02/10/2015

£13.8m EU Funding Call For SME's Officially Opens

A £13.8 million EU funding call for Research & Innovation projects targeted at small and medium sized enterprises has officially opened.

The funding call, under the EU's INTERREG VA Programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) is targeted at SMEs, micro-businesses and research institutions in Northern Ireland, the Border Region of Ireland and Western Scotland. It aims to encourage increased cross-border co-operation to promote higher levels of Research & Innovation (R&I) in the development of new products, processes and tradable services.

Finance Minister Arlene Foster MLA, said: "Northern Ireland has already benefited significantly from previous INTERREG programmes and this current call for business investment in Research & Innovation, will particularly benefit small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

"I expect that this investment will lead to an increased number of SMEs that are research and innovation active and will increase the number engaged in cross-border research and innovation activities."

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