Technical Development Incentive (TDI)
Funding of up to £25,000 towards the cost of technical service providers (test-houses, product development consultants, certification bodies, IP specialists etc) to implement innovative solutions.
This support is available to Invest Northern Ireland clients, which are manufacturing and/or tradeable services businesses with the potential to both:
- achieve at least 25% of sales external to Northern Ireland (or at least £250,000 external sales, whichever is lower)
- employ at least ten staff, within five years
If you can demonstrate that your business meets these criteria, you may be eligible to apply to become an Invest NI client.
Other eligibility criteria may apply.
Invest NI can support 50% of the external provider’s costs for projects between £1,000 and £50,000. Projects of up to £60,000 can also be supported but the maximum TDI grant amount is capped at £25,000.
Please note there are some limits on maximum grant amount and number of TDI supported projects running concurrently.
The proposed innovative solution must add value by increasing competitiveness.
Projects could include but are not limited to:
- Intellectual property (copyright, patents trademarks and design) protection and exploitation.
- Product, service or process development, variation and improvement.
- Management systems development & certification (such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001, British Retail Consortium Global Food Safety Standard).
- Product and process approval and certification (for example CE Marking, Fire Certification).
Internal costs such as training, buying or hiring equipment, materials’ purchases or labour are not eligible for TDI support.
- Invest Northern Ireland