What is a Feasibility Study Grant?
The aim of a Feasibility Study Grant is to help start-up companies or individual entrepreneurs with the cost of bringing a new product or service to the market. The study should help the promoter to develop a Minimum Viable Product and test it in the market or assess a new market for an existing product or service. We will consider feasibility study grants to applicants whose potential new business or service may be eligible to apply for further grant assistance from us if the MVP is successful. Note this grant only covers third party costs.
Application Process
1. Read the Eligibility Criteria in full (see below)
2. Ensure you have discussed your application with a LEO DLR Business Advisor before completing an application
3. Complete Application Form
· Upload supporting documentation (see Application Checklist below)
· Please note, you will be required to record a short (2 Mins Max) video to allow you to tell us a little bit about yourself, your business, and why you are looking for funding?
Eligibility Criteria
Local Enterprise Office Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown can accept applications for Feasibility Study Grants from start-up or established businesses. Providing it meets the following criteria:
· A business located, registered and operating in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County
· A business employing up to 10 employees
· A manufacturing or internationally traded services business
· A domestically traded services business that can demonstrate the potential to export
· The enterprise must be in the commercial sphere
· The enterprise must demonstrate a market for the product/service
· The enterprise must have a capacity for growth and new job creation
Additionally, we require that:-
. Adequate finance will be available to fund the project including its operating costs
. The promoters possess sufficient management and technical capacity to implement the proposed project
. The project complies with existing policies and permits, licences and authorisations required under any statute regulation or order having the force of law
Within the above eligibility criteria there are certain priorities and restrictions:
· Priority must be given to enterprises in the manufacturing or internationally traded services sectors which over time can develop into strong export entities and graduate to the Enterprise Ireland portfolio
· Support may be offered to unique tourism services projects that are focused predominantly on generating revenues from overseas visitors and which do not give rise to deadweight and/or displacement in the local economy
This grant aid does not support areas such as:
. Retail enterprises, personal services, professional services (including consultancies), generic services or construction and local building services
. Areas of enterprise which involve displacement of existing jobs or business i.e. Builders, Hairdressers, Cafés, Pubs, Hotels, General Printers, Construction, Traders etc. would come within this category. Generally, where there are a large number of operators within a sector, the Local Enterprise Office has to have a regard to the implications of grant aiding one or some, possibly putting others at a competitive disadvantage
. Conferences and Seminars
. Projects which are contrary to public policy
. Duplication of support for projects which would be eligible for assistance from other State Agencies or EU funded Operational Programmes
. Existing Firms which already have an established relationship with Enterprise Ireland or IDA. Please do not apply to the Local Enterprise Office if you have an existing application for the same project under consideration by Enterprise Ireland
. Projects involving primary agricultural production
. Projects with employees in excess of 10 people
. Mobile assets, i.e. cars, motor vans, laptops, mobile machinery etc.
. Where specific potential for job displacement exists (i.e. where a new business could only prosper by diverting sales, output, or employment away from an existing local business already providing essentially the same offering, thus placing existing jobs and the viability of the existing business at risk
. Projects deemed to be capable of proceeding in any event without LEO assistance i.e. deadweight
. Projects essentially comprising importation and distribution
. Own Labour Research costs
. Any expenditure incurred, prior to receipt of application form, will not be eligible for grant support.
What does the Feasibility Study Grant Cover?
The Feasibility Study Grant covers 50% of qualifying expenses (excluding VAT), subject to a maximum Local Enterprise Office DLR contribution of €15,000. Funding is issued on a non-repayable basis.
A Feasibility Study Grant can be approved for expenditure under the following headings:
· Market Research Costs – to develop the business proposition
· Consultancy Costs – to include design fees, architect fees and legal fees
· Technical Development/Prototype/Innovation – to include prototype development, innovative design, research costs and other relevant technical development costs
NB. Our LEO will consider third party expenses only.
How do I apply for the grant?
