17th June 2022
- Dublin and Midlands based consortia step closer to joining a new European Digital Innovation Hub network
- Two hubs based in the South and North-West awarded ‘Seal of Excellence’
The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar TD and the Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation, Robert Troy TD today welcomed the announcement by the European Commission that CeADAR based in UCD, Dublin and the FactoryxChange consortium in the Midlands are one step closer to being fully approved as European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs).
The European Union is investing over €700 million to co-fund an EU-wide network of hubs. Each Irish hub is set to receive annual funding of €1.9 million from both the EU and the Irish Government under the National Recovery and Resilience Facility.
These new hubs will work with local SMEs and public sector bodies to help them ‘go digital’, incorporating the benefits of digital technology in their operations, no matter what stage they are currently at.
The hubs will provide help with training, research and testing and advice on funding. They will be up and running by the end of this year.
Subject to the outcome of the next phase of national due diligence and evaluation, the successful Irish candidate hubs which are eligible to be co-funded under the Digital Europe Programme are:
- CeADAR led by Ireland’s EI/IDA Technology Centre in Applied Data Analytics and Machine Intelligence (based in UCD) which will focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI) transformation in SMEs and public-service organisations.
- FactoryxChange (FxC), a consortium led by the EI/IDA Technology Centre Irish Manufacturing Research (IMR) in Mullingar, which will accelerate factories to become ‘Factories of the Future’ integrating ecological, digital, and societal solutions into their core business models.
Through the evaluation process conducted by the European Commission a further two candidate hubs from Ireland have been deemed eligible to join the EU-wide network of Digital Innovation Hubs having been awarded the Commission’s ‘Seal of Excellence’ for the quality of their proposals as follows:
- DATA2SUSTAIN, a consortium led by Atlantic Technological University, Sligo which will develop a comprehensive service programme to increase the transformation capacity and transformation speed of SMEs with a focus on circular economy, operations and sustainability areas.
- ENTIRE, a consortium led by Tyndall National Institute, Cork which will help SMEs in the Agriculture, Energy and Transport sectors to become more competitive in their business or production processes using digital technologies such as sensors.
The Seal of Excellence is a quality label awarded by the Commission to projects which have been assessed in a call for proposals and are deemed to comply with the quality requirements of the call but could not be funded due to European Commission budgetary constraints. These projects may receive support from national sources of funding, subject to additional due diligence and evaluation at member state level.
It is intended that all of the above EDIHs, which will be either co-funded or fully funded by the Government under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, will now go through the remaining evaluation, approval and contract negotiation process before their formal establishment.
Welcoming the Commission’s announcement, the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar TD, said:
“How businesses interact with their customers, how citizens access public services and how we communicate and work with one another is all being transformed by digital technology. We need to make sure we are prepared for what will surely be an acceleration of this trend and that our SMEs especially, are assisted to make the most of new technology and stay ahead of the curve.
We are doing this in many ways, including through direct grant funding, but these European Digital Innovation Hubs, EDIHs, will certainly be a welcome boost to the areas they are placed in and I hope all of our SMEs, no matter where they’re based, will see some benefits. The future is digital and we need to make sure we are prepared.”
Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation, Robert Troy TD, said :
“Today’s announcement of Ireland’s candidate European Digital Innovation Hubs is another step towards ensuring that Ireland is at the forefront of a digital future. Digital transformation, including the adoption of AI, across the enterprise base is a core focus for Government, particularly for SMEs and the regional ecosystem.
This new network, once approved, will help enterprises all around the country to realise the huge opportunities the digital economy presents to improve services, enhance customer experience, and increase competitiveness.”
The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and Enterprise Ireland will now work with the proposed EDIHs over the coming months to progress through the next steps in the national approval process and help them operationalise so they can commence offering their services before the end of the year.
Leo Clancy CEO of Enterprise Ireland said:
“I welcome this important milestone in the development of Ireland’s candidate European Digital Innovation Hubs.
The ambition of the proposed hubs to provide services to SMEs related to digital transformation, circular economy, sustainability, artificial intelligence, manufacturing 4.0 is welcome, as is the regional spread of the hubs here and their overall complementarity.
Increasing the competitiveness and productivity of SMEs through higher levels of operational focus, more innovation and digital adoption is very much in line with Enterprise Ireland’s three-year strategy “Leading in a Changing World”, which is supporting a vision for Irish enterprise to 2030.”
ENDS.
Notes for Editor
About European Digital Innovation Hubs
As part of the Digital Europe Programme, the European Commission, together with EU Member States, are establishing a network of European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs) to support businesses and organisations in their digital transformation and to disseminate the latest advances in digital technologies, cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and High-Performance Computing (HPC).
The EDIHs will be “one-stop-shops”, with a research performing organisation (RPO) or higher education institution (HEI) based lab at the core, to help companies (notably SMEs) and public sector organisations become more competitive in their business/production processes, products or services by providing access to research infrastructure, technical expertise and experimentation, so that these organisations can “test before invest”.
As well as research/testing facilities, EDIHs will also provide other innovation services, such as financing advice, and the training and skills development necessary for a successful digital transformation. Environmental issues will be taken into account, in particular with regard to energy consumption and low carbon emissions. The EDIHs will be co-funded by Member States and the European Commission.
European Commission: EDIHs | Shaping Europe’s digital future (europa.eu)
Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: National Network of European Digital Innovation Hubs - DETE (enterprise.gov.ie)
National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP)
The National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) has been developed by the Government so that Ireland can access funding under the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility. Ireland is expected to receive more than €988 million in grants under the facility. The Recovery and Resilience Facility is the largest component of NextGenerationEU, the European Union’s response to the global pandemic. The aim is to help repair the immediate economic and social damage brought about by the pandemic and to prepare for a post-Covid Europe that is greener, more digital, more resilient and fit to face the future.
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