Why do we need NAFI?
NAFI’s mission is to make a significant contribution towards changing that by helping high potential early-stage Food- and Ag-tech companies become investment-ready and secure the capital they need to realise Australia’s potential.
Agriculture is considered one of the Federal Government’s five pillars contributing to Australia building and sustaining a world-class economy. It is a large and growing sector accounting for 12% of GDP and 1.6 million Australian jobs (half of which are in regional Australia).
By 2050 more than 10 billion people globally will need to be fed, increasing food production demand by 70%, with most of this growth coming from our neighbouring Asian economies. Although Australia has significant research capacity to help address Agriculture challenges, historically we have lacked the innovation capacity to translate research and good ideas into sustainable companies.
NAFI’s Mission
NAFI’s mission is to make a significant contribution towards changing that by helping high potential early-stage Food- and Ag-tech companies become investment-ready and secure the capital they need to realise Australia’s potential.
Room For Improvement
Only 5-6% of innovations by Australian corporations come from the research sector despite the nearly $10 billion investment per annum by the Federal Government. Australia also ranks lowest on 80% of the commercialisation metrics listed on the National Survey of Research Commercialisation 2014 and Australia ranks lowest in the OECD for industry and research collaborations