INNOVATION GETS CASH INJECTION

In December, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation launched a new €17 million fund for innovative new firms to create high-quality jobs. The Bank of Ireland Start-up and Emerging Sectors Equity Fund will help entrepreneurs to turn ideas into new products and services for export markets. The fund will target investments between €100,000 and €500,000.

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CASH INJECTION FOR NEW HIGH-TECH FIRMS

A new venture capital fund worth €85 million was announced in November to help high-tech firms in Ireland and Europe get off the ground. The Atlantic Bridge II fund, which is being supported under Enterprise Ireland’s Seed and Venture Capital Programme 2007–2012, will focus on high-tech firms across Ireland and Europe with strong international growth prospects, and will focus particularly on firms in the communications technology, semiconductor and software sectors.

It is expected that the fund will invest between €5 million and €20 million in each firm, with a typical investment cycle of five to eight years.

€40,000 PRIZE FUND FOR BRIGHT IDEAS

The all-Ireland JFC Innovation Awards for Rural Business 2011 are open to application. The prize fund is €40,000 and will recognise the most innovative new businesses and business ideas in the country.

The awards, provided in partnership with JFC Manufacturing Ltd, Teagasc, the Department of Agriculture & Rural Development (DARD) and the Irish Farmers’ Journal, are designed to encourage entrepreneurial development within the farming and rural communities throughout Ireland by rewarding the most innovative new businesses and business ideas.

DEAL DONE TO LIFT TRADE BARRIER

Irish services exports in Europe could rise by up to €16 billion annually after the government agreed new measures that will lift trade barriers for small businesses. The government has approved the signing of the regulations giving effect to the services directive in Ireland, making it easier for businesses and consumers to buy services in the single market.

Ireland was the only country in the Eurozone, bar Germany, to record an increase in export activity in the first half of this year. The objective of the directive is to release the untapped growth potential of services markets in Europe by removing legal and administrative barriers to trade in the services sector. It will create a point of single contact for a firm in one member state to complete the necessary formalities, such as getting a licence or an authorisation to do business in another member state.

The website for Ireland’s national point of single contact (NPSC) is:
www.pointofsinglecontact.ie.

Although the regulations are only coming into effect now, the NPSC has been operating since January 2010.

GRANT OPPORTUNITY NOT TO BE WASTED

The RX3 Feasibility Study Grant is available to recycling companies and research organisations throughout Ireland for feasibility studies to test the viability of a business idea for a new product, process, technology or service. The Feasibility Study Grant Aid is provided through the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government as part of the Market Development Programme for Waste Resources 2007–2011. For information on this grant please log on to www.rx3.ie.

A FOOTNOTE THAT SAVES MILLIONS

The government has recently scrapped the need to reprint headed notepaper with new names each time directorships change. At present, this reprint costs firms in Ireland about €13.5 million annually in printing.

Under the new rules, directors’ names no longer have to be pre-printed on headed paper. Instead, the names can be included in the footer of the letter template, which allows them to appear automatically when each letter is written. The government has indicated that this is the first announcement of many that will attempt to cut out needless costs for businesses and make them more competitive. It is estimated that around 55,000 changes of director occur each year.