Irish SME’s score €26.5 million with highest success rate in Horizon 2020 project
New figures released by the European Commission show that Ireland has the highest success rate in Europe for the Horizon 2020 SME Instrument, with SMEs in the country securing €26.5 million from the fund.
Horizon 2020 is a massive EU project that aims to transform research and innovation with nearly €80 billion in funding designed to provide more breakthroughs, discoveries and world-firsts by taking great ideas from the lab to the market.
Irish SME’s success rate of 16% is far greater than the European average of 6%. Ireland lies in first place for successful participation in this component of the Horizon 2020 initiative.
The largest beneficiary from the programme in Ireland is Radisens Diagnostics, who has received €4.48 million to date.
The SME Instrument Innovators Summit due to take place on the 10th and 11th of October will gather 250 SMEs from across all member states who have received Horizon 2020 funding to meet 142 investors at a brokerage event to initiate steps to commercialise the outcomes of these SME projects.
According to Enterprise Ireland, Irish SMEs are not only more successful than their European counterparts, they are also targeting larger sums of money from the project.
National Director of Horizon 2020, Dr Imelda Lambkin from Enterprise Ireland, says: “Irish SMEs play a vital role in the growth of the Irish economy. Seeing so many Irish companies successful at a European level validates the supports provided by Enterprise Ireland to develop high growth, highly innovative SMEs who have the innovative solutions and capability to win Horizon 2020 funding.”
