Cluster Acceleration Programme

The Cluster Acceleration programme is open to all SMEs in Northern Ireland who meet the eligibility criteria. Applications to the programme must demonstrate alignment with the Department for the Economy’s priority sectors/clusters. Find out more in our Cluster Acceleration Programme documents. To be eligible, you must also meet the following criteria: - Applications for Phase 1 funding must be submitted by business-led networks, consisting of a minimum of 8 Northern Ireland SMEs. One of the SMEs must be an Invest NI customer and be willing to take on the Letter of Offer on behalf of the network. - The remaining members of a network may include representatives of large companies, and other stakeholders such as academic institutions and public sector organisations. - To be considered for Phase 2, emerging clusters must have completed a Phase 1 feasibility study and a developed cluster business model. - Applications for Phase 2 will be made available within the next 12 months.

Business-led groups will benefit from the programme on two levels: - Phase One Feasibility Study: Offers up to £60,000 to SME led networks consisting of a minimum of 8-10 SMEs, to scope out innovative collaborative projects with the potential to increase business competitiveness. - Phase Two Cluster Project: Offers up to £1,000,000 (maximum period of five years) for up to five clusters emerging from the feasibility studies scoped at Phase One. Each cluster must have a minimum of 20 SMEs/entrepreneurs and stakeholder organisations including academia and government. - The Programme will also deliver best practice events, cluster manager training, networking events and series of interactive workshops with key cluster professionals. The funding provided by the programme will be used to fund the cluster. It will secure the services of independent facilitators/cluster managers who will work with the cluster members to help deliver agreed actions.