The European Sustainable Competitiveness Programme
for Northern Ireland 2007 - 2013

European Sustainable Competitiveness Programme

Celebrating Europe Day at Invest NI

Pictured are Nicola Barker, Tracy McAvoy, Deirdre Convery, Paul Gunn, Damian McAuley, Conor McComb, Lisa Gargan, and Carol Graham from Invest NI, with Ian Kitchen, Paula Coulter, Ian Morrison, Tim Weir, Paul Liddy, Damien Ryan and Samantha Calwell from the Managing Authority celebrating Europe Day at the Invest NI office in Belfast on 9 May.

The focus of the Competitiveness Programme is on growth and jobs and is designed to promote investment in research and technological development and, encourage enterprise and entrepreneurship within an overall context of sustainable development.

The European Sustainable Competitiveness Programme for Northern Ireland 2007-2013 (“Competitiveness Programme”) is delivered under the Regional Competitiveness and Employment objective of the European Union’s Cohesion Fund. It is co-financed through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) at a rate of 50% ERDF support to 50% public match funding.

The Competitiveness Programme is worth €566 million, of which half comes from the European Union - to learn about projects that have received funding visit the         Successful Applications website at http://www.eugrants-successes.org

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) is designated as Managing Authority for the Competitiveness Programme.  The funding is delivered through three main spending Priorities:

• Sustainable Competitiveness and Innovation;
• Sustainable Enterprise and Entrepreneurship;
• Improving Accessibility and Protecting and Enhancing the Environment;

In addition, a small percentage of the overall allocation is set aside for programme management, verification, evaluation and publicity activities.