Grants, the R&D Tax Incentive, and loans work very differently for AI projects — how to tell them apart and combine them in Australia.
dgm is an independent osFoundry integration partner — not affiliated with osFoundry’s maker (OS LLC), and dgm has no completed client integrations yet.
Grants, the R&D Tax Incentive and loans fund AI projects very differently in Australia. Knowing which is which helps you combine them sensibly.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Grant | Up-front, often matched; competitive; e.g. Industry Growth Program, CSIRO |
| R&D Tax Incentive | Claimed after the year on your tax return; refundable under $20M turnover |
| Loan/equity | Repayable or investment finance; e.g. National Reconstruction Fund |
The three funding shapes
A grant pays a share of costs (often matched) and is usually competitive — the Industry Growth Program and CSIRO Kick-Start are examples. The R&D Tax Incentive is claimed after the financial year on your company tax return — The R&D Tax Incentive offset is your corporate tax rate plus a premium, so the headline percentage depends on your tax rate: up to 43.5% for companies with aggregated turnover under $20 million (your 25% small-company rate plus an 18.5% premium, refundable), and a 38.5% base rising with R&D intensity for larger companies. Confirm the current rate and thresholds, as they can change. A loan or equity investment is repayable or ownership finance, such as the National Reconstruction Fund.
How to combine them
A common pattern is a grant or CSIRO project for early work, the R&D Tax Incentive claimed afterward on the genuinely experimental portion, and other support on top — without funding the same dollar twice. Program parameters, amounts, rates and round windows change frequently — confirm the current details on the official program page before relying on them.
Where to start
The official starting point is the business.gov.au Grants and Programs Finder, the Australian Government’s tool for discovering the federal, state and territory supports you may qualify for, with GrantConnect (grants.gov.au) listing Commonwealth grant opportunities. Important: these are programs a business applies for directly with the government agency or, for the R&D Tax Incentive, claims through a registered tax adviser. dgm is an independent AI-integration agency — not a registered or approved program deliverer, an Industry Growth Program adviser, or a registered R&D tax agent. dgm can help scope and build the AI project; eligibility and any claim are determined and lodged by you or a registered adviser.
Where dgm fits
dgm is an independent integration partner that helps Australian businesses adopt osFoundry — scoping a first use case, handling the build, and connecting AI to the systems you already run. dgm can help you scope the AI project that a program would fund — but you apply to the program (or claim the R&D Tax Incentive with a registered adviser) directly. dgm is independent of osFoundry’s maker (OS LLC) and has no completed client integrations yet, so everything described here is a service offered, not a past result. If you want to scope a practical first project, dgm can help you map it out.