New £4million innovation grant for NI businesses

Northern Ireland Economy Minister Gordon Lyons on Wednesday announced a new grant to support local businesses to develop and implement innovative projects.

The £4million Economic Recovery Innovation Grant (ERIG) will provide up to £5,000 of support to SMEs develop new, or improve existing, products, services or processes through innovation.

Developed by Invest Northern Ireland to support businesses to recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the scheme is part funded by the Economic Recovery Action Plan of NI government’s Department for the Economy.

“This new grant is aimed at those businesses that have an innovative idea and are testing, validating, and developing it, getting it ready to commercialise or implement. It will provide grants of up to £5,000 towards eligible costs for the development, testing and introduction of an innovative idea into a business,” Lyons said.

Businesses can access the grant to support eligible costs to progress their innovative idea/project. Such costs may include: Testing and developing new products or processes; Equipment; Skills Development; Marketing; and Consultancy.

Any business interested in applying to the scheme must complete an Innovate NI assessment first, which is quick and easy to complete on www.innovateni.com. Those businesses assessed as Silver Level Innovators will then be eligible to apply for ERIG.

“Innovation demands both creativity and process – a structured managed process. The right idea, which has been tested and developed, and commercialised or implemented can create the best value. This process can seem intimidating to smaller businesses. We want to provide as much support as we can to help them move from innovative ideas to commercialisation, and add value to their business,” Kevin Holland, CEO, Invest NI said.

The ERIG scheme is now open for applications, and will close at 5.00pm on Monday 31 January 2022. Grants will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. If the available budget is fully allocated before this date, Invest NI reserves the right to close applications early.

Invest NI recommends that you apply as early as possible, as the application and assessment process may take eight working weeks to complete.

Full details on the scheme, eligibility criteria and how to apply are available here.