Four Irish SMEs to receive EU grants of €50,000 each

Three Dublin-based firms and one company from Galway will receive the award which is provided under phase 1 of Horizon.

Caraglass was successful in its funding for "iSafe", an Internet Safety Awareness for European primary school children and Accucolour for "PET-Yield", a new manufacturing method to carry out a more efficient, waste-reducing production of plastic bottles.

Meanwhile, InvizBox is to get a grant for "InvizBox GO 4G" -  an innovative approach to securing data on the internet and mbryonics for "Raven" or Real Time Access To Virtual Earth Observation Network.

Each project will receive €50,000 to finance feasibility studies for new products that can disrupt the market - and they can also ask for up to three days of free business coaching.

The SME can also apply for Phase 2 support - which is usually between €500,000 and €2.5m - if the project's feasibility study shows that it could be developed into a successful product on the open market.

Overall, 184 European SMEs were selected for funding for this round, with most of the projects in the area of IT and communications.

In total, 47 Irish SMEs have been awarded Horizon 2020 SME Instrument Phase 1 funding since its launch in 2014, putting Ireland in 12th place overall.