If your company is developing a new product or service, you may be leaving significant money on the table by not applying for Enterprise Ireland’s Research, Development & Innovation (RD&I) Fund. This is one of Ireland’s most important supports for innovative companies, and yet many eligible businesses do not apply. This guide walks you through the entire Enterprise Ireland RD&I application process. 

What Is the Enterprise Ireland RD&I Fund?

The RD&I Fund is a grant programme run by Enterprise Ireland and its sister agencies, Údarás na Gaeltachta and the Local Enterprise Offices that helps Irish companies fund  projects that involve real technical uncertainty and the resolution of actual technical challenges, not incremental improvements or routine product updates. Successful applicants receive a grant towards the eligible costs of their R&D project, including staff salaries, consultant fees, equipment, and more. 

The Structure of the Application

The very first step of the Enterprise Ireland RD&I application process is to contact your Client Advisor (Clients of the Local Enterprise Office or Údarás na Gaeltachta should contact their Business Advisor in the relevant Agency). Only after you have discussed the application with your Agency Advisor you can proceed with the rest of the Enterprise Ireland RD&I application process. All parts need to be prepared for the application to be considered.

1. Business Plan Summary

This is completed on the Enterprise Ireland online applications portal and is the spine of your application. The portal uses an interface that takes you through a series of tabs containing different information:

• Application Overview: application status. 
• Company Profile: company type, contact details, structure, banking details, trading history, ownership and management, products and services.
• Company Contact: name and contact details of the person responsible for this application.
• Market Opportunities and Strategy:  company business strategy, competitive landscape, target export markets, revenue model, management capability, and the benefits and needs for Enterprise Ireland support (the incentive effect). 
• Project Details:  title, start date, duration of the proposed RD&I project. Previous R&D or Innovation project history, summary and the justification for supporting the project are also required. Assume a technically literate audience for this section, and focus on the innovative aspects, the technical uncertainties you are trying to resolve, and the specific activities planned. Also, avoid the use of marketing language and do not repeat material already covered elsewhere in the form.
• Finance: historic and forecasted trading position, sales pipeline, sources of funding, future impacts on share ownership and directors’ remuneration. If you are seeking €150,000 or more, you will also need to complete and submit the Financial Data Sheet (FDS). Below that threshold, you complete a simpler current and projected trading table instead.
• Gender Balance and De Minimis Declaration 
• Declaration by Authorised Officer: the Authorised Officer needs to confirm the application is accurate
• Review and Submit: the portal tracks outstanding fields and will not let you submit until they are all completed. 

Once submitted, a confirmation email is received with instructions on submitting the remaining offline documents. The Enterprise Ireland RD&I application process is not complete until all the required additional documents have been received.

2. RD&I Fund Project Costs Workbook

This is a spreadsheet (provided by Enterprise Ireland) that captures all the costs associated with your proposed project. You fill out a separate worksheet for each project,  and you can include up to six projects in a single application, though Enterprise Ireland encourages companies to focus on their most strategically important work rather than listing everything in the pipeline.

Here is a breakdown of what you will need to cost out:

Salary Costs: This is typically the largest component. List each staff member who will work on the project, their role, their base salary, and the percentage of their time dedicated to the project each month. A few important constraints:

• Only base salary is eligible. Employer’s social insurance, bonuses, pension contributions, and other payments are excluded.
• The maximum eligible salary for grant calculation purposes is €150,000 per year per person.
• Staff should generally be spending at least 10–20% of their time on the project for a sustained period, with a core team committing a significant proportion.
• Managing Director and CEO costs are generally not eligible, with a narrow exception for Small Enterprises where their involvement is critical, but only up to 30% of their time.
• Support staff time (as opposed to direct R&D staff) cannot exceed 10% of total project staff days.

The spreadsheet calculates total salary costs and project days automatically, based on 232 working days per year.

Technical Consultancy: You can include the cost of external consultants hired to bring specific expertise into the project. The maximum eligible rate is €900 per day per project. A critical rule applies here: in-house salary costs must represent at least 40% of the total project expenditure. If consultancy and subcontracting costs make up the majority of the project budget, the project will be deemed ineligible. Enterprise Ireland expects that a core purpose of this fund is building internal R&D capability, not outsourcing the work. For consultancy assignments worth €75,000 or more, it is strongly advisable to seek three competitive quotes. Payment of the grant is conditional on documentation showing the selection represented value for money.

