Smart Regions Enterprise Innovation Scheme supported under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is aimed at accelerating economic growth in all regions of the country, by working with stakeholders to deliver on their potential regional enterprise strengths, taking an entrepreneurial ecosystem approach aligned with Ireland’s new Smart Specialisation Strategy.
Smart Regions Enterprise Innovation Scheme has an acute focus on enterprise development, consistent with Enterprise Ireland’s strategy to 2024 Leading in a Changing World.
Who is it for?
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.
These projects shall be based on a triple helix model, enterprise led and:
- Collaborative in nature
- Innovative
- Financially viable (must be profitable business propositions in the case of Infrastructure projects)
- Sustainable
- Focused on delivering metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) which provide additionality to the existing regional infrastructure.
What is provided?
The Scheme has 4 Streams, which shall support the following activities/projects. The call document is the reference document that provides a detailed description of the call.
The scheme, with a total value of €145.3m will support:
- Local Infrastructure projects
- Innovation clusters & consortia
- Services to SMEs to drive innovation solutions
- Feasibility and Priming Grants
What can it be used for?
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.
These projects shall be:
- Collaborative in nature
- Innovative
- Financially viable (must be profitable business propositions in the case of Infrastructure projects)
- Sustainable
- Focused on delivering metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) which provide additionality to the existing regional infrastructure.
