1994 to 1998

Wagners is a genuine Australian success story. Since the company was founded in 1989 with 18 employees, it has grown to a staff base of 900 with headquarters in Toowoomba, Queensland. It provides cement, concrete, quarry, reinforcing and fibre composite products along with project services to domestic and international markets.

Director Neill Wagner is the first to admit the company has received help along the way. He can still recall how, more than 15 years ago, a $50,000 Australian Government Discretionary Grant helped the business kick-start its research and development (R&D) capabilities.

"The grant, which we received in 1994–95, enabled us to employ our first full-time engineer with an R&D focus," recalls Wagner. "Now we have a team of 15 engineers, all working on projects to grow our business and meet our customers' needs." The grant primarily helped Wagners develop a technique for obtaining the sand used in concrete from more environmentally sustainable sources.

"In concrete, you generally use alluvial – or river-deposited – sands, but access to these is fast diminishing," Wagner says. "So we chose to develop a process that involved collecting sand from the crusher dust left over from our rock-crushing activities.

"We use a sand separator that isolates the particles with a similar size to river sand," he explains. "This uses 'dry' separation, rather than a more expensive process that uses water and creates a sludge that you need to dispose of."

The company uses this sand separation process at 10 of its 20 concrete plants.

The grant is one of several from the Australian Government that have enabled Wagners to forge a strong growth ethos throughout the business and accelerate its innovation activities.

In 2001, the organisation was awarded a $1.1 million R&D Start Grant to help develop strong, durable composite fibre product for use in bridges. "In July 2002, we had three engineers and some tradespeople working on these technologies from a rear shed," Wagner says. "Now we have a full division operating with 100 staff, and a thriving business."

The technologies, developed with the help of the University of Southern Queensland, have enabled the company to construct road bridges in Toowoomba for shipment to upstate New York.

Wagners has also received assistance through Austrade's Export Market Development Grants Scheme, and taken advantage of the R&D Tax Concession.

Anyone considering unlawfully entering sensitive government sites in several countries might want to think again. The perimeters may be protected by an advanced intrusion detection system developed by Australian company Future Fibre Technologies.

Future Fibre Technologies manufactures fibre-optic intrusion detection and location systems that detect interference with fences, perimeters and pipelines at industrial, petrochemical, military and government sites. This technology can pinpoint the exact location of an intrusion and is integrated into other security sensors and systems as appropriate for the site.

The company's artificial intelligence system can also distinguish between real interference and false alarms.

Future Fibre Technologies employs 45 staff at offices in Australia, India, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, the UK and the US. It also sells its products through 15 distribution partners in Belgium, India, Iraq, Oman, Singapore, Spain and the UK. Around 95 per cent of the company's revenue is generated from overseas contracts.

Future Fibre Technologies got its first big break in 2000 when it won a contract with Singapore's Ministry of Defence. In 2001, it also entered the government market in Australia with a contract to provide intrusion detection systems for important government sites in Canberra.

The company's journey began in 1995–96 when it was awarded a Competitive Grant by the Australian Government to develop 'weigh in motion' technology in conjunction with the Australian Road Research Board. The companies tested highly sensitive loops of fibre-optic cables that when placed beneath a highway, could weigh heavy vehicles while they were moving past at highway speeds.

Key outcomes from this project included advancing the company's knowledge and skills in the areas of optical instrumentation, developing locally manufactured fibre optic-based Michelson interferometers able to detect minute movements, and advancements in managing background environmental noise in highly sensitive measurement situations.

"This experience developed and refined our expertise in high-sensitivity fibre optic sensors, as well as their potential applications," says Alec Owen, International Client Manager.

While the project proved that the core technology worked, it did not become a commercial success.

"We decided to move in another direction and start developing fibre-optic sensing applications, eventually striking the right market with intrusion detection," says Owen.

Future Fibre Technologies has received subsequent grants under Austrade's Export Market Development Grants Scheme. The grants have helped the company meet the direct costs associated with growth activities, such as establishing a distribution network and exhibiting at trade shows.

"The grants really helped us commercialise our intrusion detection technologies overseas," says Owen. "They enabled us to connect with the right people – we regularly worked with Austrade and participated in seminars and exhibitions under the Austrade banner."

