyOne Adrian Di Marco says the funding is \u201ctoo little\u201d and the approach is \u201cflawed\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cSelection panel arrangements such as the one proposed by the Queensland government are fundamentally flawed,\u201d Di Marco says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe discretion of the allocation of funds should not lie with a government appointed panel of experts \u2013 this model has failed in the past. It represents a \u2018finger in the air\u2019 approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says the funding should be allocated via a co-investment strategy, a scheme the Queensland government has already adopted with its $40 million Advance Queensland fund.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government should follow the smart money,\u201d Di Marco says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt should not try to pick winners even if it uses external panels of \u2018so called\u2019 experts. The real test should be if there are investors prepared to back an idea. If there is then the government should then co-invest.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Blue Sky Funds investment director Elaine Stead, who is a member of the Advance Queensland expert panel, says the Ignite Ideas program is only one facet of the government\u2019s overall approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one program in a spectrum of approaches that the Advance Queensland initiative has established to support innovative businesses in Queensland, which together forms comprehensive support for businesses as they traverse the process of development and commercialisation,\u201d Stead tells StartupSmart.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe panel just advises the government on the various schemes and the implementation and execution, and on the issues facing the sector more broadly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a fantastic program to ignite the process for early-stage business.\u201d<\/p>\n

She points out that the state already has a $40 million fund employing the co-investment process.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do have a co-investment scheme within the Advance Queensland initiative \u2013 it\u2019s called the business development fund and it matches early commercialisation projects where there are external investors one-for-one up to $2.5 million,\u201d Stead says.<\/p>\n

Another member of the expert panel, SafetyCulture founder Luke Anear, says this type of early-stage government support can be crucial for startups.<\/p>\n

\u201cI speak from experience when I say innovation funding and support from government can help businesses bridge the gulf between having an early prototype and achieving sales growth and profitability,\u201d Anear says.<\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em> Facebook,<\/em> Twitter,<\/em> LinkedIn<\/em> and<\/em> Soundcloud.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Queensland government has announced a further $10 million in funding for early-stage startups, but the scheme is \u201cfundamentally flawed\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,3,4,23,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44906"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}