“These benefits are all the more important for a small, island nation like Ireland,” he added. “So I would encourage all innovative companies to investigate the opportunities to participate in Horizon 2020. We have an excellent national support structure for Horizon 2020, led by Enterprise Ireland, which can assist researchers in identifying the opportunities and in preparing applications.”

The heads of three of DJEI's enterprise development agencies, Julie Sinnamon, Chief Executive of Enterprise Ireland; Martin Shanahan, Chief Executive of IDA Ireland; Prof Mark Ferguson, Director General of Science Foundation Ireland and Chief Scientific Advisor to the Government also spoke at the event to outline their support for the scheme .

Their message was supported by representatives from two companies who have been successful in securing significant funding from Horizon 2020, Seán O'Driscoll, President of Glen Dimplex; and Martin Curley, Vice President & Director of Intel Labs Europe.

Ø H2020 is one of seven flagship initiatives in Europe 2020, the European Union's ten-year jobs and growth strategy.

Ø   H2020 funding (grants) is awarded on a competitive basis to researchers and companies across three main pillars: Excellent Science; Leadership in Industrial Technologies; and Societal Challenges.

Ø In 2013 the Government set a national target to win €1.25 billion over the lifetime of H2020, double the amount won in the previous framework programme (FP7).

Ø A national network to encourage and support researchers and companies to submit bids is led by Enterprise Ireland. The network includes programme experts in Enterprise Ireland as well as a number of Government departments and research funding agencies.

Ø From January 2014-November 2015 Ireland had won €251 million. The Higher Education system accounted for €157m of this total and companies, €72m. This performance has Ireland on track to achieve the national target of €1.25bn.

Ø H2020 also includes financial instruments such as loans to companies and equity investments, to complement the grant-based approach e.g. The European Fund for Strategic Investment–also known as the Juncker Fund.