Limerick Institute of Technology (Ireland) is an institute of higher education in Limerick, a modern urban city in the Mid-West region of Ireland and is one of 13 institutes that are members of the Institutes of Technology, Ireland (IOTI). LIT is the fourth largest IOT in Ireland, with more than 6000 full time and part time students and 500 staff. The Institute has five campuses and a learning centre across Limerick city, Tipperary and Clare. The main campus is located at Moylish Park, with two city centre cam-puses in Clare Street and Georges Quay in Limerick city. LIT in Tipperary is based in two campuses -Thurles and Clonmel. The LIT Ennis Learning Centre is based in the museum in Ennis town centres. LIT offers courses at Level 6 (certificate) through to Level 10 (PhD) whilst also catering for craft apprentices and adult and continuing education.

The Development Unit of LIT takes the lead with regard to the development of social enterprise in the region. In co-operation with North Tipperary Leader Partnership, LIT has run a Social Enterprise Start programme for those interested in the possibility of starting a social enterprise. LIT is also a member and active participant in Communities Creating Jobs. CCJ is an organisation founded on the belief that Ireland contains many communities with jobs/enterprise focused projects at various stages of develop-ment. There are also many other communities who don’t know how/where to start on this enterprise creation journey and as time progresses these areas become significantly less resilient to the many external negative forces which impact on society. LIT is also a partner in SESBA (Social Enterprise Skills for Business Advisors), an ERASMUS+ funded project. More information on the Development Unit can be obtained from http://www.lit.ie/RED/Development/default.aspx.