The EU - Supporting Your Local CommunityIreland has been a net beneficiary from the EU Budget since accession in 1973. By the beginning of 2015, Ireland received over €72.5 billion. However, this does not include payments made directly to beneficiaries, such as research receipts.

The majority of Irish funding from the EU has come through the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), providing direct income and market support to the agricultural sector. In 2015, Structural Funds provided €150m and the European Social Funds contributed over €24m towards education and training, social inclusion and supports for vulnerable sectors of Irish society.

For the 2014-2020 Programme, the majority of Irish funding will continue to come through CAP and Ireland can also still expect to receive significant receipts under structural fund spending. As in recent years, structural funding will continue to focus

on areas such as research, technology and innovation supporting SMEs, ICT, energy efficiency and education, training and labour activation measures. Additional funding opportunities will arise under the Horizon 2020, Erasmus, Connecting Europe and Cosme EU level programmes which cover research, education, infrastructure networks and SME competitiveness and a number of other smaller programmes.

With this support from Europe, Ireland is continuing to develop a clean, innovative and highly skilled economy, providing world-class leadership and competitiveness in areas such as IT, Research and Technology. Furthermore, Irish farmers are producing high-quality products for world markets, with a reputation for excellence.

This information leaflet provides an insight into some of the ways that the EU has recently supported County Waterford.

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Horizon 2020 is the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme ever with nearly €80 billion of funding available over 7 years (2014 to 2020) – in addition to the private investment that this money will attract. It promises more breakthroughs, discoveries and world-firsts by taking great ideas from the laboratory to the market.

Ireland has been awarded a total of €273.3m for 622 participations and 472 projects. In recent years, local Waterford companies and institutions have availed of funding and the county continues to benefit from this.

Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) is a partner in a number of projects and here are some examples .

€532k CIRCLE Project Molecular Communications CIRCLE will facilitate the creation of an EU wide Molecular Communications forum and provide a support infrastructure for coordination of

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research across Europe. It will foster knowledge sharing via the CIRCLE forum and a dedicated web portal. It will establish expert working groups in different research topics within the Molecular Communications domain and develop strategic Roadmaps for both academic research and industry involvement.

€5m Renewables in a Stable Electric Grid ProjectFuture energy systems will use renewable energy sources to minimise CO2 emissions.

RE-SERVE is researching new energy system concepts, implemented as new system support services. 5G-based Information and Communications Technology will control the distributed energy network. The partners will create a pan-European multi-site simulation test-bed, bringing together the best facilities in Europe.

Ultimately, this should result in breakthroughs in the efficient utilisation of Renewable Energy Systems, with a wide range of enhanced professional solutions and services.

€2.2m for Industrial Leadership ProjectDISCOVERY aims at supporting dialogues between Europe and North America and fostering cooperation in ICT Research and Innovation (R&I). DISCOVERY is taking a radically new approach to supporting dialogues and partnership building for ICT R&I cooperation. At the core of the DISCOVERY action is the Transatlantic ICT Forum that will be established to support policy.

CogNet and WITWIT and IBM in Dublin are partners in a €6m project. The team behind CogNet predicts that there will be 11.5 billion mobile-ready devices in the world by 2020, as well as more connected devices. However, the current mobile and wireless bandwidth will not be able to cope with Europe’s ever-increasing data demands. The CogNet solution is to develop an automatic network management through machine learning algorithms.

CogNet will also seek to cut energy use, enabling the network to switch to using cheaper or greener energy when available.

SMART FARMINGThe South East Business Innovation Centre in Waterford is a partner in a project that is encouraging Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to create applications (apps) for smart farming. Around Europe, 50 SMEs, start-ups and web entrepreneurs are receiving EU support as they put the final touches to their prototype apps for smart farming. Around 30 will be selected for further funding, which will be used by the developers to prepare their app for market launch in 2016.

Known as a ‘FIWARE accelerator project’, SmartAgriFood2 was awarded €5m funding. €4m is going directly to SMEs with innovative ideas on how apps can make farmers’ lives easier and lead to more efficient, high-quality agricultural production.

NANOPACKThe Dawn Meats Group in Grannagh, are partners in NanoPack, a €8.8m project.

NanoPack will develop a solution for extending food shelf life by using novel smart antimicrobial surfaces, applied in active food packaging products. It will run pilot lines in operational industrial environments to manufacture commercially feasible antimicrobial polymer films, accepted by consumers. It will also minimise the amount of preservatives required to maintain freshness, add value and assure safety to the entire supply chain.

Waterford has been awarded €4m to regenerate the city centre. The Waterford City project will aim to improve access and stimulate a new retail centre at the southern end of the retail area of the city. The project will also prioritise sustainable modes of transport, including dedicated cycling lanes. An all-weather space in the Apple Market will be developed for night time use. A pedestrianised retail area will run for over a half kilometre and this will be connected to the Viking Triangle. Public transport routes will be redesigned to penetrate through the core, to create a new ‘hub’ at Arundel Square.

Proposed new hub in Arundel Square Waterford

Urban Development

Waterford Treasures at the Granary together with Dublinia are partners in Follow the Vikings. The objective of the Follow the Vikings project is to make the transnational Viking heritage accessible and understandable to a worldwide audience. This will contribute to maintaining and developing Europe as the number one Global Heritage Tourism Destination.

This project will boost local economies and local employment and, through the networking activities, will help knowledge transfer and quality improvement at heritage sites throughout Europe. The project runs up to 31st June 2019 and activities include Viking road shows, one of which is due to happen in Ireland in 2017.

