New support to help businesses work towards Industry 4.0.
The COVID-19 Process & Organisational Improvement Grant (POIG) has been developed to provide support to businesses to investigate and implement a range of potential process and operational improvements to help address the impact of COVID-19 on the business.
POIG is now open via a competitive call for applications. Please note this is a two-part application process. The pre-application form will close at 12 noon on Friday 21 May 2021 and the application form must be submitted by the deadline of 12 noon on Wednesday 26 May.
Who can apply?
POIG is open to any business operating in one of the following Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) sectors:
- manufacturing
- construction
- information and communication
- professional, scientific and technical activities
What support is available?
Industry 4.0 is the ongoing automation of traditional manufacturing and industrial practices, using modern smart technology.
The programme will provide grant support to eligible companies to help them build internal teams, and engage consultants as needed, to develop and implement process and organisation improvements.
The project must support the business to work in a new way and help it towards industry 4.0. Eligible projects should focus on investigating and implementing new digital technologies, such as automation, robotics or digitisation, which will result in process and organisation improvements for the company.
The maximum level of grant support will be £50k for small and medium size companies and £200k for large companies.
Eligible projects must have minimum labour (internal staff) or consultancy costs of £40,000, of which internal staff costs must be at least 20%.
Please read the Process & Organisational Improvement Grant Guidance Notes for full details on the scheme.
How to apply
Full details on the scheme and eligibility is available on www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/poig
The first step is to check if you are eligible for POIG.
If you meet the eligibility criteria, you will need to complete an online pre-application form.
The POIG Team will then contact you within three working days to discuss the project in more depth, answer any questions and to release an application form.
Your project will be assessed based on the information you provide in your application.
The pre-application form will close at 12 noon on Friday 21 May 2021 and the application form must be submitted by the deadline of 12 noon on Wednesday 26 May.
Please read the Guidance Notes for full details on eligibility and how applications will be assessed as part of this competitive call.
If you have any enquiries about the COVID-19 Process & Organisational Grant please complete this enquiry form.
Read more of our COVID-19 response features:
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New support to help NI businesses improve supply chain resilience - 10 Mar 2021
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New £3m fund to help retail micro-businesses move online - 02 Feb 2021
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New Energy Efficiency Capital Grant to help businesses benefit from long term cost savings and carbon savings - 24 Nov 2020
- New £2m scheme launched to help SMEs develop business recovery plans – 07 Oct 2020
- 2020 – A year of change for NI businesses– 29 Sept 2020
- Why exporting will play an important role in rebuilding our economy post COVID- 28 Sept 2020
- New Digital Selling grant to help retailers and wholesalers generate business online– 09 Sept 2020
- Northern Ireland’s SMEs supported with £5m equity fund- 09 Sept 2020
- Innovation in the face of COVID-19 – 29 June 2020
- Understanding the impact of COVID-19 on our sectors– 10 June 2020
- Rising to the COVID-19 challenge(Part2) - 05 May 2020
- Rising to the COVID-19 challenge– 27 April - 2020
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