DUNDALK INSTITUTE of Technology is to lead a new €2.5 million initiative that will create 90 jobs over three years in Border communities in the Republic, the North and in Scotland.
By teaming up with the University of Ulster and the University of Glasgow, the programme allows DkIT, in Co Louth, to work with small and medium enterprises in the three regions.
It will help them to maintain their employment levels while the course organisers expect to create more than 30 new “sustainable” jobs a year for the three years.
The Innovation for Competitive Enterprise department in Dundalk is heading up the programme and will work to increase turnover in 90 companies by 10 per cent. It will give the companies a competitive edge over their rivals by “innovating” across all their operations.
“SMEs have tremendous potential to help lay the foundations for economic recovery and this is especially true in the Border region as well as in Northern Ireland and western Scotland where there is an established culture of entrepreneurship,” said Irene McCausland of DkIT.
All the businesses will be helped to introduce “new or radically changed products and services... we will also work on opening new market segments of niches while a sustainable network of companies will be fostered to allow for future exchange businesses”.
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform Dermot Ahern welcomed the announcement.
“These Border communities are home to resourceful and hardworking people and – as I’ve noted before indifferent contexts – they are not afraid to roll up their sleeves and set about building and growing their own businesses. Jobs created in small and medium enterprises tend to have firm roots in local communities and to be sustainable over time.”