A new COVID-19 Process and Organisational Improvement Grant has been launched to support R&D in the IT, manufacturing, construction, and professional services industries.
Economy Minister Diane Dodds has announced the launch of a new grant that it's hoped will help boost Northern Ireland's industrial process development with a focus on Industry 4.0 tech. The grant is administered by Invest NI is part of its ongoing efforts to help address the impact that Covid-19 has had on local businesses.
A cash grant of £50,000 for small and medium businesses or £200,000 for large businesses is available for eligible companies, which can be used to build internal teams or engage consultants to develop and deploy improvements to a company's processses and organisation.
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Projects must "support the business to work in a new way and help it towards industry 4.0" with a focus on implementing digital technologies and automation in the business to result in improvements. Companies must be in one of four specific categories of business and must have had turnover of at least £500,000 in one of its three last years.
Minister Dodds commented: "This new scheme from Invest NI will provide grant support to eligible companies to accelerate the benefits of Industry 4.0, which is the ongoing automation of traditional manufacturing and industrial practices, using modern smart technology."
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Kevin Holland, CEO, Invest NI, commented: "The specific aim of this scheme is to improve company competitiveness by helping companies build out internal teams to research, identify and implement improvements using new technologies. It will also provide support towards engaging the advice of consultants as needed, if the knowledge does not exist within the business."
Applications for the grant close at noon on Friday 21 May 2021. For more information on the criteria or to apply, head over to https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/covid-19-process-and-organisational-improvement-grant
Source: Written based on press release
