Start-up founders challenge loss of State backing for NDRC accelerator

A raft of start-up company founders and advisors have signed an open letter calling for a rethink of the decision to wind down the National Digital Research Centre (NDRC), a so called accelerator programmes that provides funding and other supports to help emerging businesses in the sector achieve scale.

NDRC announced on Thursday that it will cease operations when a current contract expires in November 2025 following a decision by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications not to extend the funding of €3.5m a year.

NDRC’s supports to start-ups include some funding, office space at sites in Dublin and around the country and mentoring, training and networking supports. It has been around since 2006 in a number of guises and operates under a concession agreement, with third parties funded by the State to provide the service..

Following a procurement process, the contract was awarded in 2020 to Dublin based Dogpatch Labs and a number of regional partners to continue the NDRC.

The Department of the Environment said it took the decision not to extend the contract following consultation with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and Enterprise Ireland, which between them are responsible for managing most business supports, including funding to high potential start-ups.

However, the decision sparked a backlash from business owners in the tech sector. An open letter calling for the decision to be reversed was circulated on Friday and had secured more than 200 signatures within hours.

The letter writers said the signatures are from founders of businesses responsible for an estimated 2,745 jobs. The letter was written by Paul Sheridan of Lynq, Luke Mackey of Kota, Eoin Cambay of Swan and Will O'Brien of Ulysses and was endorsed by industry figures including

Patricia Scanlon, most recently the State’s AI Ambassador and founder of Soapbox Labs, which uses artificial intelligence to develop speech recognition applications; and serial entrepreneur Pat Phelan.

“We are writing this letter as a group of concerned Irish technology startup founders who disagree with the Department for Enterprise, Trade and Employment and Enterprise Ireland's decision to close the National Digital Research Centre (NDRC) accelerator program,” the letter said.

“Under Dogpatch Labs' stewardship alongside a very successful partnership model with regional hubs Republic of Work (Cork), Portershed (Galway) and RDI (Kerry), the NDRC has built an ecosystem of early-stage startups that could compete with European and US counterparts–despite those regions having deeper capital pools, more established role models, broader talent bases, and greater ecosystem experience,” it said.

The letter said NDRC-backed startups had raised €200m since 2021 while creating 650+ jobs and that alternative State backed schemes would not replace the benefits of the existing programme.

“We strongly urge the Department for Enterprise, Trade and Employment and Enterprise Ireland to reconsider and thoroughly review the impact of closing the NDRC on the creation of indigenous startups,” the letter said.

The decision not to continue funding was in fact made by the Department of the Environment as NDRC’s long time funder.

Reporting on:independent.ie