A £28 million fund to promote research and development in Irish business has been announced by the Minister of State for Science, Technology and Commerce, Mr Noel Treacy.
The fund, an expansion of an earlier scheme, will allow money to be given to more companies for research and development.
Companies will be able to seek grants of up to £350,000, and the fund is expected to finance about a third of the cost of most of the projects it helps. Details will be announced later.
The scheme is aimed at increasing the number of companies undertaking research, technology and innovation for the first time. It will also back the extension of research and development among those already involved.
The organisers hope that Irish businesses will collaborate with firms abroad by undertaking strategic projects which would be too large for them to conduct alone.
Mr Treacy said: "Ireland's rate of business expenditure on R & D has doubled since 1986. This reflects an increased and more widespread level of R & D at company level, and across a wider range of sectors."
During the same period, the number of companies carrying out R & D rose from 586 to 900. Companies with their own R & D departments increased from 243 to 480. While this was solid progress, still more companies needed to be involved, he said.
The new fund - the Research, Technology and Innovation Initiative (RTI) - is an expansion of a previous scheme, known as the Measure 1 Fund, and is also supported by European Regional Development Funds.
The new scheme will be managed by Forbairt for the Government's Office of Science and Technology within the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
The scheme will aim to encourage a commitment to innovation in firms, Mr Treacy said, by improving cost competitiveness and business performance, particularly in small manufacturing enterprises.
The initiative has been welcomed within industry. The chairman of the Industry Research and Development Group, Mr Tony Gannon, said companies had to realise the importance of innovation or die.
