Over a million euro has been awarded to two Waterford companies under the Regional Enterprise Development Fund.
Of the 77 businesses nationwide that applied for capital funding, just 21 were selected.
In Waterford the successful applicants were Incupharm DAC, which will receive €799,212 and Crystal Valley Tech which has been awarded €219,919.
€29 million euro is being awarded under the scheme which is designed to boost regional employment as part of the Government's Regional Action Plan for Jobs, delivered for the Government through Enterprise Ireland.
It was the second call for proposals under the competitive Fund. Initially allocated €60m for two rounds of funding, the Fund will now operate on a rolling basis as part of Project Ireland 2040.
Minister of State for Training, Skills, Innovation, Research and Development, John Halligan, TD said: “I am very pleased to note that there are a number of successful projects in the South East that have been approved funding today.
Incupharm in Waterford will provide bespoke laboratory space to support life sciences start-ups; in association with IT Carlow, a new Design Innovation Hub will be developed in Kilkenny for companies in all sectors who want to conceptualise, innovate and build new products and services; while the Crystal Valley tech cluster for the region will be supported to grow its activities. These projects together represent an investment by Government of over €2.8 million for the South East region under this second call.”
Incupharm DAC, to be based at the Worklabs centre in the IDA Industrial Estate on the Cork Road Waterford, will offer fully serviced cleanroom and laboratory facilities for rental to start-up Life Sciences companies while also providing existing SMEs in the sector with additional space to expand their operations.
The announcement was welcomed by South East Action Plan for Jobs Industry Champion for Life Sciences, Patsy Carney, who said:
“The Incupharm centre will be a critical piece of infrastructure in the life sciences ecosystem in the South East region and means that the sector is fully serviced with top quality research facilities in PMBRC and SEAM in WIT and now this laboratory space that will allow new start-ups to grow and existing companies to develop new products”.
The need for this facility was highlighted in the first South-East Action Plan for Jobs 2015-2017 and a stakeholder group was formed to further this effort. “It is great to see the collaborative efforts of a wide range of stakeholders in the South East come to fruition with this funding announcement”, Mr. Carney added.
Pictured from left, Prof. Willie Donnelly President of WIT (Waterford Instutute of Technology), Elaine Fennelly CEO Crystal Valley Tech, Minister of State John Halligan TD. and Brian Fives, Enterprise Ireland. Picture: Patrick Browne
