Grants of up to AU$100,000 are available to groups of at least four "predominantly Victorian" organisations such as companies, research organisations and industry associations.
"We want to mirror the success we've had with Victoria's computer game industry, which had grown from a small cluster into a globally recognised hotspot," said Victorian Minister for Information and Communication Technology, Marsha Thomson.
The program allows for a maximum 50 percent government contribution to a specific project. Permissible activities include research and development, business planning, trade fairs and conferences, and developing marketing materials.
Australian Computer Society president Richard Hogg said "one of the biggest problems with SMEs in the IT industry is that they see marketing as a cost, not something that's essential to their business."
In the first round of the program, the Enterprise Java Victoria consortium received $80,000 towards the development of J2EE applications. "The Enterprise Java funding enabled more than a dozen members to attend last month's JavaOne conference in Japan and ensures Victoria's industry continues to be at the leading edge of Java programming," said Thomson.
Applications close on 6 December 2002. Up to $300,000 is available in this round: "It's not a lot, let's hope it gets put to good use," said Hogg.
More information about the program is available at www.mmv.vic.gov.au/nextwave.
