Skillnets, the national training and upskilling body, have made available a new training fund aimed at private sector companies. The €500,000 fund is open for applications until 30th April 2013.
Groups of companies must join together to form a network to apply for funding. Networks hoping to receive funding under the new round must complete an online registration form by 31st March before then submitting a complete application by the 30th April deadline.
Skillnets currently funds and facilitates training through 55 networks of companies in a range of sectors and regions. Each network delivers training relevant to the needs of specific industries and member companies. To date, Skillnets has facilitated over 60,000 Irish enterprises to upskill over 275,000 employees. In addition, the organisation has trained over 9,000 job-seekers since 2010.
Under the fund announced today, Skillnets will make grants available to new training networks to pilot the delivery of training. Successful applicants will be required to provide matched funding of at least 50 per cent of all costs associated with training delivery.
Commenting today, Alan Nuzum, CEO of Skillnets, said the organisation was focusing on the need to preserve jobs and create new jobs through industry-led training interventions.
“As part of our strategy to respond to changing labour market needs, we are supporting companies to deliver training that enables growth and expansion into other markets, and helps to cross-skill and upskill employees and job-seekers,” he said. “With this new funding round, we are placing a particular emphasis on training for regions and industries not fully serviced by the training networks already in operation.
“We have identified two regions of the country where our existing networks have an insufficient presence to serve the training needs of the local economy: the Borders region and the Midlands. So we’ll be encouraging funding applications from those areas in particular, and we’ll be holding information sessions for businesses in the Border counties and the Midlands over the coming weeks to demonstrate to them the value of participating in a Skillnets training network.
“As well as this geographic focus, we are placing a specific emphasis on certain industries. We have identified a number of industries that are key to Ireland’s future economic growth, and we will be particularly welcoming of applications from training networks within those industries. These include: agri-food production; ICT; life sciences; manufacturing, electronics and engineering; internationally-traded services; and the green economy.”
Under this round, funding will be provided for training activities from 1st June to 31st December 2013. During that period, supports will also be provided for training networks to ensure they can avail of additional funding streams in future years to secure their sustainability.
“The training and upskilling opportunities provided through Skillnets have the potential to enhance whole sectors of the economy, and we are looking forward to expanding the reach of Skillnets with this new call,” said Alan Nuzum. “We consistently achieve positive feedback from companies already involved in our networks, who tell us how the training programmes they have developed have led to enhanced growth and employment. We are looking forward to similarly positive results with the new networks that will be funded under this round.”
Paul Sweetman, the Director of ICT Ireland and the Irish Software Association (ISA) – the IBEC groups that represent the technology sector in Ireland – is involved in two of the existing training networks supported by Skillnets. Commenting today, he said: “The funding available is crucial in enabling many companies to upskill their workforce in the face of strong international competition for projects that require high-level skills.
“Many of the programmes developed by the ICT Ireland and ISA Software Skillnet networks have secured corporate investment in Ireland, and are now recognised internationally as giving us a key competitive advantage when major international companies are selecting locations for investment based on skills needs.
“The training programmes developed are fully industry-led, and this is one of the keys to their success: the Skillnets model allows for the creation and development of training programmes that may not have existed before and that are completely relevant to current industry needs.”
Full details of the current Skillnets funding round are available on Skillnets’ website, www.skillnets.ie. Information workshops for interested parties will take place over the coming weeks as follows:
- Border Region: Cavan Crystal Hotel, 5.30pm on Wednesday, 13th February.
- Midlands Region: Tullamore Court Hotel, 5.30pm on Wednesday, 27th February.
- Dublin: Clarion Hotel, Liffey Valley, 8am on Tuesday, 12th March.
Those wishing to attend an information session must register in advance through the Skillnets website.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
For further information contact: Sinéad McGovern
Tel: 01 2079630, Mobile: 086 3791330 Email: communications@skillnets.com
