Recording
Vanya Kumar: Good afternoon everyone. OK, good afternoon everyone. I am trusting that we have got all tech working at this point.
Good afternoon everyone to the Energy Tech Market Ready Support grant information session.
I'm Vanya Kumar, the Executive Director of the Innovation, Commercial and Investment Attraction Division within the Energy Group at the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action.
Thank you everyone for joining today's online information session for what we call EMRS or Energy Tech Market Ready Support program, which was launched on Monday.
I might also start by acknowledging the traditional owners of the lands from which everyone is joining this call.
I'm joining you from the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the cooler nation, and I pay my respects to elders past and present, and any traditional owners who might be on the call today.
The EMRS, is the latest initiative designed to support Victoria's strong and growing cohort of energy tech startups as they scale and commercialise new technologies.
In fact, Victoria is home to 1 of Australia's leading startup ecosystems, with more than 4300 startups and an ecosystem value exceeding $134 billion.
That strong foundation has helped establish Victoria as a place where founders can develop and scale innovative businesses with global potential.
As Victoria's energy system transforms, innovation will be essential.
Alongside continued investment in energy infrastructure across the state, energy tech startups are developing practical technologies, products and services that can contribute to a cleaner, more reliable and more affordable energy system.
Through the Victorian Government's Digital Energy Economy Program, or DEEP, DEECA has supported energy tech startups to test, refine and commercialise new solutions over recent years.
Immerse is part of the DEEP program. It builds on previous successes and addresses a critical funding gap by focusing on in-market Victorian energy tech startups ready to take their next commercial step.
Moving from a proven product to a sustained market adoption is often one of the most challenging stages of the start up journey.
Immerse is designed to help eligible start ups undertake targeted projects that strengthen their pathways to customers, commercial partnerships and broader market adoption.
Today's session will provide general guidance on the program and the application process.
Applicants should continue to rely on the published application guidelines as the authoritative source when preparing their applications.
Thank you again for joining us and for the contribution you are making to Victoria's Energy future.
I will now hand over to Miss Marika Wanklin and the program team to take you through the program and application process. Marika.
[On-screen text]: EnergyTech Market Ready Support (EMRS) 2026 Grants Program Information Session.
Marika Wanklyn: Great, thanks very much, Vanya, and good afternoon to all of you. It's great to see you all online. Fantastic to have you here. It's a really exciting day for us.
[On-screen text]: Acknowledgement of Traditional Owners
So just to start off, I'd like to also begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the land on which I'm attending the session today, the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation, and pay my respects to elders past and present.
I also acknowledge any traditional owners and First peoples on the call as well as traditional owners of the lands you are all dialling in from as well.
[On-screen text]: Agenda
So the agenda for today is set out on this slide and it's a sort of jam packed session. But never fear, there is time, plenty of time for question and answers towards the end.
We will start off with the purpose of EMRS and the support that is available through this program.
Then we'll move through some key dates, program eligibility, project fit our assessment criteria, supporting documents that we're requiring as part of this process and then the application process itself.
[On-screen text]: Session purpose
So as we move through the slides, which is pop onto the session purpose slide. Thanks, Catherine.
There are really three key points for you to keep in mind.
First of all, EMRS is really for Victorian energy, energy tech startups that are already in market.
Second, the funded project must be a defined commercialization activity, not a general business as usual activity.
And third, strong applications will be clear, evidence based and realistic about what can be delivered within the grant.
So as we're going through the slides, please feel free to use the Q&A function to raise any questions that you might have about the program and the application process.
So we may not be able to answer all of your questions in today's session, but we'll certainly aim to provide a response in the general frequently asked questions document where appropriate.
So this document is already on our website, but if there's questions that are raised today that we can answer and we think it generally sort of applicable, we will certainly provide an updated version of this document on the website shortly after this session.
As I said, we can certainly answer general questions about the guidelines and the process.
What we unfortunately cannot do is provide you with any specific advice about your individual application and really the source of truth for everything regarding this program is the EMRS application guidelines.
[On-screen text]: About EMRS
So really keep that in mind when preparing your application. So first of all, a little bit about EMRS.
EMRS as I said is for Victorian energy tech startups that are already in market.
The program provides targeted equity free grants to help startups take clearly defined commercial step that might mean an activity to increase consumers revenue, market growth, commercial partnerships or follow on investment.
And just to reiterate, it's not for general business growth funding.
So the project that you're putting forward really needs to be specific time bound and separate from your routine business operations.
