New Frontiers: Enterprise Ireland's founder programme, with a tax-free allowance in Phase 2

What you get

New Frontiers is a programme, not a fund. Its main value is training, mentoring and a desk among other founders. The only cash is the Phase 2 allowance.

The programme's own site puts that allowance at €17,500, tax-free, for one founder, subject to eligibility and satisfactory performance. It values the Phase 2 package as a whole at over €30,000.

Phase 2 also includes:

• one-to-one mentoring from the Enterprise Ireland mentor network
• workshops on every part of building a business
• free co-working space in the college's incubation centre
• access to the college's research facilities and to Enterprise Ireland's Market Research Centre
• regular milestone reviews, and help to write a strong business plan
• introductions to seed and early-stage investors

Unlike an accelerator that invests in return for a stake, New Frontiers takes no equity. Equity means shares, a part-ownership of your company.

The phases

You do not have to do Phase 1 before Phase 2. The programme recommends it, and says it makes for a stronger Phase 2 application.

Phase 3 is described on Enterprise Ireland's page. The programme's own site describes only the first two phases, so ask your college what it offers afterwards.

Who gets in

• You are over 18, based in Ireland, and entitled to live and run a business here.
• You are new to business, or new to this industry, or have not yet built or scaled a business.
• You have an innovative idea in a commercial market, with export and employment potential.
• For Phase 2, you can commit full-time for six months.

The business does not need to be registered. Sectors the programme names include food and consumer products, information technology, engineering and electronics, medical devices, biotechnology, pharma, digital media, cleantech and eligible internationally traded services.

Places are competitive. The programme says applying does not secure a place, and that it looks as much at you as a founder as at the idea.

Who is excluded

The eligibility rules say these business ideas are not eligible:

• retail outlets
• professional services, including consultancies that do not sell internationally
• businesses that would displace existing jobs or businesses. The rules name builders, hairdressers, cafes, pubs, hotels, general printers, construction and trades
• conferences and seminars
• gambling, adult entertainment, tobacco, cannabis-based products and goods or services for military use

Money you have already received matters too. Only one co-founder can take part. You cannot get the allowance if you already have more than €100,000 in funding, public or private. If you have had a Local Enterprise Office priming or business expansion grant for the same business, you may be offered a place without the allowance.

If your idea is a shop, a cafe or a trade, New Frontiers is the wrong door. Try a Start Your Own Business course at your Local Enterprise Office. If you are on a long-term jobseeker's payment, look at the welfare allowance that backs a new business of almost any kind for up to two years.

Where it runs, and the next deadlines

• Dublin: TU Dublin at Blanchardstown, Grangegorman and Tallaght, Dublin City University, University College Dublin, and IADT in Dún Laoghaire
• North-east and midlands: Dundalk Institute of Technology, Maynooth University, and TUS in Athlone
• West and north-west: ATU in Galway and Mayo, Sligo and Letterkenny
• South and south-east: MTU in Cork and Kerry, TUS in Limerick, and SETU in Carlow and Waterford

These were the deadlines on the programme's calendar on 3 October 2026:

How to apply, step by step

1. Read the eligibility criteria on newfrontiers.ie, especially the rules on earlier funding.
2. Register your interest with your nearest location, using the register-your-interest form on newfrontiers.ie. This is not the application itself.
3. The programme manager contacts you to talk through the idea, helps you decide between Phase 1 and Phase 2, and sends the application form.
4. Send the application before the college's deadline. For Phase 2 you must declare any funding you or a co-founder have received or applied for.
5. If you are not offered a place, you can apply to another location or to a later intake.

Enterprise Ireland itself does not take or assess applications. After Phase 2, the next step for many founders is to apply for Enterprise Ireland's pre-seed investment. If you accept that offer while still on the allowance, the allowance stops.

Common questions