Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 18 September 2024
253. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the estimated cost of increasing funding for the digital start initiative to deliver funding to the value of five days of consultancy for firms instead of four days. [36827/24]
View answerThe Government has brought forward a substantial range of measures to reduce costs and enhance support for small businesses. This includes changes to the Local Enterprise Office digitalisation schemes.
Digital Start was first introduced in 2022 and is now called Digital for Business. I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the eligibility criteria for the Digital for Business consultancy scheme has been widened to make businesses with up to 50 employees eligible for the scheme, regardless of sector. Digital for Business is designed to help businesses prepare and implement a plan for the adoption of digital tools and techniques across the business. It provides strategic intervention for businesses to work with third party consultants for up to 3 days to:
• assist them in identifying where they are on their digital business journey,
• develop a digital adaptation plan based on their identified need,
• implement their digital adaptation plan
On 4th of September the Grow Digital Voucher was launched. Under this new offer, the funding available has been increased to up to €5,000 and the eligibility criteria expanded to cover a wider range of digital interventions available to a broader range of businesses compared to the Trading Online Voucher.
Based on a Digital for Business Project report completed within the previous two years, the Grow Digital Voucher can be used to boost efficiency, by streamlining operations and enhancing productivity using digital tools. It can help a business to reach more customers through online sales and marketing and will help businesses to stay competitive by bridging the digital gap allowing them to stay competitive in today’s marketplace.
The 2024 Digital for Business budget is €1,165,500. Increasing Digital for Business to 5 days would increase the budget to an estimated €1,466,817.
