Harris launches fund worth over €80m to support technological universities

The Minister of Further and Higher Education has launched a fund worth over €80 million to support research and enterprise engagement at technological universities (TU). 

Minister Simon Harris TD announced details of the TU Research and Innovation Supporting Enterprise (TU RISE) Fund today (July 6), stating it was an important investment in "cementing the links between education and enterprise". 

He said, "This funding will ensure there is greater and more structured engagement with regional enterprises, in particular, small and medium enterprises (SMEs). 

"This new fund builds further on the significant support already being provided by Government for the establishment and continuing development of our new technological universities. 

"RISE will focus on the research capacity building element which is so fundamental to the TUs and with a focus on enhancing engagement with regional enterprises." 

The TU RISE scheme - co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund - aims to establish, strengthen and systemise research and innovation offices in TUs and institutes of technology (IoTs). 

Funding will reportedly be allocated by Quarter 4 this year. 

The minister continued: "TU RISE is directed at developing researcher human capital in the TUs, including staff development, recruitment, postgraduate training and supervision, networking, and collaborative knowledge-transfer and mobility schemes. 

"It will bolster regional entrepreneurship through investment in the TUs, leveraging the role of these higher education institutions as anchors for enterprise and for regional growth in line with the tenets of the 2019 TURN report and the ambitions of the TU national agenda. 

"TU RISE is in my view a hugely significant programme that will produce real benefits for the TUs, their staff, students and stakeholders and for our regions more generally." 

Through TU RISE, funding of €63.68m is available under the Southern, Eastern and Midland Regional Programme, with €20m funding available under the Northern and Western Regional Programme. 

Institutional eligibility for the Southern, Eastern and Midland Regional Programme (€63M):

• Munster Technological University (Southern Region)
• Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest (Eastern and Midland Region, Southern Region)
• South East Technological University (Southern Region)
• Technological University Dublin (Eastern and Midland Region)
• Dundalk Institute of Technology (Eastern and Midland Region)
• Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology (Eastern and Midland Region)

Institutional eligibility for the Northern and Western Regional Programme (€20M): 

• Atlantic Technological University 

The closing date for applications is September 14, 2023 with projects expected to commence in 2024.