The Irish government established the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund (DTIF) as a €500 million challenge-based fund under the National Development Plan 2018–2027. The fund is managed by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment with administrative support from Enterprise Ireland.
According to the government, the purpose of the DTIF is to drive collaboration between Ireland’s research base and industry, facilitating enterprises to compete directly for funding in support of the development and adoption of disruptive technologies. Each project must include at least one small or medium-sized enterprise and one other enterprise in a consortium of three or more partners.
Quantum computing was identified as one of the emerging technology areas eligible for support under the fund. The first call for proposals was issued in 2018, and subsequent calls would go on to fund dedicated quantum computing projects including the Quantum Computing in Ireland (QCoIr) initiative.