DTIF Call 8 Announced: €40 Million for Disruptive Innovation

The Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund (DTIF) is back with another call for applications. On 9 June 2026, Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment Peter Burke announced that €40 million will be made available under Call 8, which opens for applications on 1 October 2026.

For Irish companies running ambitious, collaborative R&D projects, this is worth paying attention to.

What is the DTIF?

The Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund is a €500 million fund established under the National Development Plan in 2018. It's administered by Enterprise Ireland, and it exists to support the development and commercialisation of disruptive technologies, drive collaboration between research and industry, and back Irish start-ups working in this space.

Since 2018, the fund has run seven calls, supporting 131 collaborative projects with €530 million approved and awards averaging around €4 million. These projects span life sciences, medical devices, ICT, artificial intelligence, manufacturing, environmental technology, and quantum computing.

DTIF isn't designed for incremental product development; it's for work that wouldn't happen, or couldn't happen at this scale, without public funding. Call 8 adds a further €40 million to that goal.

Who can apply?

DTIF funds collaborative projects, not solo applications. To be eligible, your project needs:

• A consortium of at least three project partners
• At least one SME and one other enterprise within that consortium
• All partners based in Ireland
• Each partner registered as a client of Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, Údarás na Gaeltachta, or recognised as an eligible Research Performing Organisation

Collaboration with the research sector is encouraged, and many successful projects pair an Irish company with a university or research institute as well as other industry partners. If you don't yet have a full consortium in place, that's not a reason to rule yourself out. Enterprise Ireland's matchmaking events exist precisely to help companies find partners.

What kind of projects should apply?

DTIF is aimed at industrial research and experimental development projects of real scale, with a clear route to commercialisation within three to seven years. Applications are assessed against four criteria:

• Quality of the disruptive technology
• Strength of the overall approach
• Economic impact and sustainability
• Strength of the collaboration between partners

Three previously funded companies, ProVerum Medical, Luminate Medical, and Equal1 Laboratories, were on hand for the Call 8 announcement, with projects ranging from minimally invasive medical devices to wearable technology that prevents chemotherapy-induced hair loss to quantum computing platforms.

The common thread across these projects is genuine technical risk. DTIF isn't designed for incremental product development; it's for work that wouldn't happen, or couldn't happen at this scale, without public funding.

How much can you apply for?

The minimum funding request is €1.5 million for projects running up to three years, with longer projects (up to seven years) able to apply for more. Funding isn't awarded in full, though. SME partners must provide matched funding, and large companies must fund 60% of the project themselves.

Since the fund's inception in 2018, 131 projects have been supported with awards averaging around €4 million, out of €530 million approved in total across seven calls.

What's the deadline?

Call 8 opens for applications on 1 October 2026 and closes on 31 January 2027. All eligible applications received by that date will go through assessment by panels of independent international experts against the four criteria outlined above.

That gives you roughly four months from the opening date, but consortium-building, project scoping, and the application itself all take time. The earlier you start, the better.

What do you need to do now?

If you think your project might be a fit, there are two things worth doing before October.

First, start building or confirming your consortium. Enterprise Ireland will run a series of regional information and matchmaking events during September and October 2026, giving prospective applicants a chance to learn about the application process and connect with potential partners. If you're missing the SME, large enterprise, or research partner needed to meet the eligibility criteria, these events are the obvious starting point.

Second, if you already claim the R&D tax credit, plan now for how a DTIF award will sit alongside it. Revenue's rule is straightforward: any R&D expenditure that is met, or will be met, directly or indirectly by grant assistance must be excluded from your R&D tax credit computation. The credit, currently worth 35% of qualifying expenditure, and the grant can't both apply to the same euro of spend. You can find all the details in our guide: Can You Claim R&D Tax Credits on a Grant-Funded Project?

If you're considering applying for DTIF Call 8, or you already have an award and want to make sure your R&D tax credit position is set up correctly from the start, contact Myriad to discuss your project.