AQW 26750/22-27

Ms Kate Nicholl
Alliance Party
South Belfast

Tabled Date: 08/05/2025
Answered On Date: 20/05/2025
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for the Economy to detail what consideration she has given to providing enhanced research and development support for micro and small businesses.

Answer:

Invest NI Grant for R&D support is available to all company sizes. micro, small and medium sizes companies are eligible for enhanced support of up to 70% support for a small sized company and up to 60% for a medium sized company. In September 2024 Invest NI launched a ‘Boosting R&D’ initiative for SMEs which had not received an offer of R&D support from Invest NI in the previous 3 years. Businesses applying through this initiative can receive a fixed support rate of 70% for up to £100k. Invest NI also has a range of innovation support available to small to medium enterprises (SMEs). Its Business Innovation Grant (BIG) also offers grants of up to £20,000 to support SMEs in Northern Ireland with innovation projects. Invest NI also provides both advice, guidance and financial support to SMEs for innovation and digitalisation projects, product development, process improvement, product certification, and global quality management systems. Invest NI financial support is also available to enable SMEs to access expertise from universities, colleges, Institutes of Technology and other research bodies throughout the North and the South of Ireland.