As part of Ireland’s New Year tech resolution, the Irish Research Council (IRC) will be making €16m available in funding to Irish companies looking for researchers to assist them. This will be the largest fund ever given to research by the IRC.
The fund is aimed particularly at small and medium-sized enterprises which are looking to take advantage of Ireland’s top researchers in the higher education and business sectors and turn research into viable business models.
The IRC has been involved in funding a number of different grants and projects for a number of years and to date has supported the development of more than 200 companies.
Speaking about this recent fund, chair of the IRC, Prof Orla Feely, said: “The programmes on offer advance the objective of supporting researchers in the development of their careers, as well as assisting business in tackling specific research challenges. The schemes are unique in that they are open to any type of company, in any field or discipline.
“Big companies, especially multinationals, have a strong record of research support but these schemes also allow SMEs to develop in this area and many have already done so to date,” Feely added.
