Funding Announced For Entrepreneurs In The Regions

Up to €3 million in funding has been secured for investment to support entrepreneurs in the regions.

The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton, launched the new funding today (Friday), with news of an open competitive call to stakeholders to signal their interest in establishing accelerators.

The €3m Scheme is the first competitive initiative to be launched under the €40m competitive regional jobs fund announced by the Government on 15 January.

The funding has been provided by the Department of Jobs, through Enterprise Ireland.

Making the announcement Minister Bruton said: "Jobs are growing in every region right across the country, but they are growing faster in some regions than in others.

"A key part of our action plan for jobs is accelerating jobs growth right across the country, and a key part of this is encouraging more start-ups in every region.

"Start-ups create two thirds of all new jobs, and if we can support more businesses to start-up and more businesses to survive, this will make a major impact on the level of job-creation in each region.

"Today's announcement is the first competitive call for expressions of interest under the Accelerator Development Scheme which aims ultimately to create more accelerator spaces where start-ups can locate their businesses and access supports around the country.

"I encourage business-people and other stakeholders in every region to get involved in this initiative."

Enterprise Ireland is inviting expressions of interests from domestic and international stakeholders with the capital and the relevant expertise to make this initiative a success.

Julie Sinnamon, CEO of Enterprise Ireland, commented: "The National Policy Statement on Entrepreneurship noted that a key challenge is to develop the regional spread of start-up activity by enhancing the start-up environment outside Dublin.

"It also noted that this will include working to develop targeted accelerators where gaps exist to enhance the quality of start-ups, with a particular focus on the regional start-up ecosystem.

"This Scheme has been specifically designed to meet that challenge and it forms a core part of Enterprise Ireland's strategic objective of supporting the creation of a greater number of successful start-ups across the country."

Enterprise Ireland is interested in funds that will support entrepreneurship outside of Dublin in key strategic sectors including Food, Agritech, ICT, Cleantech, Lifesciences, Financial Services, Internationally Traded Services, and Manufacturing.

(MH/JP)