Smart Regions Enterprise Innovation Scheme - Launched
Minister Simon Coveney, Department of Enterprise, Trade & Employment announced the new Smart Regions Enterprise Innovation Scheme as part of his Budget 2024 speech this week.
The Smart Region (€145m) fund is an ERDF co-financed scheme and will be administered by Enterprise Ireland. Due to the nature of the fund being ERDF, the scheme itself is a slight departure from previous funds. ERDF is a partnership model between the European Commission, Irish Government, and the Regional Assemblies.
This partnership model has required consultation and engagement with many stakeholders over the past two years, resulting in a scheme that is evidence-based and linked to both EU and national policy instruments. The overall objective of this scheme is to drive job creation/retention and enterprise development in each region throughout Ireland. In addition, Smart Regions funding is targeted at strategic locations regionally where an identifiable deficit exists in key infrastructure, which is necessary to support the micro and SME client base.
The aim of the Smart Regions (Enterprise Innovation Scheme) is to accelerate economic growth across all regions with a focus on enterprise development. The Smart Regions (Enterprise Innovation Scheme) will support the development of innovative services through local infrastructure, innovation clusters, services to SME’s and early-stage feasibility and priming research.
The scheme details and reference documentation is available here - Smart Region Enterprise Innovation Scheme - Enterprise Ireland (enterprise-ireland.com).
The Scheme will have 4 distinct streams, which shall support the following activities / projects:-
- Local infrastructure projects
- Innovation clusters
- Services to SMEs to drive innovation solutions
- Feasibility and Priming Grants
Projects will be based on a triple helix but enterprise-led model of collaboration. There is €35 million available under the first call of the Scheme which will support innovative clusters, local infrastructure projects and feasibility and priming funding for early-stage project development.
Gillian Slattery, Senior Regional Development Executive at Mid-West Region, Enterprise Ireland states “we believe this scheme will be truly impactful for both our regional and local entrepreneurial ecosystems. This investment in our ecosystem can only positively contribute towards making Ireland a world leading location to start and scale a business.”
Stream 2 Innovation clusters is of relevance to the ACCELERATE GDT project. All applicants for Stream Two must be registered as a Not-for-Profit Designated Activity Company (DAC) or a Not-for-Profit Company Limited by Guarantee (CLG) under the Companies Act 2014. Applicants must be an incorporated DAC or CLG by the application date and be linked, for the purposes of the cluster, with at least five independent unrelated companies at regional/county/local level who will create a collaborative proposal with other local and regional stakeholders, to build and improve the regional innovation ecosystems.
Dr John Hobbs, Senior Lecturer and Project Manager for the Interreg Europe ACCELERATE GDT in Munster Technological University welcomes the call. “It is very encouraging to see calls like the Smart Region Enterprise Innovation Scheme and Regional Technology Cluster Fund (RTCF) from Enterprise Ireland focusing on clustering and sparking collaboration across the Triple Helix. However, it must be noted that Ireland must be careful that regional initiatives are sustainable over the longer term and co-ordinated at a national level if the country is to reap the many benefits, we see from clustering in regions across Europe. Alignment of such programmes with the forthcoming National Cluster Programme described in the Irish Governments’ White Paper on Enterprise 2022 – 2030 is imperative. Examples such as Accelerate GDT partners, ACCIO and Metropolitan City of Turin have clusters who are thriving in regions with formalised cluster policy.”