Regional enterprise development fund open for applications
Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Mary Mitchell O’Connor TD and Minister of State for Employment and Small Business Pat Breen TD have launched a new Regional Enterprise Development Fund of up to €60 million.
This competitive funding has been provided by the Department of Jobs through Enterprise Ireland and is a key action to support the Regional Action Plan for Jobs and the Action Plan for Rural Development. The Fund is aimed at accelerating economic recovery in every part of the country by delivering on the potential of local and regional enterprise strengths. The Fund will support significant collaborative regional initiatives to build on specific industry sectoral strengths and improve enterprise capability, thereby driving job creation.
Under a competitive process, Enterprise Ireland is now seeking applications for funding under four streams with varying investment levels:
Major Change Projects – €2m up to €5m per project
Regionally Significant Projects – €250,000 up to €2m per project
Local & Community Enterprise Development Projects – €50,000 up to €250,000 per project
Industry Clusters – €50,000 up to €250,000 per project.
Competitive feasibility funding to support the development of high quality regional projects is also available as part of this initiative. Launching the Fund, Jobs Minister Mary Mitchell O’Connor said, “The Regional Action Plans aim to ensure that regional Ireland gets its fair share of economic growth and investment. I want to see collaborative projects that will boost the regions by supporting enterprise and creating jobs. Through this fund, I am delighted to be backing local stakeholders to drive their own futures by putting forward their own innovative proposals to deliver sustainable employment.”
Also speaking at the launch, Minister of State for Employment and Small Business Pat Breen TD said, “Unlocking opportunity in regional Ireland is essential to underpin the future performance of our indigenous companies who are making a huge contribution to the recovery. We know that a one-size-fits-all approach to developing regions won’t work. We want to invest in the unique strengths of each region in the drive to maximise employment and value add to the Irish economy.”
The Regional Action Plans for Jobs seek to build on the strengths and opportunities in each region and to build a regional ecosystem including a diversity of companies and sectors, sectoral clusters, a spirit of innovation and collaboration, a good physical and digital infrastructure and appropriate research and technology capability.
Details of the competitive process are available on Enterprise Ireland’s website www.enterprise-ireland.com/REDF. The closing date for applications is 18th August 2017.