You are strongly advised to contact the LEO office before applying so that we can assess your eligibility and readiness to apply. Applications are considered on a case-by-case basis and the level of funding will be decided after the assessment. The assessment will examine:
- The merits of providing grant support to your proposal;
- Your need for financial support;
- Any previous funding you have received;
- The availability of funding;
- The potential for employment and sales growth.
The requirements are as follows;
- Your market research should suggest that a real opportunity exists in the proposed new market.
- You have specified the work to be carried out
- You have quotes from third parties who have the experience to do the work.
- Three quotes must be sought for individual expenditure amounts between €5,000 - €25,000. For individual expenditure amounts of over €25,000 five written quotes must be sought and evidence provided of a least three being received. For any expenditure item costing less than €5,000, one verbal quote is required.
- There is a strong possibility that any business idea arising from the study would have real job creation potential.
Application Checklist:
Any individual or business who wishes to apply must submit a completed online Feasibility Study Grant application form along with the following:
· Information on team involved in the business, their experience and qualifications (CV or personal profile)
· Business Plan (if available)
· Latest set of accounts filed with the CRO (in the case of an existing business)
· Up-to-date Management Accounts (for an existing business)
. Quotations for the key costs - three quotes must be sought for individual expenditure amounts between €5,000 - €25,000. For individual expenditure amounts of over €25,000 five written quotes must be sought and evidence provided of a least three being received. For any expenditure item costing less than €5,000, one verbal quote is required.
Please note: An Irish Language version of the application form is available on request to leo@dlrcoco.ie
After you submit your application
Your LEO representative will review your application, and may contact you for further information/clarification. Please note, we will not be able to process an application without all required documentation as per the above checklist.
Also note that your submission of an application or the official acknowledgement of your application is not an indication that the application is eligible or will be awarded grant aid.
Your application will be reviewed internally and may progress to be evaluated at the next Evaluation & Approvals Committee meeting. You will be notified of the decision after the meeting by your LEO representative.
The final decision on grant assistance is with the Evaluation and Approvals Committee of the Local Enterprise Office.
If approved, you will receive a letter of offer with confirmation of approvals and information on the process for drawdown.
What is the fund drawdown process?
Any funding approved must be claimed within 6 months of the date of approval. The maximum Feasibility Study Grant payable is 50% of your eligible expenditure or €15,000 whichever is less. Please be aware that the applicant will be required to pay the Feasibility Study costs in full prior to drawdown of grant amount approved.
Evidence of expenditure will be required. Full details are provided in your letter of offer.
To claim any financial assistance approved, you must submit the following:
. A signed acceptance of offer
· Original invoices and delivery dockets
· Evidence of payment – bank statements
· A written report on the feasibility study
· An accountants Certificate (if required)
. Expenditure statement summarising your claim
. Supplier quotations showing evidence of value for money
· Evidence of Tax Compliance
· Completed supplier EFT form to enable us pay directly into your bank account
· Satisfaction of any funding conditions relevant to your claim
· Any other documents as set out in the letter of offer
Please note that you cannot use your grant to pay for any expenditure incurred before you make the application.
What is ‘De Minimis’aid?
Feasibility Study Grants are provided under the European Commission Regulation on ‘De Minimis’aid. De Minimis aid is limited amounts of State aid – up to €300,000 in any three-year period to any one enterprise. De Minimis aid is regarded as too small to significantly affect trade or competition in the common market. The amounts of grants are regarded as falling outside the category of State aid which is banned by the EC Treaty and, therefore, they can be awarded without reference to the European Commission.
However, a Member State must track De Minimis aid and make sure that combined aid payments from all sources to one enterprise in any three-year period respect the €300,000 ceiling.
Therefore, you need to provide details of all other grant aid that has been awarded to you or your company within the past three years. Please note that a false declaration to show a figure under the threshold of €300,000 could later mean that you would have to pay back the grant aid with interest.