Victoria is built for innovation. Its $26 billion manufacturing industry supports jobs for more than 283,000 people, making it one of the state’s largest full-time employers. Its home to the highest ranked university in Australia, And world-class expertise in R&D, design, engineering, supply chain management and logistics bring high-skill talent to Victoria every year.
The state government’s advanced manufacturing blueprint outlines its plan to make Victoria home to internationally competitive manufacturers, with a focus on design, engineering, data and services that promote economic growth.
Its vision is well-supported. Melbourne is home to more than 20 cutting-edge advanced manufacturing research centres, many in partnership with world-class universities. These include the Australian Synchrotron, which produces powerful beams of light used to examine molecular and atomic details of materials, and DMTC, which works with government to enhance defence and national security capabilities.
In the vibrant regional hub of Geelong, ManuFutures is a $20 million purpose-built, advanced manufacturing innovation hub within the heart of Deakin University’s Future Economy Precinct. With support from the Victorian government, the facility will create 172 jobs across industries like construction and manufacturing and double the current number of resident start-ups.
Melbourne’s advanced manufacturing research centres
- Advanced Centre for Automotive Research and Testing
- Australian Future Fibres Research and Innovation Centre
- Auto Innovation Centre
- Bio21 Institute
- Carbon Nexus
- Centre for Technology Infusion
- CSIRO Clayton Laboratories
- Cooperative Research Centre for Advanced Automotive Technology
- Cooperative Research Centre for Advanced Composite Structures
- Defence Materials Technology Centre
- Defence Science Institute
- Defence Science Technology Organisation
- Green Chemical Futures Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication
- Microsoft Research Centre for Social Natural User Interfaces
- Monash Centre for Additive Manufacturing
- Monash Centre for Electron Microscopy
- RMIT Centre for Additive Manufacturing
- RMIT Design Hub
- RMIT Green Engines Research Facility
- Sir Lawrence Wackett Aerospace Centre
- Swinburne Advanced Manufacturing and Design Centre
- The Australian Synchrotron
- Victorian Centre for Advanced Materials Manufacturing[/callout]
Professional collaboration
For new arrivals and established locals alike, Victoria offers ample opportunity to collaborate and innovate. As well as innovation precincts, professional associations help bright minds spark.
- The Geelong Technology Precinct has strengths in health and industrial biotechnology, carbon composites, nanotechnology, biomaterials and functional foods. Key facilities include the A$100 million Australian Future Fibres Research and Innovation Centre (AFFRIC), and the Carbon Nexus, an industrial-scale A$34 million plant that will have the capacity for large-scale R&D manufacturing research.
- The Scoresby Small Technologies Cluster is an entrepreneurial collection of facilities and businesses involved in the uptake of small-scale advanced technologies, with a specific focus on instrument design and fabrication. This Cluster assists in research, product realisation and process design. It provides the infrastructure to accelerate commercialisation, and links with key stakeholders across industry, government and academia to nurture cross-fertilisation of innovation.
- The Additive Manufacturing Hub provides an industry driven collaborative network of AM users, suppliers and supporters that will foster and grow the adoption of additive manufacturing technology.
- Australian Graphene Industry Association advocates for investment in a globally relevant centre for the commercialisation of graphene-enhanced or enabled products. It coordinates and develops contributions to standards and regulations, and facilitates knowledge sharing and relationships across local industry and the research community.
"People in Melbourne actually enable you to do things, rather than tell you how you can’t and why you can’t."
Graeme Robinson, Australian Managing Director, LINPAC
Incentives, grants and support
The Regional Manufacturing Clusters initiative supports manufacturers in regional Victoria to grow through strategic connections, as well as providing training and practical assistance focussed on innovation, upskilling, scaling up trade and supply chain opportunities.
Your business may also be eligible for support through a range of Victorian Government grants, funds and loans, including:
- up to $50 million in low-interest R&D Cash Flow Loans to support Victorian SMEs to develop products, services and technologies vital to the state’s future economy
- government and institutional coinvestment for high-growth start-ups through the A$25.75m Venture Growth Fund
- the new $2 billion Breakthrough Victoria Fund to ensure Victoria continues on its path to becoming a global innovation hub in key industry sectors including advanced manufacturing
- Business Victoria grants and programs.
The government’s investment attraction agency, Invest Victoria, works with international companies seeking to enter the Australian market by identifying opportunities, providing assistance with business cases, and facilitating introductions to partners, suppliers, recruiters and government agencies.
Support is available from the Victorian Government Trade and Investment offices, which offer tailored market intelligence, insights and guidance for investing in Victoria.
Victoria has one of the lowest business tax rates of any state in Australia. It also offers investors some of the world's most generous R&D support in a cost-competitive business environment. As a result, KPMG ranks Melbourne as having the most attractive R&D location costs in the Asia Pacific region.
Case studies
International packaging firm LINPAC identified Victoria as the ideal location for its state-of-the-art plant. With 25 locations around the globe, it will now invest $22 million into manufacturing in Truganina, west of Melbourne.
In collaboration with Monash University and Belgian experts, GlaxoSmithKline has established a Melbourne-based pilot vaccine facility to develop blow-fill-seal technology for vaccines. The ground-breaking work is supported by a $1 million grant through the Australian Government’s Manufacturing Transition Program.