The deeply buried geology of the Waterford region has been revealed in new detail as the results of the most recent phase of the Geological Survey of Ireland’s Tellus Programme, an EU-funded geological project. Complex geology data collected and analysed by the Tellus programme has unveiled island-arc volcanoes, similar to those found in Japan, but which formed some 460 million years ago.

A major geological fault running through the region from Tramore to Mullinavat has also been uncovered. These findings will assist economic mineral exploration, as well as contribute to updated geological maps of the area. Unmapped buried igneous bodies were also revealed, east of Portlaw and offshore in southern County Waterford.

New EU developments aim to support entrepreneurship and innovation among SMEs to drive new firm creation, expansion and employment and to help with the need to overcome a range of operational barriers.

Waterford has two Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) delivering the Entrepreneurship in Micro-enterprise scheme that are based in The Mall, Waterford and Civic Offices, Dungarvan. The LEOs supply business information and advice clinics, training and mentoring, financial supports and networking opportunities as well as links to the Enterprise Europe Network. The LEOs also offer a number of business networks including Women in Business, Females at Business and Kite Design Studios for designers and creative artists.

The LEOs also run the South East Creative Corridor Programme which aims to consolidate an Audio Visual sector creative hub in the South Eastern region, through an extensive programme for established SMEs and Start-Ups servicing the Creative Industries.

Best Young EntrepreneurThe Best Idea category was won by Anthony Cronin of Flexiwage. With Flexiwage, employees can have the flexibility to determine their own pay method to ensure they have their money when they need it. Flexiwage can

also help employers to improve cash flow as the frequency with which the total pay of an employee leaves the companies account decreases.

The Best Start Up Award went to Dara O’Neill of Dream Boat. DreamBoat specialises in the development and production of films, television programming, online content and music.

Kevin Walsh of Aphex won the Best Established category. Aphex is an engineering consultancy company, founded in 2012 which focused on providing expertise in commissioning and validation to pharmaceutical clients.

Student EnterpriseDe la Salle College Waterford business won the 2016 Senior Intellectual Property Awareness Award at the National Student Enterprise Awards. The students created the award winning KidsCode. KidsCode, creates an online world aiming to introduce children to computer programming, combining a fun, multi-player experience with visual programming.

Richie Walsh, Head of Enterprise, Local Enterprise Office Waterford, pictured with Waterford IBYE County Winners: Anthony Cronin, of Flexiwage, Dungarvan (Best Business Idea Category) and Kevin Walsh, of Aphex, Waterford (Best Established Business Category)

Supporting SMEs

Cross-Border

Creative Europe

For further information please contact:

The European Commission Representation in IrelandTel: 01 6341111 Email eu-ie-info-request@ec.europa.eu

www.euireland.ie www.facebook.com/EUIreland www.twitter.com/eurireland

The European Maritime and Fisheries Fund aims to support a long- term sustainable seafood industry and to maximise the contribution of the seafood industry to the economies of coastal regions.

Ireland’s Fishing Industry generates about €891m in trade annually, with exports of €554m. Recently, funding of €12m was announced for the 7 newly established Fisheries Local Action Groups (FLAGS). This initial funding has supported a wide range of initiatives, targeting job creation, social inclusion, tourism, community regeneration and market development around our coastline. County Waterford is part of the FLAG Southeast (Bray to the east bank of river Blackwater at Youghal), which received funding of €1.5m.

More than €1.6 billion was paid to over 130,000 Irish farmers last year under a variety of EU agriculture schemes. Currently, Irish farmers receive EU funding of €1.2 billion every year through CAP funding and since 2007, Irish farmers have received over €12 billion. Further support of €2.3 billion was received through rural development programmes, with a further €2.2 billion secured for the 2014-2020 period. In recent years, these programmes accounted for around 90% of our total EU public sector receipts. In 2015, total CAP payments of over €45.7m were distributed to 2,418 recipients in Waterford, giving an

average payment of €18,911 which is the 2nd largest in the country. Waterford farmers received over €37.3m in Single Payments alone.

Rural areas also receive other supports including the Rural Development Programme as well as through investment in towns and villages and through structural programmes. The Leader Initiative continues to support communities, tourism, local businesses as well as towns and villages. Waterford Leader Partnership was awarded almost €417m in funding in 2015 and Waterford has been allocated over €7.5m for the 2014-2020 programme.

A strong emphasis is being put on supporting employment and social inclusion for youth. The EU Youth Programme is strongly focused on helping the unemployed to return to the labour market, with particular attention to youth and long-term unemployed people.

Waterford shares an Education and Training Board (ETB) with Wexford and has Administration Offices situated in two locations. The head office is based in Cork Road, Waterford and the sub office is based in Dungarvan Shopping Centre. The ETB offers a range of support services to residents of Waterford.

YouthreachYouthreach is an education, training and work experience programme for early school leavers, aged 15 – 20. It offers young people the opportunity to identify options within adult life, and provides them with opportunities to acquire certification. There are two Youthreach centres in Waterford City and others in Dungarvan and Tramore.

Erasmus+ provides funding to Irish educational organisations to carry out a wide range of projects involving staff, learners and the wider educational community. Recent figures show that there were 4,714 participants from Ireland, which was a 9% increase since last year.

WIT has bilateral agreements with over 80 different universities within the EU. The college welcome European students on the Erasmus exchange programme every year into the Schools of Business, Humanities, Science, Engineering and Health Sciences.

ERASMUS (EU) Incoming students | Waterford Institute of Technology

Coastal

Regions

Helping Rural Development

Education & Youth