Enterprise Ireland Strategic Consultancy Grant

What this scheme funds

Funds a substantial external advisory engagement: AI strategy, target architecture, governance and EU AI Act readiness.

• Multi-phase strategic consultancy delivered by an approved external consultant
• AI strategy and target operating model design
• Target technical architecture and integration strategy
• AI governance, acceptable-use policy and EU AI Act risk classification
• Supplier selection and procurement support
• Implementation planning and change management

What it does not fund

These costs are routinely ruled ineligible under this scheme.

• Software development and build work
• Licences, infrastructure and hosting
• Routine advisory work such as annual accounts
• Retrospective costs

Who is eligible

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

• Enterprise Ireland client company
• The consultant is external, independent and appropriately experienced
• The engagement addresses a defined strategic objective, not day-to-day operations
• Board or senior sponsorship for the change is evidenced

How to apply

Typical end-to-end timeline: Six to ten weeks from proposal to approval is typical. Advisory engagements at this level then run eight to sixteen weeks, phased so that each deliverable is signed off before the next phase starts.

• Agree the strategic objective with your development adviser
• Define the consultancy phases and the deliverable at the end of each
• Obtain a proposal that prices each phase separately
• Submit for approval with the consultant's credentials attached
• Begin only after written approval, and claim per phase as deliverables complete

Evidence you will need

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

• Phase-by-phase consultancy proposal with costs
• Consultant CV and comparable prior engagements
• Statement of the strategic objective and how success is judged
• Tax clearance and financial information

Why applications get rejected

The recurring reasons assessors give under this scheme.

• The engagement is operational support dressed as strategy
• Deliverables are vague — 'advice' rather than a named artefact
• The consultant also stands to win the build and the conflict is unmanaged
• No senior sponsor is named

What Digital Bridge delivers under this scheme

Illustrative net cost applies the published rate (Typically up to 50% of eligible consultancy cost) to our published engagement bands. It is arithmetic, not an offer of funding.

• AI strategy, architecture & governance engagement — list From €15,000, illustrative net cost ≈ from €7,500 at 50% 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 Strategic Consultancy works in practice

Strategic consultancy funding buys external expertise for a defined question a company cannot answer internally. It is unusual among Irish supports in that the consultant's credentials are part of the assessment, not just the price. Applications weaken when the brief is broad — "help us with digital strategy" gives an evaluator nothing to judge success against. They strengthen when the brief names a decision with a deadline attached: which system to consolidate onto, whether a service line is viable, how to structure a data model before a migration. The consultancy is also expected to leave capability behind. A report that only the consultant can act on tends to be treated as a weaker outcome than one with an internal owner named in it.

What we do as the supplier on the quote

When we are the named external expertise, we supply a scope, a relevant background statement and a deliverable list, and we are explicit about the hours involved. We do not describe ourselves as approved, accredited or preferred by any funder, because we are not, and that claim on a supplier document creates a problem for the applicant rather than for us. We prefer engagements that end with a written decision framework the company owns: options, costs, trade-offs and a recommendation. If part of the question is outside our competence — legal, tax, regulatory — we say so in the scope and the company brings in the right adviser for that part.

Can the firm that writes the strategy also build the system?

It can, but the conflict has to be handled openly or the application is weakened. We handle it by pricing and contracting the advisory engagement separately, by writing the target architecture so that any competent integrator could deliver it, and by stating plainly in the report where we would be a suitable supplier and where we would not.

How is this different from the Digital Discovery Grant?

Digital Discovery funds a focused assessment answering 'should we do this, and where do we start'. Strategic Consultancy funds a larger engagement that designs the change and plans its implementation. Discovery is measured in weeks and thousands; Strategic Consultancy in months and tens of thousands.

Does EU AI Act compliance work qualify?

Governance, risk classification and policy design are normally treated as legitimate strategic consultancy where they are part of a defined change programme. Your adviser makes the call on your specific scope, and we would rather you asked before you contracted than after.

Can the consultant also deliver the implementation?

Sometimes, but declare it. Where the same firm advises and then builds, assessors look closely at whether the advice was independent. Separating the two quotes, and being open about the relationship, is a cleaner position than discovering the question at evaluation stage.

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.

What kind of business gets value from strategic consultancy funding?

This grant, typically up to 50% of eligible consultancy cost to a published ceiling of a fixed quote, funds external expertise brought in to answer a specific question the company cannot resolve internally — which system to consolidate onto, whether a service line is commercially viable, how to structure a data model before a migration. It is unusual among Irish supports in that the consultant's credentials are assessed alongside the price. It suits companies with a genuine decision pending, not companies wanting a general strategy document. Applications weaken badly when the brief is broad, such as “help us with digital strategy,” because an assessor has nothing concrete to judge success against. The strongest applications name a decision with a deadline attached and are explicit about what happens once the consultancy concludes. Prepare a scope, a relevant background statement for the consultant, and a deliverable list with hours attached before applying, and be ready to show that the resulting report will leave an internal owner able to act on it, not just the consultant.

What should applicants prepare if Digital Bridge is the named consultant?

Where we are the named external expertise, we provide a scope document, a description of our relevant background, and an itemised deliverable list with the hours involved stated plainly. We do not describe ourselves as approved or accredited by any funder, because that claim is not true and stating it would create a problem for the applicant during assessment, not for us. If part of the underlying question touches legal, tax or regulatory matters outside our competence, we say so directly in the scope so the company can bring in the right adviser for that part rather than treating our report as covering ground it does not. Where the same engagement might later lead to us also delivering the implementation, we recommend declaring that relationship openly in the application and keeping the advisory and implementation quotes as two separate documents, since assessors look closely at whether advice was genuinely independent when the same firm goes on to build the outcome. The decision to award this grant, and at what rate, rests entirely with Enterprise Ireland.