Landing Pad Program

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (15:07): My question is to the Minister for Trade and Investment. Can the minister provide an update on the South Australian Landing Pad program?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade and Investment) (15:08): I thank the honourable member for her ongoing interest in our wonderful program, being the South Australian Landing Pad program, which was established in 2019 by the Marshall Liberal government to assist businesses to expand in our state. The program proactively targets companies with high-growth potential and synergies with our own key growth sectors, creating connections between suppliers, retailers, customers and markets.

I am very pleased to announce today that the next business to receive a South Australian Landing Pad grant is a company called Cellr. Cellr has created a world-first technology in innovative bottle lids that guarantees the origin and authenticity of the contents to ensure the product remains tamperproof along the supply chain.

Cellr's founders created the technology to help combat counterfeit wine operations. Over 20 per cent of the $70 billion of the global $350 billion wine industry is comprised of counterfeit wine. Cellr's bottle lids help wine producers protect their IP through track and trace capabilities that manage inventory more easily and allow consumers to confirm a wine's credentials and origin.

The technology leverages near field communication and radio frequency identification, and is uniquely embedded within the lid as opposed to imperfect cosmetic solutions like QR codes, stickers and invisible inks. The company has also created a customer engagement app where users can scan a product from anywhere in the world to find out its origin and engage directly with the brand.

Both of these technologies will no doubt create significant value for wine producers—just one of the reasons Cellr relocated their headquarters from Western Australia to Stone and Chalk at Lot Fourteen. Eighty per cent of the premium Australian wine is produced here, and more than 50 per cent is bottled here. Furthermore, Lot Fourteen has created an attractive ecosystem of similar start-up and scale-up businesses in the high-growth sector. The Landing Pad program was the final piece of the puzzle in incentivising Cellr to set up in South Australia.

Businesses that apply to the South Australian Landing Pads program can access up to $80,000 to help reimburse working space and professional services costs. As part of the program, successful applicants also have access to bespoke case management services through the Department for Trade and Investment. Cellr has now its first employee, located at Stone and Chalk at Lot Fourteen, and will be using their Landing Pad funding to expand up to 16 FTEs over the next three to five years.

The Landing Pad program aims to smooth the process of setting up in a new country or a new state and at the same time helps create jobs for South Australia and boosts our local economy. Once again, I welcome Cellr to Lot Fourteen and to South Australia.