In 2010, the company won the prestigious Prime Minister's Australian Exporter of the Year Award. It was also the Governor of Victoria Export Award winner in the small to medium manufacturer category in 2009 and 2010.

Measurement Engineering Australia (MEA) builds environmental monitoring systems to enable agriculture businesses to maximise efficiency, crop yields and profit.

MEA builds soil moisture and climate monitoring systems that enable irrigators in Australia to better manage scarce water resources. In recent years, MEA has also become a leader in the field of renewable energy surveying and has deployed its products in more than 300 remote wind and solar energy monitoring sites.

Adelaide-based MEA was founded in 1984 and is jointly owned by Joe Hoogland and Dr Andrew Skinner. The company has grown over the past two decades, and has reinvested profits into developing new products and improving the skills of its 16 staff. This has helped MEA compete with foreign importers and offered protection against the failure of local suppliers.

MEA's success would not have been possible without funding from the Australian Government at two critical points in the company's history.

Between 1994 and 1997, MEA was awarded a $122,100 Competitive Grant for developing technology to improve the technology used with gypsum blocks, some 80,000 of which have since been used to measure soil moisture by irrigators in Australia.

In 2009, MEA was also awarded $244,000 under the Climate Ready Program to develop a tiny sensor that is grafted onto plants to indicate when crops are experiencing water stress.

Using the grant, MEA developed solar-powered radios to deliver plant, soil moisture and climate data back to growers' desktop computers, enabling them to make more informed choices about when to irrigate their crops.

"This funding has enabled MEA to invest in software and tools to improve our products, to train and employ more staff, and to tackle international markets," Dr Skinner says.

In the late 1990s, Victorian bulk dairy ingredients exporter Burra Foods wanted to consolidate its expansion into Japan and grow its product portfolio.

"We'd started exporting to Japan in 1994–95, and were achieving some consistent volumes," recalls Grant Crothers, who founded the company in 1991 with his brother William. "We had an opportunity to build on this success and develop new products for our Japanese customers."

In 1997–98, Burra Foods was awarded a $750,000 Competitive Grant by the Australian Government to develop milk cake, whey cheese, diet cream cheese and bovine immunoglobulin as food ingredients for the Japanese market.

The grant helped the company undertake the required research and development, and establish a roadmap for growth.

"We have been able to expand our niche market business as well as enter the lower margin but high-volume commodity markets, strengthening our skills and increasing our flexibility," says Crothers. "We now service a good mix of specialist and commodity manufacturers."

Based in Korumburra in South Gippsland, Burra Foods now employs about 100 people and turns over approximately $180 million per year. The company operates in Japan, the Middle East and South East Asia, as well as some domestic markets. About 85 per cent of its business comes from international markets, with the remaining 15 per cent from domestic markets.

The company manufactures, markets and exports ingredients such as cheese, milk powders and concentrates, and bases for yoghurt and ice cream.

Burra Foods maintained its annual turnover at about $70 million before another surge of growth in 2009–10. In late 2009, long-term customer Itochu Corporation acquired a 45 per cent stake in the business to help develop and finance a new milk powder production facility. The new state-of-the-art plant was commissioned in August 2010 and since then the company has doubled its annual milk supply from 123 million litres to 250 million litres.

Burra Foods has made considerable progress towards increasing its water reuse, and recovers more than 90 per cent of water extracted from milk during the drying process. In November 2009, the company was awarded a $340,000 Re-tooling for Climate Change Grant to increase its on-site water efficiency.

Burra Foods subsequently reduced its on-site water usage by 25 per cent, despite the new factory delivering a fivefold increase in the volume of milk solids processed. The grant also enabled the company to cut the amount of trade waste sent to a nearby water treatment plant from 100 per cent to 52 per cent. The remaining 48 per cent is now treated before being discharged into a nearby creek, or recycled and used on site.

Crothers has an extremely bullish outlook for the company. "We see a strong chance to grow our business. Gippsland is ideal for growing milk protein, for which there is increasing demand off the back of a predicted global food shortage over the next 10 years. Our challenge is to develop our technology while increasing our access to capital and milk to seize these opportunities," he says.