Australia's Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE) has today announced the introduction of a $50,000 project grant for game development teams that have completed the AIE Incubator program, adding project seed funding to the educational initiative launched in 2011 to "facilitate a self-driven career path and to ensure innovative games and business ideas had the best chance to succeed".

A press release boasts that the move "will make AIE the only games educator in the world that will offer the complete package of training from the basics right through to forming a studio and funding projects".

On top of major benefits such as sending the Incubator studios to PAX Prime in the US for major exposure and experience, AIE’s new initiative will provide the graduates of the Incubator program with direct financial support that can allow them to stay focused on their own projects.

This grant is just the beginning of a comprehensive support scheme that AIE is rolling out for the Incubator. The Post-Incubator Grant will double to $100,000 in 2015, and will be available for the teams that finish this year’s Incubator program. Furthermore, current Incubator teams will have access to a $50,000 fund to provide immediate cashflow for the most promising studios and projects from their inception.

Funding applications are reportedly open today, so interested parties should click over to aie.edu.au/incubator for further information.