About Smart Regions
Smart Regions Enterprise Innovation Scheme 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.
Intermediate Body:
Enterprise Ireland is the Irish government’s enterprise development agency. They invest in and support the development of Irish-owned companies on their journey to achieving greater scale and to become global leaders in their field. This provides a platform for strong economic growth and creating and sustaining jobs in communities around the country.
Their teams help Irish companies to develop high-growth strategies and to enter new markets with innovative and sustainable solutions.
Smart Regions is co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union under the ERDF Southern, Eastern and Midland Regional Programme 2021-27 and the ERDF Northern and Western Regional Programme 2021-27. Smart Regions will support the following ERDF objectives:
Applications must be submitted within the specified deadlines for consideration.
Scope:
These projects shall be collaborative in nature, innovative, financially viable (must be profitable business propositions in the case of infrastructure projects), sustainable, and focused on delivering metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) that provide additional value to the existing regional infrastructure.
Policy Objective 1:
A more competitive and smarter Europe by promoting innovative and smart economic transformation and regional ICT connectivity.
Policy Objective 1.3:
Specific Objective 1.3: Enhancing sustainable growth and competitiveness of SMEs and job creation in SMEs, including by productive investments (ERDF).
Specific Objective:
The Scheme has four Streams, which shall support the following activities / projects. The call document is the reference document that provides a detailed description of the call.
Reference Document:
The Reference Document sets out the funding criteria, applicant eligibility and project evaluation methodologies.
State Aid Basis:
The first tranche of funding under the Smart Regions Enterprise Innovation Scheme is now available following the official launch by the Minister of Enterprise, Trade & Employment.
Application Process:
For further information on the call for proposals, including the Reference Document, Application Forms and financial templates, visit the Enterprise Ireland website here.
Call Start/ End Dates:
Call 1 is now open. Eligible promoters may apply for funding under the scheme providing they meet the defined evaluation criteria for support. It is envisaged that up to four calls with specific budget allocations will be announced with any unallocated funds on a call being rolled forward to inclusion in a subsequent call. Eligible promoters may apply for funding under the scheme providing they meet the defined evaluation criteria for support.
More Information:
For information on the Enterprise Ireland website.
Smart Regions
Co-Funded Projects
Visit the websites of co-funded projects listed below