Enterprise Ireland Digital Discovery Grant

What this scheme funds

Up to 80% funding toward an independent AI and digital assessment — the single easiest route into a first funded AI project.

• Independent external consultancy to assess digital and AI opportunity
• Current-state process and systems review
• Prioritised roadmap of candidate AI use cases with expected impact
• Technical feasibility and data-readiness findings
• Indicative cost, timeline and risk for each recommended project

What it does not fund

These costs are routinely ruled ineligible under this scheme.

• The build itself — this scheme funds the assessment, not the implementation
• Software licences and subscriptions
• Hardware
• Internal staff time
• Any cost incurred before the application is submitted and acknowledged

Who is eligible

Eligibility is decided by Enterprise Ireland, not by Digital Bridge.

• You are an Enterprise Ireland client company
• The assessment is carried out by an external, independent provider
• The work is genuinely additional — not a repackaging of work already under way
• Your development adviser supports the application
• The company is tax compliant and can evidence solvency

How to apply

Typical end-to-end timeline: Allow two to four weeks to scope and quote, then typically four to eight weeks from submission to written approval depending on your adviser's caseload. Our assessment itself runs three to four weeks from kick-off. Plan on roughly three months from first conversation to a finished, funded report.

• Speak to your Enterprise Ireland development adviser and confirm the scheme is currently open to you
• Agree the assessment scope and the specific questions the assessment must answer
• Obtain a written proposal and fixed quotation from the external provider
• Submit the application through Enterprise Ireland's online portal with the proposal attached
• Wait for written approval before any work begins or any invoice is raised
• Deliver the assessment, then claim against the approved grant with the report and paid invoice

Evidence you will need

Applications are usually delayed by missing paperwork rather than by weak projects.

• Written provider proposal with a fixed scope and quotation
• Provider credentials and relevant prior work
• Company financial information as requested by your adviser
• Tax clearance
• On claim: the completed assessment report and evidence of payment

Why applications get rejected

The recurring reasons assessors give under this scheme.

• Work started, or an invoice was raised, before written approval
• The scope reads as implementation rather than assessment
• The provider is not sufficiently independent of the recommended solution
• The application does not state what decision the assessment will inform
• No measurable outcome is defined for the assessment

What Digital Bridge delivers under this scheme

Illustrative net cost applies the published rate (Up to 80% of eligible consultancy cost) to our published engagement bands. It is arithmetic, not an offer of funding.

• AI Feasibility & Readiness Assessment — list a fixed quote, illustrative net cost ≈ a fixed quote at 80% co-funding

Who decides this grant, and what we are responsible for

Enterprise Ireland decides eligibility, approval and payment under this scheme. Digital Bridge supplies the work and the documentation an assessor asks for from the supplier side.

• Digital Bridge does not administer, assess, approve, pay or appeal any grant. Every decision is made by the funding body named on the scheme, under its own published rules.
• This section is general information, not financial, tax, legal or grant-writing advice. It is not an application, a pre-approval, or any form of assurance that you will be funded.
• Scheme rates, ceilings and eligibility change without notice and several supports are administered locally, so your Local Enterprise Office or agency may apply different rules to the ones published here. Confirm everything with the funder in writing before you commit.
• Our questionnaire is a deterministic guide based only on the answers you give. It cannot see your accounts, your sector classification, your state-aid position or your previous awards, so it can suggest a scheme you are ultimately found ineligible for.
• If an application is refused, delayed, reduced or clawed back, our fees for work you have instructed remain payable. We recommend you do not instruct chargeable work until your funder confirms in writing what it will support.
• Costs incurred before a funder receives your application are almost always ineligible. Timing is your responsibility, and we will always tell you when we think you should wait.

How the EI Digital Discovery works in practice

Digital Discovery sits at the assessment end of Enterprise Ireland's digital supports. It is not meant to build anything: it pays for a structured look at how a company's systems, data and processes hang together before capital is committed. That framing matters when you write the application, because assessors are reading for a diagnostic question, not a shopping list. Applications that describe a platform the company has already chosen tend to read as procurement rather than discovery. The strongest submissions name the operational problem, state what is currently unmeasured, and explain what decision the discovery work will make possible afterwards. The output is normally a written report with costed options, which then becomes the evidence base for whatever implementation funding is applied for next.

What we do as the supplier on the quote

As the supplier on a discovery engagement we are usually asked for three things: a scope that reads as analysis rather than delivery, a day rate and day count that can be checked against the market, and a description of the deliverable precise enough that an assessor can tell whether it was produced. We write the scope so each workstream has its own line, because a single lump sum is harder for an evaluator to defend. We also keep the implementation quote separate. Mixing discovery and build into one document invites questions about whether the discovery was genuinely open-ended. If the discovery concludes that no system change is warranted, that is a legitimate result and the report says so.

Can the Digital Discovery Grant pay for the AI build itself?

No. It funds the assessment that decides whether the build is worth doing, and what it should be. Once the assessment recommends a project, the build is normally funded from another route — commonly the Digital Process Innovation Grant or a Strategic Consultancy Grant — or from the company's own capital budget.

Do I need to be an Enterprise Ireland client already?

Yes. This scheme sits inside the Enterprise Ireland client relationship and runs through your development adviser. If you are not an EI client, the Local Enterprise Office route is the equivalent starting point for smaller companies, and InterTradeIreland is relevant if you trade cross-border.

Does Digital Bridge apply on my behalf?

No, and no provider can. We write the proposal, the scope and the fixed quotation you attach to your application, and we answer any technical questions your adviser raises. The application itself is yours and the decision is Enterprise Ireland's alone.

What does the assessment actually produce?

A written report: current-state process map, a prioritised list of AI use cases with expected time and cost impact, a data-readiness verdict per use case, an EU AI Act risk classification, an integration map of the systems involved, and a costed and sequenced roadmap. It is written so it can be read by a board, not just by an IT lead.

Can Digital Discovery pay for the build it recommends?

No. It funds the assessment and the report. Implementation is a separate decision and, where funding is available for it, a separate application. Treat the discovery output as the document that makes the next application credible rather than as a first instalment.

Source and last review

Scheme parameters checked against Enterprise Ireland — supports and funding (https://www.enterprise-ireland.com/en/supports) on 2026-08-18. Reviewed quarterly. Next scheduled review: November 2026. Digital Bridge is a supplier, not the awarding body. Eligibility, approval and payment are decided solely by the funding body named on each scheme. Figures below are the published scheme parameters as at the review date shown, and net costs are arithmetic illustrations of the published rate applied to our published prices. Always confirm current rules with the funder before you commit to any spend, because expenditure incurred before an application is received is almost always ineligible.