There is up to $20,000 available to 16 winners in the 2008 Australian Agricultural Industries Young (18-35 years) Innovators and Scientists Awards. The prizemoney is to be used on an emerging scientific issue or innovative activity over a 12-month period. One winner will be recommended to receive the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Award, valued at an additional $30,000, to advance their research outcomes and career. Applications close on Monday 14 July 2008.

Aspiring and current exporters can learn about Austrade's Export Market Development Grant program at a series of free coaching sessions across Australia starting from late June, through to November. Click here for the session details. EMDGs are claims for expenditure on specific export promotional activities. Applications for the 2007-08 grant year open on 1 July 2008.

The National Innovation System Review's stakeholder consultations produced submissions which can now be viewed. The Review will report through a green paper – the Cutler report – at the end of July.  The Australian Government will then develop its response to the report in a White Paper expected to be released later in 2008.

Each year, the Warren Centre Innovation Lecture Series explores the issues around engineering innovation and the success of Australian technology-based companies with global aspirations, as well as the commercial success of new technologies generally. This year's series has been captured in a 16-page PDF handbook.

Applications for the State and Territory awards of the 2008 Australian Export Awards are now open, except for the Northern Territory awards, which open on Wednesday 9 July.

The 2008 Cool Company Awards celebrate those who are doing things differently or defying convention to bring about positive change. The categories for the recognition-based awards are Commercial Creativity, Global Growth, Innovation, Social Capitalist, Micro-Business, Online Business, Big Kahuna and X-Factor, with the Coolest Company Award coming from one of the eight category winners.

Small to medium-sized importers and exporters can investigate the spectrum of services and support available for their international business development at the Import Export Show in Sydney on Thursday-Friday 18-19 September 2008.

Projects to protect Australia's unique natural environment and create a sustainable future for our country may be eligible for 2008-09 grants from $80,000 to $400,000 under the Caring for our Country Open Grants program. Applications close on Friday 1 August 2008.

The Federal Budget also announced Clean Business Australia with $240 million over four years for its three elements:

1. Climate Ready Program provides grants from $50,000 up to $5 million on a matching funding basis to support research and development, proof-of-concept and commercialisation activities to develop solutions to climate change challenges.
   
   
2. Re-Tooling for Climate Change will provide grants from $10,000 to $500,000 for manufacturers to improve their production processes, reduce their energy use and cut carbon emissions.
   
   
3. Green Building Fund will help businesses implement cost-saving energy efficiency measures through retrofitting and retro-commissioning of existing commercial buildings.

The Federal Budget included $42 million over four years to fund 36 Business Enterprise Centres in suburban, rural and regional Australia. These will be one-stop small business advisory centres for business issues relating to tax, accounting, marketing, etc.

Round three of the Textile, Clothing and Footwear (TCF) Small Business Program offered 71 grants worth a total of $2.5 million. The TCF SBP provides project funding up to $50,000 to transform the business enterprise culture of TCF small businesses.

Queensland company Bond Innovation 1 Pty Ltd received a $64,000 Commercialising Emerging Technologies (COMET) grant to market its computer-aided diagnosis system that can identify early-stage breast cancer in women. The innovative software can display mammogram readings with an 85 per cent accuracy rate, compared with current indicative readings of 50 per cent. It was one of 17 projects funded in the latest COMET funding worth $1.088 million.