Amazon Australia is set to give out five grants worth $80,000 each to small and medium Australian businesses, entrepreneurs and startups, to support the wave of innovation happening in the sector.
In its recently released Amazon Launchpad Innovation Report, Amazon discovered that 28% of SMEs innovated for the future during lockdown while 35% refreshed their business plans.
The report delves into the current sentiment of Australian SME owners, how they've evolved their business during this time and their plans for recovery.
The research revealed that 92% of Australian small to medium size businesses feel optimistic for the future, despite the challenges they're current facing.
38% reported that they had a heightened focus on creativity during the shutdown period, with a quarter of SMEs also exploring new revenue streams or launching an online channel during this time.
However, it wasn't just the businesses that got a refresh during COVID, the products were also revamped, with one in six SMEs innovating by creating new products or transforming their existing ones.
Meanwhile, one in five planned for or built a new business or product strategy moving forward, the Amazon research states.
To support the wave of innovation taking place in the SME community, Amazon Australia launched the Amazon Launchpad Innovation Grants program.
The initiative recognises the innovation by Australian startups, entrepreneurs and SMEs and will award five grant packages to innovative Australian businesses, each worth $80,000 in value.
The package includes; a $20,000 cash grant; Amazon and Amazon Web Services marketing support; exclusive access to mentors such as Amazon leadership and entrepreneur experts from Australia and Seattle; access to successful
eCommerce savvy Australian SMEs; and, insights from angel investors in the venture capital community.
Amazon Australia head of Launchpad Chadd Ciccarelli said that the business is excited to see how the grants will support Australian innovation.
"More than a quarter of SMEs (29%) said that the lack of available funding is the biggest barrier to innovating or growing the business for the remainder of 2020 and more than half (55%) lacked guidance or mentorship during this time.
"We hope that the new Amazon Launchpad Innovation Grants will catapult a new wave of small businesses who have evolved during this time to continue creating and transforming products.
"In the first year since launch, we’ve worked closely with many startups, entrepreneurs and small business owners to launch cutting-edge products on Amazon Launchpad as part of Amazon.com.au.
"Over the past few months in particular, we’ve seen Australian SMBs lean even further into innovation to grow their businesses and we’re looking forward to seeing how the grants will enable these creative minds to further this innovation for the future," he said.
To help select the Amazon Launchpad Grant Recipients, Amazon Launchpad has recruited two SME experts; Carl Hartmann, entrepreneur and co-founder of non-alcoholic company Lyre’s Non-Alcoholic Spirts and Renae Smith of healthy baking goods brand, Bake Mixes.
The Amazon Launchpad Innovation Grants entry period is open from July 07 to 11.59pm Monday August 24 and can be accessed via the Amazon Launchpad website.
The five Amazon Launchpad grant recipients from across Australia will be publicly announced in September 2020.