Growth Fund applications open

The IEGF aims to support innovative projects that go beyond ‘business as usual’ – for instance this funding can help accelerate your market expansion plans, develop offshore partnerships or build a new product or channel to market. 

There has been some fine-tuning of criteria and the selection process, based on feedback from earlier rounds. ENZ Business Development Manager, Adele Bryant, says the new form is designed to guide applicants easily through the process, and in particular help you explain how a project will meet key selection criteria -- including level of innovation, expected commercial return, scalability, value for money and extent of collaboration both on and offshore. 

Success so far

Since the fund was piloted in April 2013, 41 projects and 31 institutions and education exporters have received ‘matched project funding’ of between $10,000 and $50,000.  

Some good results have been achieved already from projects funded in that first April 2013 round.   Wellington-based company Software Education has launched five new courses in Singapore and signed six new partnerships with US organisations, while Kiwa Digital, of Auckland, has used its funding to close international contracts valued at $386,000.

Victoria University of Wellington used IEGF funding to develop a niche marketing campaign for its high value, postgraduate law programme in Germany and Southeast Asia. The university says without IEGF funding it would have taken longer for the university to gain the market penetration it wanted in Singapore, Thailand and Germany.  The results are an 18% increase in offers of places over 2013 and new relationships with institutions that will help feed the student pipeline into the future.

Online Education, a start-up company based in Hamilton has developed Code Avengers to teach computer programming.  The product can be used in classroom settings around the world as well as in the potentially huge US home school market.  While still in the development phase the company has used its IEGF funds to “accelerate the speed of many tasks from promotion to IP protection to product development”.  While revenue is small it is growing quickly with an 800% increase over the last year, of which some 80% comes from export sales. The company is now having the product translated into Spanish and Dutch and is in negotiation with overseas distributors as it moves quickly to capitalise on its improved international profile.