In short, this is a good sort of rule of thumb. You'd need to be able to explain what commercial step you're taking, how the grant will help you and what will be different by the end of the project.
So our program supports energy tech solutions that benefit Victorian energy consumers and/or contribute to Victoria's renewable energy transition.
That's sort of North Star for this program.
We're really looking for solutions that deliver cleaner, more reliable and affordable energy, support renewables, storage or flexibility, reduce emissions or improve how energy is generated, stored, distributed or managed.
And our broader intent here is also to support commercially viable products and services that can contribute to Victoria's energy transition, while also supporting job creation, investment and economic growth.
[On-screen text]: About EMRS - Grants
Next up is possibly the most exciting part, which is what support packages are actually available.
So we have a total funding pool for this program of $300,000 excluding GST, and within that we have 6 packages available.
Each package includes a $50,000 grant, again excluding GST.
Successful applicants must be able to complete all project activities within six months of project commencement.
And successful applicants will also have structured engagement with DEECA staff so my team and others during the grant.
Including monthly update meetings and support to help you navigate relevant energy policy, regulatory and market settings.
The aim here is really to provide practical support at a point where startups are trying to convert existing market traction into stronger commercial outcomes.
[On-screen text]: About EMRS – Key dates
So some more key dates for you. These are pretty critical. So it's, worth kind of jotting these down.
As you probably know, applications are in fact already open. They opened on the 13th of July.
And importantly to note, they close at 5:00 PM local time on the 14th of August this year.
This closing date can't be moved and there are no exceptions, so do please take careful note of that time and date.
Our advice to applicants is not to leave the submission until the final day because late and incomplete applications can't be considered.
The assessment period then is expected to take place during August, with applicants notified of the outcome by late September this year.
And then we'd move into funding agreements to be executed in October this year. And again, projects need to be completed with acquittal reports submitted within six months of project commencement.
And in terms of any support that you may need whilst you're going through this process, for any technical help with the Grants Online portal, please contact Grants Info - That's one word - at deeca.vic.gov.au
For any questions about the EMRS program, the guidelines or questions about application in terms of what's required, please contact emerging.energy@deeca.vic.gov.au.
[On-screen text]: Eligibility and project fit
So in terms of eligibility and who should apply for this program?
So as I said, it's for Victorian energy tech startups and at a high level, applicants must be a legally constituted entity by the current ABN.
They need to be commercialising an energy tech solution and have the legal rights needed to actually commercialise that solution.
Applicants must also be Victorian based and demonstrate that at least 80% of project expenditure will occur in Victoria.
Your proposed solution must already have evidence of market traction.
And so what we mean by that is, you know, for example, you may have an active pilot or a trial partner, a letter of intent or written customer commitment, documented usage of your product, adoption or deployment of your product or some early customer revenue.
Just to be really clear, that means EMRS is not for idea stage prototype or minimum viable product or MVP build stage solutions that have not yet secured pilot partners or early customers.
And just for completeness, government agencies and bodies are also not eligible.
[On-screen text]: Eligibility and project fit – suitable projects
And then in terms of what we're looking for in your project fits and what would be a suitable project, we're basically looking for a project that's a discrete set of activities with a specific measurable commercial outcome.
That outcome must be completed within the grant period and must again be separate from routine business operations or general growth activities.
So just to give you some examples of what they may look like, it could be something like converting a pilot or trial into an ongoing customer, developing commercial readiness materials needed to secure customers, undertaking a demonstration project to prove commercial viability, entering a new customer segment or completing regulatory compliance, certification or testing required to enter the energy market.
The key point is that applicants should be clear about the commercial step they're trying to achieve, how the project will achieve it and what would be different by the end of the grant period.
And a useful test of your eligibility is can you describe the project, the commercial outcome and the endpoint in one or two clear sentences?
By the end of the project, applicants should be able to point to a tangible commercial outcome or milestone, not just describe some activities that were undertaken.
[On-screen text]: Applying for EMRS – Assessment Criteria
I’ll just run through briefly what applications will be assessed against so you can have those in mind whilst you're preparing your applications.
So we have essentially 5 weighted criteria that we're using when we are looking at our applications.
What we're looking for is a clear, evidence based and realistic application.
The highest weighted criteria we're working with is what will be delivered and that's at 25% of the total score.
And this really reflects the importance of clear commercial milestones, practical deliverables, and a measurable outcome by the end of the project.
