Research & funding / Evidence first
We’re exploring suitable Victorian and Australian support pathways while developing the customer evidence, technical scope and local contribution a serious application needs.
Our near-term focus is customer discovery, a narrowly scoped pilot and evaluation that includes human review. Grants, research partnerships and investment are considered against that actual project.
Program availability, entity rules, geography and eligible expenditure can change. This research snapshot separates accessible support, closed rounds to monitor and later pathways with additional gates.
RSI AI is a founder-funded sole trader venture. No grant is included as committed funding, and no program affiliation is implied.
8 pathways
Early founders can explore the Victorian startup ecosystem through a virtual navigation session. This is non-cash support, not a grant approval.
The program welcomes founders with a meaningful Victorian connection, including those who have not registered a business. The published limit is one session per founder every six months.
An Australian Government AI Adopt Centre offering information, eligible consultations and tools. Founder-program timing and fit need direct confirmation.
The published criteria focus on Australian SMEs and prioritised sectors, with other sectors considered. AI Studio describes an eight-week program, but a current cohort date has not been verified. No RSI AI partnership or admission is claimed.
An AI-focused pre-accelerator with workshops, mentoring and a demonstration day. Monitor for a new dated cohort.
Cohort 4 applications closed on 10 July 2026 for a July–September 2026 program. The remaining Apply link is not evidence of an open round. Participation does not guarantee investment.
Challenge-based development with Victorian public-sector problem owners. Relevant only when a future challenge genuinely matches the product.
The current official page says applications are closed. Future round terms, entity eligibility, participation requirements and support amounts must be checked when announced. Historical terms do not resolve every existing-ABN sole-trader situation.
A potential future municipal project-grant route. The published 2026 guidelines accept sole traders, subject to business, location and project requirements.
The verified round closed on 1 December 2025. It required a valid ABN, fewer than 20 FTE, a market-ready project and operation within the City of Melbourne municipality or an eligible relocation. Greater Melbourne is not the same municipal area. A future round is unconfirmed.
Matched collaborative research funding through CSIRO. Current published support is A$20,000–60,000 per voucher, with an equal cash contribution.
An Australian ACN or ICN and GST registration are required, together with the size or trading-age criteria and a defined CSIRO research project. RSI AI’s current sole-trader structure does not meet the entity requirement. This is not an unrestricted operating subsidy.
A company tax incentive for qualifying research and development expenditure. It is not an upfront grant, and sole traders are not eligible R&D entities.
The entity, activities and expenditure each have separate tests. Routine API integration and customer configuration are not automatically eligible research. Keep contemporaneous experiments and cost records; assess any future application against the actual rules.
A federal commercialisation pathway currently paused to new applications. Its entity, industry-priority and manufacturing-capability requirements make it a lower-priority route for this initial use case.
Sole traders do not meet the published entity requirement. A qualifying product, the required advisory process and program-specific funding conditions would need to be established if applications reopen.
This is a dated research snapshot, not legal, tax or funding advice. Follow the official source for the live round and complete criteria. An eligibility review and any application are separate steps.
Verified business details, legal entity, GST status where needed, actual municipality and a project that meets the program’s purpose.
Customer interviews, authorised examples, a baseline, an owner and the evidence that existing tools leave a worthwhile gap.
Eligible project expenditure, supplier quotes, co-funding capacity and clear delivery and reporting gates.
For research pathways: genuine uncertainty, documented experiments and results. Software development alone does not establish eligibility.
Specific Australian SME use cases, measured administrative effort and repeatable capability. Outcomes are targets until demonstrated.
IP arrangements, data responsibilities, risk management, financial records and a clear person responsible for delivery.
Our whitepaper explains the use case and evaluation; the roadmap sets out the proposed decision gates.