IEDR launches e-commerce development fund
Wednesday 4 May 2011
The IE Domain Registry (IEDR), which manages the .ie web address, has launched an e-commerce website development fund worth €100,000 in total for Irish SMEs. The OPTIMISE fund will let 10 Irish SMEs implement fully featured transactional functionality into their existing online presence, allowing them to sell their goods and services online 24/7 globally. They will each receive €10,000 worth of technical and marketing support in order to upgrade their sites into major e-commerce presences. The fund is open to application from any organisation classified as an SME or micro-enterprise with an existing website which is publicly accessible and has a .ie domain name. The closing date for applications is 3 June 2011. IEDR established the OPTIMISE fund in order to raise awareness about how slow many Irish companies have been to take advantage of what the web can offer with e-commerce. According to its Domain Name Industry Report, published in November 2010, just 66% of Irish businesses had any website by 2009, which isn’t a huge leap from 40% in 2000.
