Press release
Businesses encouraged to go digital at National Ploughing Championships
From Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment
Published on
Last updated on
Enabling businesses to embrace digital was the key message from Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation Dara Calleary during his visit to the National Ploughing Championships.
Minister Calleary highlighted how the new €5,000 Grow Digital Voucher is helping small businesses digitise by availing of solutions such as payroll, customer insights and cyber security.
Minister Calleary said:
"This voucher will help businesses invest in digital offerings for their operational needs, such as software tools to offer online booking, AI to streamline stock control and of course cybersecurity support, all designed to modernise operations and boost efficiency. Available throughout the country’s Local Enterprise Offices, the new Grow Digital Voucher will help small businesses reap the benefits of digital and stay competitive."
Available to businesses with up to 50 employees, the new Grow Digital Voucher replaces the previous Trading Online Voucher with enhanced support on offer through the funding of a wider range of digital solutions with all businesses eligible, irrespective of export status.
The voucher is also a key feature of the new Grow Digital portal. Developed by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, the portal is a free service enabling businesses to self-assess their digital capability with a personalised scorecard and recommendations aimed at driving efficiencies. The Grow Digital Voucher can be used to help businesses act on these recommendations.
Several case studies demonstrating how different businesses benefited by embracing digital solutions are included in the Grow Digital portal together with further information on the various government supports, such as from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment through its agencies Enterprise Ireland, the Local Enterprise Offices and IDA Ireland as well as Údarás na Gaeltachta, including additional training and funding options.
Minister Calleary went on to say:
"The Grow Digital portal is a free digital toolkit designed to support businesses in embracing the opportunities offered by digital technologies. Businesses can do a 5-minute assessment to find out how digitally ready they are, plan their next steps, and access valuable resources and support. They can also read about other business’ digital success stories from across Ireland. This drive is part of Government’s wider commitment to support business under the SME Package."
Find out more by visiting growdigital.gov.ie.
Grow Digital is a website developed by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment in conjunction with Enterprise Ireland, the Local Enterprise Offices, Údarás na Gaeltachta, and IDA Ireland. The launch of Grow Digital is a key deliverable under Harnessing Digital, the National Digital Strategy, to help achieve the targets of 90% of SMEs having at least basic digital intensity, and at least 75% take-up of AI, Cloud, and Data Analytics by 2030.
Grow Digital has a case study catalogue with digital success stories from a range of businesses, showcasing how they have embraced digital solutions to boost their operations. Over time this catalogue will grow to include more businesses across a range of sectors, and from every county.
This project has been funded by the Digital Transition Fund as part of Ireland’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan, under the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).
The new Grow Digital Voucher was opened on 4 September and is available through the Local Enterprise Offices. It can help implement recommended digital interventions that a business receives through the Grow Digital Portal. The Voucher offers businesses with up to 50 employees financial support of up to €5,000. It represents an expansion of the Trading Online Voucher by including a wide range of digital software solutions and expanding eligibility to all businesses. It can be used to invest in technology such as online booking, stock control, AI, customer insights, payroll software, and cyber security. Funding will be in the form of a grant. The grant aid will be 50% of eligible costs with minimum grant aid of €500 up to a maximum grant of €5,000 per application.
Digital for Business is a scheme operated by Local Enterprise Offices that provides expert digital consultants to help businesses on their digital journey by analysing existing digital systems in the business to identify potential gaps in meeting business needs and exploring opportunities to optimise existing systems and to integrate with new solutions to enhance business operations. Digital for Business is open to small enterprises (with between 1 and 50 employees) who are established and trading for at least 12 months.
For more information on all government supports available to businesses visit the National Enterprise Hub.
In response to the crisis caused by coronavirus, the European Commission brought forward the recovery instrument NextGenerationEU. The centrepiece of NextGenerationEU is the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) - an instrument that offers grants and loans to support reforms and investments in EU Member States. RRF funds are being provided to Member States in line with their National Recovery and Resilience plans (NRRP) –roadmaps of reforms and investments aimed to make EU economies greener, digital and more resilient.
As part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), the Digital Transition Fund aims to drive transformative digitalisation of enterprise in Ireland, particularly amongst SMEs. The Digital Transition Fund has been allocated funding of €85 million during the period to 2026.