Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 March 2014
458. Deputy Stephen S. Donnelly asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the nature of the targeted call for innovation vouchers in the area of data analytics; and the way this will be implemented as per Action 67 of the Action Plan for Jobs. [13163/14]
View answerBig Data and Data Analytics represent a huge growth opportunity for Ireland. Building on initiatives and investments made in 2013, the Action Plan for Jobs 2014 contains a number of further actions aimed at helping to give Ireland a leadership position in these areas including a targeted Call for Innovation Vouchers in the area of data analytics.
The Innovation Voucher initiative has proven to be a very useful tool in encouraging companies to embark on initial innovation projects and to collaborate with higher education research groups. The objective of the Enterprise Ireland Innovation Voucher Initiative is to drive an on-going innovation cultural shift within small enterprise by promoting and encouraging a transfer of knowledge between Ireland’s public knowledge providers and the small business community and creating greater synergies between the two. Under the initiative, vouchers worth €5,000 are allocated to small businesses in order to work with higher education knowledge providers on specific innovation questions.
As part of the Action Plan for Jobs 2014 it was decided that this instrument could be used to introduce relevant companies to the opportunities represented by effective use of data analytics. Enterprise Ireland are currently planning a targeted promotion campaign to highlight the Innovation Voucher programme as a vehicle to encourage companies, with the aid of higher level research providers, to explore specific data analytics solutions for their businesses. It is expected that this call will be launched in Q3 2014.
