Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 23 November 2023
73. Deputy Michael Moynihan asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment how he is helping businesses in rural Ireland establish a digital presence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51362/23]
View answerDigitalisation is critical to the Government's policy priority of regional enterprise development. Digitalisation can deliver a multitude of benefits including reduced costs and increased productivity, better products and services, market expansion and diversification, and can also support business as they work to reduce their climate impact.
The adoption of digital technologies by all businesses, in particular SMEs, is vital to sustain Ireland’s attractiveness as a location for leading digital enterprises; and maximise the benefits of the digital transition for the wider ecosystem, across productivity, innovation and competitiveness, as well as regional development.
The Government is determined to tackle the two-speed digital economy by supporting more business owners to enhance their online capabilities and presence to exploit opportunities in existing and new markets. To bridge the gap between the levels of digitalisation in the indigenous, locally traded sector and the larger MNCs, work is underway between my Department, Enterprise Ireland, and the LEO Centre of Excellence to examine how to broaden eligibility for digital funding schemes to increase access for businesses which are currently not eligible.
Under the National Digital Strategy, 'Harnessing Digital – The Digital Ireland Framework', the Government has committed to driving a step change in the digitalisation of enterprise across Ireland. Growing the use of digital technologies by businesses will help us to build the resilience of our enterprise base in all parts of the country, particularly as we look to future-proof our economy for the years ahead.
The National Digital Strategy sets out specific targets for the digitalisation of enterprise, including achieving 75% enterprise take-up of cloud, big data and AI by 2030; ensuring that 90% of our SMEs have reached at least a basic level of digital intensity by 2030; and ensuring that at least 35% of State funding for start-up and early-stage businesses is invested in innovative digital businesses from 2022 onwards. It also sets a target of at least 720 businesses supported under the Digital Transition Fund by 2026.
To help businesses work towards digitalisation, my Department launched the Digital Transition Fund in 2022 as part of Ireland’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan. The Fund has been allocated €85 million over the period to 2026. Administered by Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and Údarás na Gaeltachta through a variety of schemes, this fund is helping companies at all stages of their digitalisation journey, particularly SMEs.
My Department has nine new Regional Enterprise Plans in place, which will encourage collaboration among stakeholders to strengthen the regional offering for enterprise and therefore create an environment for successful economic development, sustainable employment and growth across the country.
Ireland’s network of European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs), funded by the Digital Europe Programme and the Recovery and Resilience Fund, provide support to SMEs to adopt the latest advances in three key digital technologies: Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence, and High-Performance Computing. The four EDIHs in Ireland are CeADAR, FactoryxChange (FxC), DATA2SUSTAIN, and ENTIRE, and have a presence across all regions.
The network of 31 Local Enterprise Offices also offers a range of digitalisation supports to eligible businesses, including through the Trading Online Voucher scheme, which is in place to help businesses develop their online trading capability, and Digital Start, which is designed to help businesses prepare and implement a plan for the Digital Start can be used to obtain digital strategic, technical and/or advisory services from approved providers.
For retail businesses, the Online Retail Scheme was introduced by my Department in conjunction with Enterprise Ireland as part of the ongoing work of the Retail Forum. The Online Retail Scheme was developed in response to an identified need to drive a step change in online capability in the retail sector. Since 2018 more than 850 projects from retailers based in Ireland have been approved for €30m in funding through seven rounds of competitive calls. This Scheme aims to develop the resilience of the domestic retail enterprise sector through enhancing online sales capabilities to drive productivity and increase competitiveness and subsequently scale businesses in international markets.
Work is also under way on a Digital Portal to demystify digital and support businesses on the digital adoption journey. This portal will help businesses to self-assess their digital needs, as well as signposting to training, resources, and funding options that will help them to digitalise, and will be available to all businesses.
