New $4.5m fund for digital media content

Industry & Investment NSW launched a three-year $4.5m fund for innovative digital media – online, wireless, mobile and other emerging platforms – content projects.

The fund is part of the State Government’s $36m Digital Economy Strategy, and will provide grants of up to $50,000 for early stage development and up to $250,000 for advanced projects. It will also contemplate ‘special cases’ in which projects with “exceptional commercial potential and market interest” will be able to receive more than $250,000.

It will also support businesses to attend international conferences, and an enterprise strand will provide up to $100,000 to businesses with a slate of digital media projects looking to accelerate their growth to the next stage.

Some projects supported by the fund will link with sector such as health and education. Standalone projects are “welcome”, but I&I NSW is encouraging applications from multi-disciplinary/cross-media teams, including filmmakers.

The fund will be administered by I&I NSW with grants made available to NSW registered businesses on a competitive basis.  Guidelines are available at http://www.business.nsw.gov.au/industry/ict/Digital+Media.htm