Launched by former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in December, The Melt helps startups to build and get their hardware products to market quicker. It also works with corporates to help them launch innovation projects often "buried" by the demand of daily operations.

On Friday, The Melt founder Trent Bagnall will announce the first five advanced manufacturing startups in which The Melt has invested. Three are from the Hunter: Safe-Gauge (mining), Hone (Agtech) and Orata (cleantech).

The Melt has also raised capital via a dedicated angel fund, with its 25 initial investors all from the Hunter. They have collectively invested $1 million into the fund, which will roll over yearly and invest in startups.

"People are investing in what they understand and people from the Hunter understand energy, logistics, cleantech and agtech and there's an awareness of wanting to build capacity and the next generation of Hunter manufacturing," Mr Bagnall said.

At least 50 advanced manufacturing projects are currently being developed at The Melt, which has $3 million of production equipment and a team of 20 engineerings led by AmpControl.

Mr Bagnall is confident a second Melt site will launch in the Hunter by June, and a third site by the end of 2021, with the Upper Hunter and Williamtown "obvious" sites for their mining, agtech and defence activity.

"The demand is there and we think it can add a lot of value," he said.

He said it was planned that numerous Melt sites and "facilitators" would roll out in regional Australia to help build "a regional manufacturing network". This would allow expertise and R&D to be shared more easily between startups, small business and corporates.

"The government is interested in this, we can bring all the expertise and we've almost productised it with The Melt: we can establish in one location with limited capital and have an impact straight away," he said.

"At scale, they will have a massive impact if we have five our six around the country, helping emerging startups, transitioning small businesses and existing corporates."

The success of the Hunter-backed Slingshot business accelerator in software-based startups meant the region had runs on the board.

"We can take those learnings and we know how it works - the investment, the fund, the training programs, all ready to roll out on a large scale," he said.

The Newcastle Herald recently reported that almost 4000 manufacturing jobs have vanished across the Hunter in the past five years, many associated with businesses servicing the mining sector.

The Melt helps Hunter companies transition and build capacity to enter "Industry 4.0" markets, which rely on advanced manufacturing and digitalisation.

Mr Bagnall said the mining and energy sectors, agriculture, defence and logistics held huge potential for the region and nation. A key challenge in building manufacturing capacity lay in helping small businesses transition and seize new opportunities and upskill workers, rather than be neglected and fall over.

"What can we do with an existing workforce, how do we take a lower skilled worker and upskill them to take advantage of 4.0 industries like 3D printing or these sorts of technologies," he said.

Amid a recession, he said it was encouraging there had been a "refocus" of government and business in building manufacturing capabilities: "Manufacturers have had to take up the slack and a lot of companies are 're-shoring' things they were outsourcing and that is good."

Mr Bagnall said manufacturers had told him they struggled to know when was the right time to transition, what costs and technology was involved and how to train staff.

The Melt is working with local companies such as Orica and Bradken to help "de-risk" complex innovation projects and get them to market more cheaply and quicker.

"To me, this upskilling opportunity in the Hunter will get our manufacturing firing, because there are untapped riches in all these businesses, they are doing fantastic things and it's just about helping them bring new product to market, and some of these [advanced manufacturing] technologies can speed that up," he said.

"Some of them have a good understanding of what is needed but it's in the execution. How do you move from mining to defence or to agtech? Sometimes daily business gets in the way of that. We are taking ideas and IP stuck within these businesses and getting them to market quickly."

The Committee For The Hunter, HunterNet and Hunter Joint Organisation welcomed The Melt initiative to expand.

Committee for the Hunter chair Richard Anicich said The Melt demonstrated that the Hunter had the workforce, assets, imagination and agility "to lead Australia's manufacturing renaissance".

"It's not just about preparing our kids for the jobs of the future; The Melt helps home-grown talent to create the high value jobs that will diversify the Hunter economy in the long term and ensure we are competitive," he said.

"Trent and The Melt team have developed a proven model that can be scaled up and across other cities and regions in Australia, accelerating our development as a smart country that makes high value products for a modern economy."

HunterNet chief executive officer Tony Cade said the peak manufacturing body would be partnering with The Melt in the future.

"One of our remaining big focus areas is startups who have trouble raising capital for innovation and The Melt provides a vehicle to fill that vacuum of investment capital," he said.

Joe James, chief executive officer of Hunter Joint Organisation which represents 10 councils in the region, said building economic resilience, through diversification was a key strategic priority.

"A critical element in [this] strategy is 'just getting on with it'. Do the things you need to do to drive investment and unlock the testing of ideas and utilisation of capabilities that already exist in the region. In that context, the Hunter's engineering and manufacturing base should be seen as a source of competitive advantage," Mr James said.

"To unlock these advantages, it is critical that the Hunter comes together at regional scale and that the regional leadership is 'local' in character and collaborative across government and industry."

While you're with us, did you know the Newcastle Herald offers breaking news alerts, daily email newsletters and more? Keep up to date with all the local news - sign up here

IN THE NEWS: