New Digital Transition Fund
Yesterday, Government announced a new €85 million fund to help businesses go digital. The Digital Transition Fund has been allocated funding of €85 million during the period to 2026 as part of Ireland’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan. €10 million will be available in 2022. It will be administered by Enterprise Ireland.
The Fund will be used to help companies use digital technology like AI, cloud computing and big data to improve their products, processes, supply chains and services. The funding will help companies at all stages of their digital journey – from going online to facilitating exporting and to using digital technologies to reach new markets and improve their productivity and competitiveness.
A new online website is also being developed which will allow companies assess what their needs are and point towards their next steps to improve their offering through digital technology. As part of Ireland’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan, the Digital Transition Fund will drive transformative digitalisation of enterprise in Ireland, particularly amongst SMEs. The programme will help companies at all stages of their digitalisation journey.
Digital transformation
Embracing digital technologies is crucial for our post pandemic economic recovery. A competitive, innovative and resilient enterprise base is essential to provide high-quality jobs and employment opportunities for people to live and prosper in all regions. Businesses can harness digital technologies in many ways – including to better understand their customers, reduce their costs and improve their products.
Reasons to digitalise
Digital technologies have the power to transform small businesses, opening new opportunities that were previously only available to businesses of scale. The COVID-19 crisis has amplified the power of digital in building business resilience. Indeed, there is a substantial risk in companies not engaging with digital – the competitiveness and productivity gap between digitally-enabled firms and businesses with low levels of digital maturity must be addressed.
Digitalisation can deliver:
- reduced costs and increased productivity
- better products and services
- market expansion and diversification
- greater access to strategic resources
- greater access to innovation
- Online Platform Economy
- Climate Action: Digital technologies can support
- Help is available for businesses
The Funding will be used to help companies at all stages of their digital journey – from the early days of simply going online to digitalisation of products and business processes, to facilitating exporting and to using digital technologies to develop new markets and business models.
Full details of the Digital Transition Fund are available on Digital Transition Fund / Ciste Trasdula Digiteach - Enterprise Ireland.
