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Businesses and their partners applying for DTIF funding under call six will have to demonstrate that their project looks at industry and is experimental.
The Government has decided to broaden the scope of its Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund (DTIF) for its sixth call.
The open call for tech disruptors and start-ups was launched today (8 March) at an event in Glasnevin, Co Dublin. In a change from previous open calls for DTIF, this one broadens the scope of who can be accepted, with applicants now obliged to include a focus on “industrial research” and “experimental development”.
In the past, the State has funded projects that focus on sectors from life sciences to sustainability. It has allocated €288m to 86 projects so far under the previous four DTIF calls. The scheme was initially announced in 2018.
There will be further funding announcements made in the next few weeks under DTIF calls four and five. Recent announcements under the fourth call included Dublin’s CroiValve, Galway’s InVera Medical and biotech GlasPort Bio as recipients of the funding.
At the launch event for the sixth funding call, Government Ministers were able to see how a project that was awarded funding under the second DTIF call is progressing.
The Nextgen Heat project is being worked on by a consortium of Exergyn Ltd, Dublin City University and Fort Wayne Metals Ireland Ltd.
The people working on Nextgen Heat are creating a zero-emission, refrigerant-free heat pump which will enable Ireland’s transition to a low-carbon economy. The team was awarded €2.4m in DTIF funding in December 2019.
DTIF calls encourage such collaboration between industry and academia. The calls rule that each project seeking funding must have at least one SME and one other enterprise in a consortium of three or more project partners.
All partners must be based in Ireland and be a client of Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, Údarás na Gaeltachta or Science Foundation Ireland. The minimum funding request must be €1.5m for projects of up to three years’ duration.
SME partners must provide matched funding while large companies must provide 60pc project funding.
Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney, said that this latest call will “provide an opportunity for our enterprise and research sectors to demonstrate their ability to respond to the twin green and digital transitions.”
“These two major global transformations will provide major opportunities for new firms to emerge and for existing Irish firms to gain market share in new technologies and industries.”
He praised the work done by Exergyn and its partners on the heat pump project from the second call.
The deadline for applications for the sixth call is 3pm on 31 May 2023. More information on application details is available on the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment’s website.
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