Contractual Research: This covers research commissioned from third parties, including universities and research institutes, as well as knowledge or patents purchased or licensed from external sources. The same €900 per day maximum rate applies.

Clinical and Other Trial Costs: For life sciences and medical device companies, Stage 1 to 3 clinical trial costs are eligible. Stage 4 trial costs are excluded.

Patenting Costs: Small and medium enterprises can include costs related to preparing, filing, translating, and validating patent applications. This cost category is not available to large companies.

Equipment Rental: You can include costs for renting equipment, software licences, or cloud services directly used for the project. Only include rental for the period the equipment is actually in use on the project. Costs must be project-specific. Production or operating costs, and inter-company rental arrangements are not allowed.

Capital Equipment: If you are purchasing equipment for the project, only the depreciated portion corresponding to the project’s duration is eligible. The spreadsheet handles this calculation once you enter the purchase cost, the period of use on the project, and the total depreciation period. Typical depreciation is 60 months for most equipment and 36 months for ICT equipment.

Overheads: There are two options for calculating overheads. The simplified model applies a flat 20% overhead rate to total eligible project costs (excluding depreciated capital equipment). No additional documentation is required. This is the simpler route and suits most applicants. The defined overheads model is available where there are significant materials costs. Overheads are calculated based on actual costs wholly and exclusively incurred in the R&D activity, capped at 20% of eligible salary costs. This requires documentary evidence and must be agreed at approval stage. 

Materials Costs: If you are using the defined overheads model, you can also include the cost of materials directly consumed in the R&D project. 

Assisted Region Bonus: If your company is based in an Assisted Region and the R&D work will be carried out there, a 5% bonus applies to the grant rate.

3. Project Plan

This is a standalone technical document, distinct from the Business Plan Summary.The Project Plan should read like an actual working plan, not a sales document. Include diagrams where helpful. Focus particularly on:

• The existing problem or technical challenge being addressed
• The innovative aspects of the proposed approach
• The specific technical uncertainties involved
• The planned activities, with enough detail to show a credible path to resolution

The audience is assumed to be technically literate. A specialist Technologist will carry out a technical assessment of your application, so write accordingly.

4. Financial Documents

Depending on the size of your grant request, you will need to submit:

• The company’s most recent audited accounts and management accounts (profit & loss and balance sheet)
• A full group structure diagram (if applicable)
• Full company financial projections
• Cashflow projections
• The Financial Data Sheet (FDS), if your request is €150,000 or more in a single application, or if you have received more than €150,000 cumulatively over two years

If your application is approved for RD&I Funding, you will receive a Letter of Offer from your

relevant Development Agency detailing information on the claims process.

Tips for a Smooth Enterprise Ireland RD&I Application Process 

Be clear about technical risk. The assessment criteria specifically look for genuine technical uncertainty. Applications that describe work as routine or easily achievable undermine their own case. 

Focus your application. While you can include up to six projects, a tightly focused application with one or two strong projects will generally outperform a sprawling list. Enterprise Ireland explicitly encourages companies to concentrate on their most strategically important work.

Get your costs right the first time. Once a project is approved, there is no mechanism to transfer costs between projects. If one project is underestimated and another overestimated, you cannot rebalance. Take the time to cost each project carefully.

Do not start the project. Any work begun before submission cannot be included in the application. If you are in doubt about what counts as a project start, discuss it with the adviser.

Keep documentation for everything. From the moment the project is approved, maintain clear records of time spent, invoices, quotations, and project decisions. These will be required at the claims stage.

Final Thoughts

The Enterprise Ireland RD&I Fund is a genuinely valuable resource for eligible Irish companies. Start the conversation with your Enterprise Ireland adviser early, give yourself adequate time to prepare all components, and approach the technical sections with the same rigour you would bring to the project itself. A well-prepared application is both more likely to succeed and more likely to result in a grant level that genuinely reflects the ambition of your work.

Planning an RD&I project?

Download our free executive guide to understand how the Enterprise Ireland RD&I Fund supports ambitious innovation and long-term growth