The Innovation Voucher initiative was developed to build links between Ireland's public knowledge providers (i.e. higher education institutes, public research bodies) and small businesses. Innovation Vouchers worth €5,000 are available to assist a company or companies to explore a business opportunity or problem with a registered knowledge provider.
The Innovation Vouchers initiative, administered by Enterprise Ireland, has been designed to stimulate an on-going cultural shift with regard to innovation within the small business sector while bridging the gap that exists between the small business community and public research bodies. The vouchers can be used to facilitate knowledge transfer from the public research sector and small businesses and are available to the widest possible range of small businesses in Ireland. Applicants need not necessarily be clients of Enterprise Ireland. For the purposes of the Innovation Voucher Initiative, a Small Enterprise is defined as a company or (if part of a group) a group of companies where the total number of full-time employees in the company (or the entire group) is less than 50 and has either an annual turnover and/or an annual Balance Sheet total not exceeding €10m. Small enterprises in the agricultural sector are excluded in line with State aid guidelines.
Under the current guidelines, companies with charitable status, commercial semi-state companies, "not for profit" organisations, trade associations and company representation bodies such as Chambers of Commerce are not eligible to participate in the innovation voucher initiative.
This refinement of eligibility criteria was undertaken to direct the activity of the programme to companies involved in commercial enterprise or business whose main focus is generating jobs and/or exports.
Enterprise Ireland recognises that an important source of knowledge, expertise and competitive advantage available to small companies can be found in the research departments of Institutes of Technology and Irish Universities. The Innovation Vouchers scheme gives small companies access to this vast source of innovative acumen and in so doing acts as an important facet of knowledge transfer from the third level to industry. These vouchers worth €5,000 can be used by the average small Irish company to purchase advice and knowledge that is new to the company.
Innovation Vouchers were designed with the aim of planting the seed of innovation in small businesses, encouraging them to look to their future and seize the opportunities that knowledge and Innovation can bring. As a measure of the success of the scheme in fostering collaboration, many of the companies who worked with a knowledge provider have since applied for more substantial funding from programmes like Enterprise Ireland’s Innovation Partnership programme.
