Applications for the 2023-24 Business Event Sponsorship Program are closed.
This program supports and promotes quality business events that:
- include in-person attendance and have high relevance to City of Melbourne’s knowledge workers
- have vision and solutions that benefit the City of Melbourne.
Sponsorships are offered up to the value of $10,000 to organisations and individuals delivering events to encourage business development and capacity building.
Key dates
Applications opened Tuesday 22 August 2023 and closed Monday 25 September 2023.
View successful grant recipients below.
Register your interest for our next grant round
Information for applicants
To be eligible you must:
- propose to deliver a business event including a multi-day program, conference, exhibition, pitch competition, showcase, demo day, product demonstration, networking, or meeting with a minimum attendance of 100 people.
- deliver the business event within the City of Melbourne municipality boundaries.
- have a valid Australian Business Number (ABN)
- be an Australian registered business, sole trader, company, business cooperative or partnership
- have no outstanding acquittals or debts to the City of Melbourne
- demonstrate financial viability as evidenced by a basic business plan, including projected financial statements
- provide evidence of current public liability and professional indemnity insurance policies
- have not failed to comply with terms and conditions of any previous funding agreement or sponsorship from the City of Melbourne.
Watch our 2023-24 online information sessionOpens in new tab on YouTube.
This grant provides funding for expenditure items that are directly related to the set-up and delivery cost of the proposal, but not operational expenses that are considered as ongoing costs such as office rental payments, utilities, wages and personal expenses.
Refer to the SmartyGrants help guideOpens in new tab for technical assistance related to submitting your application. The SmartyGrants help hubOpens in new tab is open 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday on 9320 6888 or by email at service@smartygrants.com.au.
Applications are scored against the following criteria:
- purpose and expected impact of the event
- quality and viability of the event.
City of Melbourne completes a due diligence process to all applications to ensure all eligibility criteria are met.
Applications are individually assessed by a panel including senior management from City of Melbourne which will consider the diversity of applications as a set.
Canvassing or lobbying of Councillors, employees of City of Melbourne or assessment panel members in relation to any funding application is prohibited.
If you need an interpreter when calling the City of Melbourne, please call the following relevant translation services.
Our multilingual information telephone service offers assistance to people from a non-English speaking background.
If you are deaf, hearing-impaired, or speech-impaired, please call us via the National Relay ServiceOpens in new tab:
- Teletypewriter (TTY) users phone 133 677 then ask for 03 9658 9658.
- Speak & Listen users phone 1300 555 727 then ask for 03 9658 9658.
View sponsored events
View list of events that are sponsored as part of the Business Events Sponsorship Program.
Submit sponsored event for publishing on our website
Recipients of Business Events Sponsorship Program funding can use our form to submit details of their sponsored event for publishing on the City of Melbourne website.
Submit event
Successful sponsorship recipients
| Event | Proposed dates | Organisation name | Funding amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Future Leaders ForumOpens in new tab | 12 to 13 February | Strata Community Association | $3,000 |
| AIDC Innovation Day 2024Opens in new tab | 3 March | Australian International Documentary Conference | $10,000 |
| SEVENTEENx MelbourneOpens in new tab | TBC May | 7Teen Productions | $5,000 |
| ACannabis 2024Opens in new tab | 12 to 13 to March | Medicinal Cannabis Industry Australia Limited | $7,300 |
