Mr. Mark Huddleston:

Yes. We are building on some of the knowledge from a direct 5A activity and the support we gave there. There are two specific areas which are particularly SME-focused, but they can have from small businesses right down to micro-businesses and through to large enterprises take part. Theme 2 is where they are focused and 2.2 is our innovation challenge fund. The only stipulation we have specifically is that there is a cross-Border partnership created and, along with that, a research institute that is based within the programme areas as part of that. That does not preclude those outside the programme area taking part and supporting that as long as the benefit is delivered within the programme areas. That has seen a lot of interest from the institutions both in higher and further education on both sides of the Border and we have seen some interest in partnerships develop there.

That is thrown over, so to speak, into 2.3, which is the skills investment area, where again we are seeing interest in cross-Border partnerships developing both in higher and further education. We are seeing the new institutions such as the ATU on the west coast becoming a real key player in that activity as well. It has that great understanding of what the need is on the ground in key sectors and we are trying to reach beyond that. A desire of the Department, DFHERIS, is to see those that have been most impacted by Covid-19, such as in hospitality and tourism, for example, or those likely to be most impacted by new technology and AI being supported, and both organisations are very keen to see that the delivery partners are from across the island and not in the programme area as well.