New Sport Australia grant to boost AusCycling’s bike riding participation research

Funding of up to $30,000 has been awarded to AusCycling to engage in research on bike riding participation in the new Sport Australia Capability Building Grant Program.

The Sport Australia Capability Building Grant will assist AusCycling in conducting primary market research to obtain insights into customer preferences, buying patterns and segmentation to inform and advance development of bike riding participation.

An expected outcome of this primary market research is the comprehensive collation of research results, including environmental scan, customer segment testing of the prototype, and naming convention testing.

AusCycling CEO Marne Fechner said conducting comprehensive research into future project development cycles was vital to the ongoing vision of AusCycling.

"We are really pleased Sport Australia is supporting our research into the product development cycle by awarding AusCycling the Capability Building Grant,” Fechner said.

"By focusing on robust research into key customer customer segments we will develop products that best support more people to engage with and enjoy bike riding."

AusCycling is one of 24 National Sporting Organisations (NSOs) and National Sporting Organisations for People with Disability (NSODs), who will use the funding to deliver projects and initiatives that support participation, help them recruit and retain volunteers, improve their governance, or develop online educational and learning resources.

Sport Australia Acting CEO Rob Dalton said the Capability Building Grant Program was designed to support smaller sporting organisations to take meaningful steps to improve the delivery of their sport, ultimately improving the quality of experience for coaches, officials, volunteers and players.

“These grants will provide some of the country’s smaller and emerging sports with valuable investment opportunities to support specific areas of need within their organisations,” Dalton said.

“We received a number of quality applications which outlined some great initiatives to support areas like participation product design, volunteer engagement and recruitment strategies, training and education for match officials, and important research projects.”