| Melbourne Summit 2024Opens in new tab | 26 March | Committee for Melbourne Pty | $3,000 |
| 2024 Peter Mac Research SymposiumOpens in new tab | 17 to 18 April | Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute | $10,000 |
| 2024 MAP Program LaunchOpens in new tab | 8 May | Melbourne Accelerator Program | $7,500 |
| Power Utilities Australia | 7 to 8 May | Talk2 Media and Events | $10,000 |
| Connecting Women LunchOpens in new tab | 17 May | BioMelbourne Network | $7,350 |
| Refuge: An Urban Resilience HackathonOpens in new tab | 23 May | Collaboration ARUP Melbourne, SHFT SHFT and RMIT College of Design & Social Context | $7,350 |
| Bionics Institute Innovation Lecture 2024Opens in new tab | 29 May | Bionics Institute | $6,000 |
| Enactus Australia National ChampionshipsOpens in new tab | 1 to 4 July | Enactus Australia | $5,000 |
| Melbourne Business Analytics ConferenceOpens in new tab | 15 August | Melbourne Business School | $7,500 |
| HEXPO Opens in new tab | 25 to 26 September | The Hacker Exchange Pty Ltd | $5,000 |
| 13th Annual Australian Microcap Investment Conference | 15 to 16 October | Vasco Corporate Services Pty Ltd | $6,000 |
| Event | Proposed dates | Organisation name |
|---|---|---|
| ARCS Melbourne Summit and DinnerOpens in new tab | 23 November 2022 | ARCS Australia |
| AI Festival: AI for business and social goodOpens in new tab | 30 November to 1 December 2022 | Deakin University |
| SEVENTEENx Melbourne 2022Opens in new tab | 9 March 2023 | 7Teen Productions |
| Sustainable Tech Pitch Night @ Melbourne ConnectOpens in new tab | 15 December 2022, 16 March and 15 June 2023 | Silicon Beach Australia Ltd |
| Engaging Tech: Emerging technology for engaging experiences | 1 May 2023 | Strategic Artistry Pty Ltd |
| Global Innovation (Melbourne)Opens in new tab | June 2023 TBC | The Hacker Exchange |
| Founder showcase + Climate Tech FestivalOpens in new tab | 16 February and 13 April 2023 | Stone & Chalk Group |
| Australian XR FestivalOpens in new tab | 14 to 15 April 2023 | CloudBNE |
| The International Medicine in Addiction Conference. Collaborate, Innovate and Survive | 17 to 19 February 2023 | The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists |
| Challenges and Opportunities for AI in Cancer GlycobiologyOpens in new tab | April 2023 TBC | InterVenn Biosciences |
| Melbourne SummitOpens in new tab | 2 March 2023 | Committee for Melbourne Pty Ltd |
| AIDC Innovation Day 2023Opens in new tab | 5 March 2023 | Australian International Documentary Conference |
| IWD Decoding Digital InnovationOpens in new tab | 10 March 2023 | One Roof Coworking |
| ACannabisOpens in new tab | 14 to 15 March 2023 | Medicinal Cannabis Industry Australia Limited |
| Circular Fashion Now – A design focussed symposium for fashion and apparel businesses in MelbourneOpens in new tab | 17 March 2023 | ABCH Pty Ltd |
| Data Informed Design Conference (DiD)Opens in new tab | 22 to 23 March 2023 | Place intelligence (Australia) Pty Ltd |
| Net Zero SportOpens in new tab | April 2023 TBC | Let Me Be Frank |
| Enlit Australia | 23 March 2023 | Talk2 Media and Events International |
| ADX MelbourneOpens in new tab | 30 March to 1 April 2023 | Australian Dental Industry Association |
| The Connecting Up Conference | 10 to 12 May 2023 | Infoxchange |
| Peter Mac Research Retreat 2023Opens in new tab | 11 to 12 May 2023 | Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute |
| Connecting Women LunchOpens in new tab | 19 May 2023 | BioMelbourne Network |
| Start-up Victoria (Founders pitch night) | 28 Feb 2023 | Start-up Victoria |
| The Finnies Awards 2023Opens in new tab | 22 June 2023 | FinTech Australia Limited |
| Event | Proposed dates | Organisation name |
|---|---|---|
| Business Collaboration Series | Dates from February to June | Unnetworking Pty Ltd |
| Re-energising Melbourne Event Series | Dates from March to 14 June 2022 | Ignite ABP Network |
| The Invisible Woman- #BreakTheBias International Women’s Day 2022 | 8 March 2022 | Just Gold Digital Agency |
| Master Builders Victoria International Women's Day | 8 March 2022 | Master Builders Association of Victoria |
