Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 31 January 2023
156. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will specify the breakdown of the capital and current budget allocations of the €7 million for Science and Technology Programme, including European Digital Innovation Hubs, in the budget 2023 expenditure report, in tabular form. [4477/23]
View answerThe Science and Technology and Development programme provides funding for Enterprise Ireland's Ireland’s (EI) Research, Development and Innovation programmes. These programmes support direct and indirect research, development and innovation supports for indigenous companies and supports the commercialisation of State funded research.
For 2023 the Science, Technology and Development programme has been allocated €158.1m in funding, just over €6m of this total is current funding for the central resource in EI to manage and facilitate its RD&I activities.
Of the €158.1m in funding an additional €7million in capital funding was allocated in 2023 for the following schemes:
- €3m for the European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs) bringing the 2023 funding for EDIHs to €6m. The EDIHs will be “one-stop-shops”, with a research performing organisation or higher education institution based lab at the core, to help companies (notably SMEs) and public sector organisations become more competitive in their business/production processes, products or services by providing access to research infrastructure, technical expertise and experimentation, so that these organisations can “test before invest”.
- €2.5m for High Potential Start Ups (HPSUs) and Enhanced Pre-seed support as well as covering the extension of the Technology Gateway Programme and the Knowledge Transfer Ireland Technology Transfer Strengthening Initiative.
- €1.5m for the Construct Innovate Construction sector Technology Centre and for innovation & productivity support to the domestic construction residential sector.
Further additional capital funding was also allocated in 2023 to the programme for the following measures:
- €15.656m for the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) Projects - KT (Knowledge Transfer) Boost Initiative, the new Technology Gateways Programme and the Needs Led Training Initiative. The three programmes will drive collaboration with our Higher Education Institutes, increase commercialisation and promote the formation of HPSUs.
- An additional €0.5m was allocated from the Housing for All Fund on a once off basis to support the Construction Technology Centre.
|
Additional funding - Science, Technology & Development Programme 2023 |
Amount |
|
ERDF Projects |
€15.656m |
|
EDIHs (additional funding) |
€3m |
|
HPSU / Enhanced Pre-seed Support / Tech Gateway & TTSI Extension |
€2.5m |
|
Construct Innovate Technology Centre and Innovation & productivity support to domestic construction residential sector |
€1.5m |
|
Construct Innovate Technology Centre once-off grants |
€0.5m |
|
Total |
€23.156m |
