A Melbourne engineer has been awarded a $360,000 grant to design a travel coffee cup for the future.

Engineer Robert Wilson says without revealing too much about the top-secret design so far, the planned container will revolutionise the way people consume caffeine outside their homes. The ambitious designer says the cup will contain never-before-seen features, all funded by the Automotive New Markets Program (ANMP) from the Federal and Victorian governments.

The ANMP provides funding for companies to move away from solely serving the automotive industry, pushing for engineers and manufacturers to retool themselves for the future. The funding has received some criticism from independent bodies, who say the private firms should work out their own ways to remain competitive while the automotive industry wanes.

Mr Wilson’s company Crintand Pty Ltd usually creates plastic and fibreglass items but is now being allowed to move beyond that by the ANMP. A spokesperson for Innovation Minister Kim Carr says the coffee cup project will assist “those directly engaged in automotive manufacturing in Australia,” helping them “diversify into new markets.”

Millions have been awarded in the latest round of Automotive New Markets Program funding, a full list is available from the Department of Innovation.