| Food Waste + Loss showcase | 6 April 2022 | Rocket Seeder Limited |
| Mindspace Mental Health Conference 2022 | 21 to 24 May 2022 | Mindspace Consulting |
| Connecting International Students and Business Professionals in the City of Melbourne | 25 May 2022 | Outcome.Life |
| AMaGA 2022 Forum | 17 May to 18 May 2022 | Australian Museums and Galleries Association Victoria |
| Speech Pathologists Australia National Conference | 22 May to 25 May 2022 | Speech Pathology Australia Australia |
| Independent Brewers Industry Update | 26 May 2022 | Independent Brewers Association |
| Australian Dementia Network P/L | 30 to 31 May 2022 | Australian Dementia Network P/L) |
| The Role of Transport in Smart Cities | 31 May 2022 | French-Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry |
| Pivott Events | 31 May and 7 June 2022* | Stone & Chalk |
| 2022 TRAM Track Presentation Day | 14 June 2022 | Translating Research at Melbourne |
| CIB World Building Congress 2022 | 27 June to 30 June 2022 | RMIT University |
| Business Solutions Summit | 17 June 2022 | Business in Heels International Pt Ltd |
| Melbourne Accelerator Prog (MAP) Launch | 29 June 2022 | University of Melbourne |
| Future/Inclusive: A festival of ideas, participation and action | 14 to 20 July 2022* | Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology |
| 2022 Digital Pulse Launch | 2 August 2022* | ACS (Australian Computer Society Incorporated) |
| Pitch: Idea to Start-up | 7 August 2022* | Illume Institute |
- Events rescheduled due to COVID-19 restrictions
| Event | Proposed dates | Organisation name |
|---|---|---|
| International Surgical Students’ Conference | 1 Aug to 4 Aug 2019 | International Surgical Students’ Conference (ISSC) |
| YOW! Developer Conference 2019 – Melbourne | 12 to 13 Dec 2019 | Bedarra Research Labs Pty Ltd |
| Australian Disaster Resilience Conference | 28 to 29 Aug 2019 | Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience |
| Click Engage Convert | 10 to 11 Oct 2019 | Impactiv8 Pty Ltd |
| VALA2020- Libraries, Technology and the Future Inc. | 11 to 13 Feb 2020 | VALA - Libraries, Technology and the Future Inc. |
| Global Table | 3 to 6 Sep 2019 | Food + Wine Victoria |
| 10th Annual Australian Microcap Investment Conference | 22 to 23 Oct 2019 | D H Flinders Pty Ltd |
| 2nd Asia Pacific Conference on Integrated Care | 10 to 13 Nov 2019 | International Foundation for Integrated Care |
| Australia Sports Analytics Conference | 23 Aug 2019 | Vumero |
| Australian International Documentary Conference | 1 to 4 Mar 2020 | Australian International Documentary Conference |
| Australian Literacy Educators Association (ALEA) National Conference Melbourne | 9 to 12 Jul 2019 | ALEA (Australian Literacy Educators Association) |
| Australian Plant Pathology Society Conference | 25 to 28 Nov 2019 | Australian Plant Pathology Society Conference 2019 Melbourne (APPS 2019) |
| Educhange 2019 | 22 to 23 Aug 2019 | Education Changemakers |
| Energy Efficiency Expo | 23 to 24 Oct 2019 | Reed Exhibitions Australia |
| Health Informatics Conference (HIC) | 10 to 14 Aug 2019 | Health Informatics Society of Australia (HISA) |
| International Conference on Transport & Health | 4 to 8 Nov 2019 | Transportation Public Health Link |
| Melbourne Business Analytics Conference and Datathon | 3 to 3 Sep 2019 | Melbourne Business School |
| Event | Proposed dates | Organisation name |
|---|---|---|
| Australian Medical Students' Association - Global Health Conference | 17 to 21 August 2018 | The Australian Medical Students' Association Ltd |
| 64th International Congress of Meat Science and Technology | 12 to 17 August 2018 | The University of Melbourne |
| Melbourne Playground: Public Games Exhibition at the CHI PLAY 2018 Conference | 28 October 2018 | RMIT University |
| IEEE International Conference on Industrial Technology | 13 to 15 February 2019 | Federation University Australia |
| Waste Expo Australia | 3 to 4 October 2018 | Reed Exhibitions Australia Pty Ltd |
| The Australia-China Youth Dialogue | 2 to 5 November 2018 | The Australia-China Youth Dialogue |
| Educhange | 1 to 3 October 2018 | Education Changemakers |
| Don't Forget the Bubbles 2018 (DFTB18) | 26 to 29 August 2018 | Paediatric Learning Xperience Pty Ltd |
| Australia Sports Analytics Conference | 10 August 2018 | Vumero Institute |
| 9th International Conference on Bridge Maintenance, Safety and Management (IABMAS 2018) | 9 to 13 July 2018 | International Conference on Bridge Maintenance Safety and Management (IABMAS 2018) |
| VALA Tech Camp 2019 | 10 to 11 April 2019 | VALA – Libraries, Technology and the Future inc. |
| All-Energy Australia 2018 | 3 to 4 October 2018 | Reed Exhibitions Australia |
| Security Exhibition and Conference | 25 to 27 July 2018 | Diversified Communications |
| Melbourne Business Analytics Conference and Datathon | 19 to 21 July 2018 | Melbourne Business School |
| ISHA 2018 | 3 to 6 October 2018 | ISHA 2018 |
| Global Ideas Forum | 14 to 16 September 2018 | Global Ideas Forum |
| Above All Human | 29 August 2019 | StartupVic Limited |
| Screen Producers Australia | 19 to 23 November 2018 | Screen Producers Association of Australia |
| 9th Annual Australian Microcap Investment Conference | 17 to 18 October 2018 | D H Flinders Pty Ltd |
| Ethical Enterprise Conference 2018 | 25 to 26 October 2018 | Moral Fairground Pty Ltd |
| New Economy Australia Network Conference | 19 to 21 October 2018 | Sustain: The Australian Food Network |
| Event | Proposed dates | Organisation name |
|---|---|---|
| 17th Alzheimer's Australia Biennial National Dementia Conference | Tuesday 17 to Friday 20 October 2017 | Alzheimer's Australia |
| 2017 Australian Local Government Leadership Summit | Thursday 26 to Friday 27 October 2017 | Australian School of Applied Management |
| 33rd International Conference on Logic Programming, 23rd International Conference on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming (CP), and 20th International Conference on Theory and Applications of Satisfiability Testing | Monday 28 August to Friday 1 Sept 2017 | Monash University |
| 56th IEEE Conference of Decision and Control | Tuesday 12 to Friday 15 December 2017 | IEEE Control Systems Society |
| 8th Annual Australian Microcap Investment Conference | Tuesday 17 to Wednesday 18 October 2017 | D H Flinders Pty Ltd |
| AFFA Conference | Tuesday 6 March 2018 | Australian Fashion Film Awards |
| All-Energy Australia | Wednesday 11 to Thursday 12 October 2017 | Reed Exhibitions Australia Pty Ltd |
| Australia Sports Analytics Conference | Friday 4 August 2017 | Vumero Institute |
| Brickvention | Friday 19 to Sunday 21 January 2018 | Brickventures Inc |
| EC17 - The Education Changemakers Annual Event | Wednesday 27 to Thursday 28 September 2017 | Education Changemakers |
| Future Assembly | Friday 17 to Saturday 18 November 2017 | Future Assembly |
| Global Ideas Forum | Friday 8 to Sunday 10 September 2017 | Global Ideas Forum |
| ICTC Mainstreet Conference 2017 | Wednesday 25 to Friday 27 October 2017 | Mainstreet Australia |
| Inner Wheel Convention 2018 | Wednesday 11 to Saturday 14 April 2018 | Inner Wheel Australia Convention 2018 (IIW 2018) |
| ISSCR 2018 Annual Meeting | Wednesday 20 to Saturday 23 June 2018 | International Society for Stem Cell Research |
| MBS Centre for Business Analytics conference & Datathon | Thursday 13 Jul 2017 | Melbourne Business School |
| RACI Centenary Congress | Sunday 19 to Wednesday 22 November 2017 | Royal Australian Chemical Institute |
| Tertiary Education Management Conference | Sunday 17 to Wednesday 20 September 2017 | Tertiary Education Management Conference |
| Urban Agriculture Forum | Saturday 17 to Monday 19 February 2018 | Sustain: the Australian food network |
| VALA2018 | Tuesday 13 to Thursday 15 February 2018 | VALA - Libraries, Technology and the Future Inc. |
| VCCC Inaugural Research Conference | Sunday 17 to Tuesday 19 September 2017 | Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre |
| Waste Expo Australia | Wednesday 11 to Thursday 12 October 2017 | Reed Exhibitions Australia Pty Ltd |
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