Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We have some really good Irish companies. We are working with the SMEs on how to work collaboratively with foreign direct investment to leverage some of their talent, skills and experience. When both work together the results are better. Under the disruptive technologies innovation fund, another tranche of which I will be announcing soon, one of the qualifying criteria is the involvement of an SME. This is about disruptive technologies coming on stream into the future and collaboration in that regard between the universities, the foreign direct investment sector and indigenous companies. We have many innovation hubs in our universities. Enterprise Ireland is one of the largest investors in the world in terms of venture capital and one of the largest in Europe. We support our companies through Enterprise Ireland.

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