Australia's current innovation system is overly fragmented, with 150+ programs across 13 portfolios causing confusion and favoring large corporations over small businesses and genuine innovators.

Australia's innovation system is a maze of 150+ programs across 13 portfolios. The 2026 Ambitious Australia review called it out: duplication, confusion, and a system that favours big corporates with dedicated grant-writers. Small businesses and genuine innovators get lost. Fusion's plan: one unified commercialisation pathway based at an expanded ARENA. One intake, specialist assessment, milestone-based funding that actually matches project needs. Different funding streams stay intact, but applicants don't have to navigate separate bureaucracies. This isn't just tidying up. It's about making sure public support goes to the best ideas, not the best-connected. It's time to cut the red tape and level the playing field. Join Fusion to make industrial policy work for everyone, not just insiders. #auspol #innovation https://go.fusionparty.org.au/8xiRx

The 2026 Ambitious Australia review found more than 150 federal research, development, and innovation programs scattered across 13 portfolios. That fragmentation makes the system especially hard for smaller businesses to navigate. Fusion's solution: consolidate commercialisation and industrial scale-up support into a single staged pathway under an expanded ARENA. One common intake. Specialist teams organised by technical field. Milestone-based funding that matches the actual cost and risk of each project, not an arbitrary grant ceiling. Evidence carries forward between stages instead of forcing applicants to restart. The Industry Growth Program, Australia's Economic Accelerator, and ARENA-administered funds would all feed into the same applicant-facing system while preserving each fund's separate purposes and rules. Support ends once a project is commercially investable. The pathway proves the technology, not the financing. This is how a government that actually wants to build things works. Join the party that gets it. fusionparty.org.au #auspol #industrialpolicy https://go.fusionparty.org.au/DoBke