Wine Australia has revealed details of the projects and initiatives being funded through the Australian Wine Future Fund seven months after it was announced in July.
According to CEO Dr Martin Cole, the fund, which has a target of $50 million over five years across two streams, leverages recent increases to the amount of Commonwealth Government matching available to Wine Australia for research and innovation:
“The grape and wine levy system for research and innovation is tied to the size of our sector’s production. It rises and falls with the size of the crush each year. The changes to the available Commonwealth Government matching enables Wine Australia to actively seek non-levy funding opportunities,” he states.
This is best explained by the following Wine Australia graph, which can also be viewed on the dedicated Australian Wine Future Fund info-page:
Projects underway through Research & Innovation Fund:
The larger of the two streams, which is targeting $35 million through external grants and partner co-investment, already has 12 projects underway which have received $4.77 million in funding.
Among these is a research project to future-proof Sustainable Winegrowing Australia, working with Australian Grape & Wine and the Australian Wine Research Institute to co-invest the membership fees of its members towards efficiency improvements.
Another project, supported through co-investment with Wines of Western Australia and the Western Australia Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, hopes to improve the environmental sustainability, profitability and competitiveness of the Western Australia wine sector. This has already led to the appointment of an industry engagement officer and several sustainability initiatives including a lightweight glass campaign.
The remaining 10 projects include:
Development and adoption of new tools for the surveillance and management of grapevine phylloxera with Agriculture VictoriaBest practice sampling and virus detection in Australian grapevine propagation assets with Agriculture VictoriaAccelerating and scaling adoption of drought resilience technologies with Farmers2Founders Electrification of Vineyard Practices with Agriculture VictoriaWine Victoria Technical and Innovation Lead with Agriculture VictoriaMolecularly Imprinted Polymers (MIPs) for smoke impact remediation of wine with amaea LimitedBest’s Wines and Agri Automation collaboration to demonstrate UVC solution for powdery mildew controlDevelopment, validation and scale-up of smoke taint prediction technology for the Australian wine industry and wine producers globally with La Trobe UniversityStrategic Research Agreement with the Australian Wine Research Institute, andStrategic Research Agreement with the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI).
“Already this financial year, $4.77 million of additional co-investment in research has been unlocked through the Research & Innovation Fund mechanism,” says Martin Cole. “This is enabling transformational research, commercialisation and capability‑building through extension and adoption that directly address the sector’s challenges and opportunities.”
$15m for Venture Investments:
As part of the Australian Wine Future Fund’s second stream, Wine Australia has partnered with Tenacious Ventures, Australia’s leading agri-food investment and insights platform, to identify and support companies building meaningful solutions for wine.
Over the next five years, the wine industry body will contribute $2.5 million of non-levy funds, alongside Tenacious Ventures’ existing funds and other investors, towards a combined target of $15 million.
Founding Partner Matthew Pryor says Tenacious Ventures is “delighted to strengthen our long-running collaboration with Wine Australia” through the Australian Wine Future Fund.
“Wine Australia understands that new models of identifying, supporting and scaling up sector benefits are needed, and we are looking forward to working closely with them to catalyse investment into solutions that will deliver sector benefit,” he adds.
Specifically, the Venture Investments Portfolio will back early-stage, high-quality, technology-driven companies with the potential to transform viticulture and wine production and strengthen the long-term resilience of the Australian grape and wine sector.
Investments in companies may include sensors, robotics, advanced production systems, software and data systems, artificial intelligence, biotechnology and biosecurity technologies and others – particularly where the innovations create a defensible market advantage and deliver measurable environmental and sector benefit.
For more information visit the the dedicated Australian Wine Future Fund info-page here.
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