From left: Peter Burke, TD; Gavin Keane, lead design Engineer, APT; and Liam Brown, VP of research, development and innovation, TUS. Image: Fintan Clarke\Coalesce
In total, the fund has supported the industry with more than 200 equipment purchases worth €55m.
10 projects have secured a total of €12.1m as part of the 2024 Capital Equipment Call to improve their industry research and innovation capabilities by purchasing state-of-the-art tech.
Administered by Enterprise Ireland, individual projects will receive awards of up to €2m, with the fund poised particularly to assist innovation in sustainability and manufacturing.
The funding will allow the awardees to improve Ireland’s 17 technology gateways as well as nine technology centres. Since 2019, the fund, which supports research, development and innovation activities across sectors, has enabled the purchase of more than 200 pieces of equipment, totalling €55m.
The latest awardees were selected from a pool of 24 eligible candidates and include projects from the Centre for Research in Engineering Surface Technology at the Technological University Dublin, Medical and Engineering Technology, based at the Atlantic Technological University and Construct Innovate from Trinity College Dublin.
Enterprise Ireland’s Technology Gateway programme, with 17 centres in five technological universities, offers companies with access to more than 350 industrially focused researchers, together with specialist equipment and facilities.
The Technology Centre programme, a joint collaboration between Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland, has worked with more than 300 members companies for market-focused R&D projects in collaboration with research centres.
Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment Peter Burke, TD, who announced the funding today (10 February), said: “This funding will further add to our system of supports to our enterprise sector, with the new equipment being an important tool for companies on their growth and innovation journey.
“It will allow our research network to continue to provide cutting-edge support to Irish enterprise across all sectors and all regions in Ireland, providing more quality jobs along the way.”
Marina Donohoe, Enterprise Ireland’s divisional manager for research and innovation said that the scale of the investment will have an “extremely positive impact” on companies in Ireland, and in particular, on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
“The cost of the equipment funded here is prohibitive to most SMEs so the provision of it in the technology gateways and technology centres means companies will have access to leading-edge facilities that will in turn help to improve their technical capabilities and deliver world leading products and services.
“With an emphasis on sustainability, the new equipment will provide Irish companies with the means to dramatically improve their competitiveness whilst also positively contributing to Ireland’s action on climate change.”
In 2023, 48 projects from third-level institutions secured €16.5m under the Capital Equipment Fund.
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