Other criteria cover things like the problem and solution, the startup and team, how the project will be delivered, and who will benefit.
Applicants should use the provided prompts in the guidelines to assist you when preparing your responses.
And so this slide is really just a summary, but there's much more detail available to you there too.
A strong application does not need to overstate the opportunity that that you're addressing, but it really does need to clearly show the problem, the solution, the commercial step being proposed and the evidence that the startup is ready to deliver it.
Credible external signals such as pilots, trials, letters of intent, usage or adoption, deployment or evidence or early revenue will also be rated higher than aspirational claims.
[On-screen text]: Applying for EMRS – Supporting Documents
And just in terms of the supporting documents that you'll need for your application, there's two mandatory templates that we're looking for.
One is the business plan or model and the other is a project outline.
So you must use the templates available from the program web page. And this is really important to note down as well because that's part of the criteria we will be evaluating.
The project outline should cover project objectives, delivery schedule, budget breakdown, project risks and time frames.
Applications must also provide evidence of in-market traction, so again, this could be anything like letters of intense pilots or trials usage or adoption snapshots or customer references if that's appropriate.
We are also encouraging evidence of other funding sources where these are appropriate.
We do have one optional extra, so that's a 3-minute video pitch.
If you do choose to take up this option, the video must be provided as an accessible link and all supporting documents should help substantiate your application, particularly the commercial model, project activities, budget, risks, milestones and evidence of traction.
And so all of these will be used by the assessors when they are validating the application details.
[On-screen text]: Application process and assessment
The process itself should be relatively simple. It's basically that the applications must be submitted online through the Grants Online portal.
We cannot accept hard copies, unfortunately and before applying, we, we encourage you to check the four key things.
First of all, is your project eligible? Second, does your project fit the eligibility criteria? Third, do you have your supporting documents? Are these complete and are they using the correct templates?
And fourth, have you made sure that the application includes clear evidence that the commercial opportunity project activity, measurable outcome and how the project supports market readiness or expansion?
Once an application is submitted, applicants will receive an application number and we would encourage you to quote that number in any correspondence with the department.
You can see the contact emails that I mentioned earlier are on the slide.
[On-screen text]: Q&A
So we're now moving to the Q&A section.
And if you haven't done so already, we'd encourage you to submit your question questions now through the webinar's Q&A function.
Just while we wait to see if you have any questions today.
As a reminder, we can't review or pre assess individual proposals.
We can't advise whether this whether a specific application fits criteria or will be successful.
And in general, just as a rule of thumb, we can't provide any information that gives one applicant an advantage or a perceived advantage over any other.
So really what that means is if a question is specific to your proposal, we may need to answer at a general level, which I realise is frustrating, but it's all about fairness and equity.
Again, if we receive questions that have not been addressed in the Frequently Asked Questions document, we may update that document and re upload it to our website.
So whilst I've been through those reminders to give you some thinking time, have a quick look to see if any questions have come through.
I can't see any so we'll continue to keep an eye on that as I move to the next step section.
Please do feel free to post them if you do have some.
[On-screen text]: Next Steps
So to sum up, there are four key next steps.
First of all, please review the published EMRS application guidelines.
Secondly, check eligibility carefully, both organisational eligibility and project eligibility.
Third, please prepare clear evidence-based responses and make sure the required supporting documents are completed and uploaded.
And finally, submit your application before the closing time, which I will say once again, 5:00ppm local time on the 14th of August this year.
I think I can see someone with a hand up. I actually don't know if we have the functionality to answer questions verbally.
It's just to protect your privacy.
So if you do have a question, please do feel free to pop it in the Q&A section there.
I'll just keep an eye on that for one moment.
I'd also say if you're having any trouble whatsoever with the tech and you do have a question which doesn't pop up in the Q&A, do not fear.
We are very, very happy to take questions via email throughout the grant.
So throughout the open period for the grant applications, so basically anytime between now and the closing time, please do feel free to send an email.
The emails addresses are still on screen. So for our team, just, I'll just say it one more time. It's the emerging.energy@deca.victoria.gov.au.
And yes, just pop over into that Q&A button if you do want to post a question.
Otherwise, I think we can wrap it up there.
I just want to say one more time, Thank you so much for your time today.
We're really excited to see the applications that come through.
And yes, thanks once again for all of your contributions to Victoria's energy tech startup ecosystem.
Have a fantastic rest of your day.
Thanks everyone.
Page last updated: 28/07/26