Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 23 November 2023
65. Deputy Michael Moynihan asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will report on the recently announced smart regions enterprise innovation scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51360/23]
View answerThe Deputy is aware that I recently announced that my Department has secured €145 million in funding for the Smart Regions Enterprise Innovation Scheme, co-funded under the European Regional Development Fund.
The overall objective of this scheme is to drive job creation and enterprise development in each region throughout Ireland as well as supporting projects aligned to the nine Regional Enterprise Plans. There is €35 million available under the first call call, which will support local infrastructure projects, innovative clusters and consortia, services to SMEs to drive innovative solutions and feasibility and priming grants for early-stage project development.
Enterprise Ireland, which administers the scheme on behalf of my Department, has detailed information on its website. In addition, Enterprise Ireland is holding a series of webinars on the content of the scheme, which will give prospective applicants more detailed information on each of the scheme's four streams. Over two hundred people registered for the first webinar held on 14 November. A further webinar was held on 21 November with the next webinar to be held on 28 November.
The first call is open until 31 March 2024 and there will be further calls in the coming years. As well as the full information available on its website, Enterprise Ireland's regional staff are available to talk potential applicants through the detail of the scheme.
