Australia’s biggest innovation supports compared — a tax offset you claim after the fact vs an upfront matched grant.
dgm is an independent osFoundry integration partner — not affiliated with osFoundry’s maker (OS LLC), and dgm has no completed client integrations yet.
The R&D Tax Incentive and grants like the Industry Growth Program are Australia’s two main innovation supports, and they work very differently — many companies use both.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| R&D Tax Incentive | Tax offset claimed after the year (ATO/AusIndustry) |
| Grant (e.g. IGP) | Up-front matched funding, applied for before |
| Together | Grant for early work, RDTI on the experimental portion afterward |
How they differ
The R&D Tax Incentive is a tax offset claimed after the financial year for genuine R&D — refundable for companies under $20M turnover. A grant like the Industry Growth Program is up-front matched funding you apply for before the work. One is retrospective and tax-based; the other proactive and project-based.
Using both
They are commonly combined — a grant supports the early commercialisation work, and the R&D Tax Incentive is claimed afterward on the genuinely experimental portion — provided you do not claim the same expenditure under both. Program parameters, amounts, rates and round windows change frequently — confirm the current details on the official program page before relying on them.
Which to start with
If you have an innovative commercialisation project in an NRF priority area and want funding now, look at the Industry Growth Program; if you are doing experimental R&D and want to recover cost afterward, plan for the R&D Tax Incentive. 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.