The Local Agenda 21 Environmental Partnership Fund promotes sustainable development by assisting small scale, non-profit environmental projects at a local level. Projects are recommended for funding by local authorities following an open call for applications. A total of 490 projects have been funded this year. These projects are co-funded by the Department and Local Authorities...

The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD, together with the Minister of State for Small Business, John Perry TD have launched Managing Out of The Crisis, a simple guide to assist small businesses in difficulty. Developed in response to a recommendation from the Advisory Group for Small Business, Provides simple advice for...

Much of a company’s environmental impact can be traced to its supply chain.  Awareness of the intrinsic risks and opportunities associated with supply chain sustainability enables companies to understand and improve the environmental performance of their supply chains. However few companies Set supply chain sustainability goals Are aware of the best practices Follow the emerging...

Cities can win an award of €10,000 with the European Commission’s newly introduced Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan award. The European Commission recognises that sustainable urban mobility planning is key to creating sustainable urban transport systems which meet people’s needs. The EU’s first award has been launched to encourage the adoption of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans...

The European Commission has announced the final and biggest ever set of calls for proposals for research under its Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). €8.1 billion will support projects and ideas that will boost Europe’s competitiveness and tackle issues such as human health, protecting the environment and finding new solutions to growing challenges linked to urbanisation and...

In the 20-year gap between the two Rio summits (1992 – 2012), the earth’s population has grown from 5.4 billion to more than 7 billion – a leap of almost 30 %.  This has had a knock-on effect on global use of natural resources, in tandem with increasing per capita consumption levels. Although greenhouse gas...

Funding of €337,000 has been allocated to local authorities by Mr. Phil Hogan, T.D., Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government to fund projects under the Local Agenda 21 (LA21) Environmental Partnership Fund 2012. Matching funding by local authorities will bring shared potential partnership funding to €674,000. The Fund promotes sustainable development by assisting small...

The Advisory Council on Science, Technology and Innovation (ACSTI) made a series of recommendations on how best to support research centres in Ireland with a view to optimising future potential social and economic returns from State investments in research, development and Innovation (RD&I). The report, entitled, Sustainability of Research Centres, looks at the makeup and...

InterTradeIreland is active in facilitating SME partnerships and North/South collaborations through a range of supports and a dedicated web resource providing guidance, advice and links to other useful websites. InterTradeIreland Cross Border Collaboration Voucher – that can be redeemed against the cost of travel or accommodation for up to £500 / €550 when meeting with partners,...

The Council of the European Commission has agreed on the main elements of the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) Programme (called COSME) which is designed to boost the creation, growth and competitiveness of this category of companies across the EU. COSME budget of 2.5 billion euros for the whole period. Final...