With an emphasis on big-ticket items such as tax cuts and infrastructure in a bid to win the Australian election, the federal budget was sadly lacking in measures to support startups, with very little in the way of direct assistance for the local innovation industry.
While there were some positives – most notably in the increased support for women in science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) and an increase in funding for export market development grants (EMDGs) – it is difficult to see that this budget will have any lasting positive impact on the start-up community.
The future of the Research & Development Tax Incentive is also not certain. Past governments have seen R&D tax incentives as an easy way to boost their fiscal coffers and it is important to note that before the budget, the government had planned to tie the R&D tax credit to company tax rate. Given the announcement that the company tax rate for small and medium-sized enterprises with an annual turnover of less than $50m would be reduced to 25% by 2021-22, any resurrection of these plans to tie the incentive to the company tax rate would be bad news for Australian start-ups.
This uncertainty surrounding the incentive is unwelcome. It remains the most important non-dilutive funding from the federal government for start-ups. As an example, in Uniseed-backed companies, it has accounted for more than any other government scheme, with $44.8m of non-dilutive funding received. Unlike grants, the R&D tax incentive provides an important form of cashflow certainty – companies can rely on incentives and plan for them – unlike grants, which they can apply for but might not receive.
One can only hope that the outlined increase in expenditure on the incentive in a Treasury Budget paper – from the “estimated actual” for 2018-19 of $1,967m to a forecast $2,410m in 2022-23 – will not result in pressure on any future government to make reductions to these levels.
The $60m boost for EMDGs was a particularly positive standout given the scheme has remained frozen at $131m since 2013-14 despite a 70% increase in applications. EMDGs are an important source of funding for growing Australian companies as many on them rely on this to assist their exporting and business development overseas. According to the Export Consultants Association, companies such as Atlassian, Cochlear and Blackmores used EMDGs in their early days to generate brand awareness overseas, and the grant generates $40 in export income for every dollar spent.
Equally welcome was the additional $3.4m to support women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem). This follows the $4.5m committed in the 2018 budget and the appointment of a women-in-Stem ambassador to advocate gender equality. This latest round of funding is aimed at extending the Science in Australia Gender Equity initiative in higher education and research institutions and showcasing the benefits of Stem skills and careers to Australian children to encourage more participation in Stem.
Increased funding for commercialisation was another positive, with the announcement of $9bn for science, research and technology, including commercialisation, and a commitment to an extra $1.2bn to Australia’s Medical Research Investment Plan to support commercialisation projects, building on $1.5bn in existing investment. A total of $311.3m was earmarked for medical research commercialisation specifically.
But while commercialisation was noted as a priority, the devil will be in the detail – it will be interesting to see how these measures will actually support commercialisation and address the problem of commercialisation of fantastic research and science done right here in Australia instead of overseas.
Increased provisions for medical research are important as many of these discoveries are deemed too early for investment and too risky. Equally, there were some health-related measures that could have some positive flow on effects to the biotech industry – the $80bn for the Children’s Cancer Centre in Sydney, along with a “heart kids project” and funding for mental health and youth suicide.
In addition, the $354m to be spent on clinical trials for rare cancers, rare diseases and unmet needs, $23m for tackling anti-microbial resistance and drug resistant tuberculosis and $444.6m to researchers “to make breakthrough discoveries, develop their skills and progress their careers” are also welcome measures for emerging Australian life sciences companies.
However, overall this budget does not score well in terms of having any cohesive long-term support measures for the Australian start-up community. Measures announced were piecemeal at best, and once again, the future of the R&D tax incentive remains uncertain. At the very least, we can say that a lack of cuts to support fiscal measures – as other governments have pursued in the past – is welcome.
This is an edited version of an article first published on LinkedIn
