Dáil Éireann Debate, Friday - 7 September 2018
541. Deputy Maurice Quinlivan asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the number of businesses that have availed of the market discovery fund to date; the estimated spend in 2018 and 2019, for the market discovery fund; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36311/18]
View answerA key strategy for Irish companies to withstand current global economic challenges is to diversify their export footprint. Enterprise Ireland launched the Market Discovery Fund in January 2018 with the aim of encouraging companies to expand into new markets by helping with the costs of researching viable and sustainable market entry strategies.
The Fund provides support towards both internal and external costs incurred by companies when researching new markets for products and services. Eligible companies can receive support when they are looking at a new geographic market for an existing product/service, or when looking at exporting a new product/service to a market that they already do business in.
The Market Discovery Fund is available across three levels:
- Level 1: Grant up to €35K
- Level 2: Grant greater than €35K but less than €75K
- Level 3: Grant greater than €75K but less than €150K
The maximum funding is 50% of eligible expenditure up to a maximum grant of €150,000. Eligible expenditure includes, but is not limited to, salary support, consultancy costs, trade fair costs and foreign travel.
The Market Discovery Fund has now been open for applications for a number of months and to date, 88 Market Discovery Grants have been approved by Enterprise Ireland. Since the launch of the Market Discovery Grant, EI has approved in excess of €2 million under this initiative. Currently there is a strong demand pipeline for this support and Enterprise Ireland estimates that €4 - 5 million will be approved by year end. Companies approved funding under this support have 18 months to drawdown approved funding. Enterprise Ireland is not in a position to comment on budgets for 2019 at this time.
Enterprise Ireland supports for enterprise are demand led, and I am confident that sufficient budgetary resources have been made available to EI to support all companies who are eligible for the grant. EI is actively promoting the suite of supports available to client companies to ensure that companies are prepared for Brexit.
It should be noted that the Market Discovery Fund is only one of a wide range of supports offered by my Department and its Agencies to help businesses prepare for Brexit.
