Local Minister Denis Naughten has welcomed the allocation of €250,000 to establish a new Smart Technology Enterprise Hub in Monksland, which has the potential to create 26 new high end jobs within the next year.
Minister Naughten pointed out: ” This project has been developed with a team of dedicated volunteers from the local area, with the assistance of Roscommon LEADER, Athlone Chamber of Commerce and the One in a Million Organisation, and shows a clear commitment from Government to develop Monksland as a vital economic driver for job creation in County Roscommon.
“The project, which I helped to start back in 2012, involves the creation of a new enterprise incubation hub in the area to focus on high tech/digital micro enterprises in the IT, creative industries and smart technology.
“On top of the financial commitment from Enterprise Ireland of €250,000 for the new enterprise hub, there are strong indications that significant support will also be made available locally to ensure this hub becomes key to attracting additional technology investment into the region.
“To complement this investment Roscommon Local Enterprise Office will share in a fund worth €650,000 to help support job creation within sectors with significant growth potential in County Roscommon.
“While it is disappointing that other local applications for enterprise centre funding was unsuccessful on this occasion, I hope that these projects can secure funding through the next funding round,” concluded Denis Naughten.
The Regional Job Creation Funds were set up to boost job creation by encouraging ‘bottom up’ collaborative projects between private and public organisations e.g. providing incubation space, mentoring entrepreneurs , start-up accelerator programmes, supporting industry clusters within and between local and regional areas as well as local driven initiatives.
Enterprise Ireland will issue another call for proposals towards the end of this year. This new call for proposals will be open to those that may have been unsuccessful under the first call for proposals and also to new applicants.