It was announced this month that approximately €700,000 is to be awarded to companies under Enterprise Ireland’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) initiative which will enable them explore innovative solutions to address challenges faced by Local Authorities.

Twenty one companies have been awarded Phase One funding to progress the feasibility of their solutions. Phase One funding will allow each recipient to carry out a feasibility study/prototype of their project. 
 
The announcement was made last week by Smart Dublin, in partnership with Enterprise Ireland, at Fingal County Council. The event was opened by Fingal County Council Chief Executive Paul Reid and Enterprise Ireland’s Head of Innovation and Competitiveness Tom Kelly.

The project is supported by Fingal County Council, Dublin City Council, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown, South Dublin County Council, Belfast City Council, Cork City Council, Waterford City and County Council and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. 
 
Speaking at the event, Head of Innovation and Competitiveness at Enterprise Ireland, Tom Kelly said, "It’s encouraging to see how the four Dublin local authorities have embraced Enterprise Ireland’s SBIR initiative over the last few years and are successfully addressing and finding solutions to challenges facing communities. The process is competitive and allows local authorities to collaborate and work closely with innovation-led SMEs to tackle real-life issues and problems. The solutions produced through these collaborations can potentially be employed to improve local, national and even global societies, with far-reaching benefits for both people and innovative SMEs with global ambition. Enterprise Ireland looks forward to seeing the results of these innovation contracts early next year."

Source: www.businessworld.ie