Enterprise Ireland Funding

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 12 July 2018

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Thursday, 12 July 2018

Questions (320)

Billy Kelleher

Question:

320. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the number of firms with fewer than ten employees that have applied to Enterprise Ireland programmes (details supplied); the number that have successfully applied and been granted funding for the programmes; and the percentage of firms as a proportion with fewer than ten employees that have applied out of all firm sizes to each programme out of all applicant firms. [32133/18]

Written answers

Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation

Enterprise Ireland (EI) supports companies in urban and rural areas to start, innovate and remain competitive in international markets, now and into the future. EI’s focus for 2018 is to help clients build on the strength of their 2017 performance by supporting them to innovate, be competitive and to diversify their global footprint - key attributes required to be resilient to economic shocks, such as those emerging from any kind of Brexit.

In November 2017, EI launched a new fast-track Agile Innovation Fund to give companies rapid access to innovation funding. This fund supports companies in sectors with rapid design cycles to maintain their technology position. To date there have been 18 approvals, of which 3 (or 16.07 per cent) were to companies who reported less than 10 employees at the time of approval.

EI’s In-house Research, Development and Innovation Fund supports the development of new or substantially improved products, services or process. The table below presents in-house research, development and innovation fund approvals in each of the years 2014 to 2017 and to date in 2018 for companies with less than 10 employees.

R&D Fund Approvals 2014- 2018	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	Grand Total
R&D Fund 2014- 2018 - companies of <10 employees	20	10	6	8	1	45
R&D Fund 2014- 2018 - All companies (incl. <10 employees)	179	129	101	118	31	558
<10 cohort as % of Total all companies	11%	8%	6%	7%	3%	8%

Enterprise Ireland’s Strategic Consultancy Grant is open to SMEs only, in line with the EU State aid requirements for consultancy support. The aim of this offer is to improve the strategic capability of SMEs and to assist in the development of specific strategic initiatives. The table below presents the number of Strategic Consultancy grants approved in each of the years 2014 to 2017 and to date in 2018 for companies with less than 10 employees.

Year	No of Strategic Consultancy Approvals
2014	56
2015	51
2016	45
2017	57
2018	26
Grand Total	235

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