3 | Smart Regions Enterprise Innovation Scheme
1.1 Background The Smart Regions Scheme supported under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is aimed at accelerating economic growth in all regions of the country, by working with stakeholders to deliver on their potential regional enterprise strengths and opportunities, and by strengthening the regional enterprise innovation system. Regional Enterprise Development is a key policy focus for Government, and the Department of Enterprise, Trade & Employment (DETE), which launched a series of nine Regional Enterprise Plans to 2024. These plans build on the progress to date under the previous Regional Action Plan for Jobs, and complement priorities set out in Ireland’s National Smart Specialisation Strategy for Innovation 2022–2027 (S3); the Department of Enterprise, Trade & Employment’s White Paper on Enterprise 2022-2030; the Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies (RSES); Our Rural Future: Rural Development Policy 2021-2025; Project Ireland 2040; Climate Action Plan; Shared Island Initiatives and Enterprise Ireland’s Strategy 2022–2024, Leading in a Changing World. 1.2 Smart Regions: Objectives The overall objective of this Scheme is to drive job creation/retention and enterprise development in each region throughout Ireland. In addition, Smart Regions funding is targeted at strategic locations regionally where an identifiable deficit exists in key infrastructure, which is necessary to support the micro and SME client base. These projects shall be: ώ Collaborative in nature, ώ Innovative, ώ Financially viable, (must be profitable business propositions in the case of Infrastructure projects) ώ Sustainable, ώ Focused on delivering metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) which provide additionality to the existing regional infrastructure.
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