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Innovation Vouchers Initiative

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 December 2013

Tuesday, 10 December 2013

Ceisteanna (231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237)

Pearse Doherty

Ceist:

231. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of innovation vouchers issued; the number redeemed; their total value; the number extended; and the number elapsed for each year of the programme. [52755/13]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Pearse Doherty

Ceist:

232. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of enterprises which received multiple innovation vouchers according to the number of vouchers received, that is, the number of enterprises which received a single voucher, two vouchers, three vouchers and so on. [52756/13]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Pearse Doherty

Ceist:

233. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of innovation vouchers received by spin-off companies or companies associated with multinationals; the number received by small and medium-sized enterprises; and the number received by microenterprises. [52757/13]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Pearse Doherty

Ceist:

234. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the average timescale between an innovation voucher being awarded to a payment being drawn down. [52758/13]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Pearse Doherty

Ceist:

235. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the process by which an assessment is made as to how the objectives of an application for innovation vouchers have been fulfilled; the number of innovation vouchers that have achieved all objectives set; the number that have partially met their objectives; and the number that have failed to meet their objectives. [52759/13]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Pearse Doherty

Ceist:

236. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the way knowledge providers are informed of awards innovation vouchers; and the way the competence of individual knowledge providers is assessed. [52760/13]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Pearse Doherty

Ceist:

237. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the way work undertaken on innovation vouchers by knowledge providers is additional to the work they are funded to provide. [52761/13]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

I propose to take Questions Nos. 231 to 237, inclusive, together.

The Enterprise Ireland Innovation Voucher Initiative was established in 2007 in order to drive an on-going innovation cultural shift within small enterprise by promoting and encouraging a transfer of knowledge between Ireland’s public knowledge providers and the small business community and creating greater synergies between the two. Under the initiative, vouchers worth €5,000 are allocated to small businesses whose proposals, to work with public knowledge providers on specific innovation questions, meet simple criteria.

The following table illustrates the number of Innovation Vouchers issued; the number redeemed and their respective total values since the programme commenced.

Innovation Vouchers Approved and Redeemed for years 2007 to 2012

-

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

Totals

Vouchers Redeemed

4

206

526

524

518

525

2303

Vouchers paid €

18,264

1,014,935

2,406,334

2,591,145

2,573,568

2,547,178

11,151,424

Vouchers Issued

428

588

798

855

757

767

4193

€ Amt approved

2,140,000

2,940,000

3,990,000

4,275,000

3,785,000

3,835,000

20,965,000

At the end of 2012, 55% of Vouchers issued were redeemed while 45% of approved Vouchers were not redeemed within the one year period of validity which is broadly typical for this form of innovation support. For example, in the Netherlands where this scheme was originally established, 40% of issued Vouchers were never redeemed. The Vouchers target small companies who may decide not to pursue the Voucher for a number of reasons including a change of company direction in the interim or a change of R&D or innovation ambitions. The projected outturn for 2013 is positive with 1,007 Vouchers issued so far with a value of €5,035,000. In addition, 491 Vouchers have been redeemed to date with a value of €2,360,337. Under the current guidelines for the programme companies may make use of a maximum of three vouchers, one of which must be a 50-50 co-funded voucher between Enterprise Ireland and the company. Excluding cancellations 3,337 companies have received vouchers to date, 76% received one voucher, 21% two vouchers and 3% have received 3 vouchers.

The timescale between the award of an Innovation Voucher and a payment being drawn down differs as each project is distinct and the time to completion varies widely depending on the circumstances of the company, the knowledge provider and the nature of the project. Many voucher projects are completed within a month of project commencement whereas others may take up to one year to complete depending on the nature of the work. Vouchers are valid for one year from the date of issue and in general are redeemed within that period unless an extension is granted. A formal procedure exists to enable companies to apply for an extension of the voucher, however, information on this specific data set is not available. Enterprise Ireland believes that the number of Vouchers that have received an extension would represent a very small proportion of the total Vouchers redeemed.

Enterprise Ireland carry out regular independent programme evaluations to assess the effectiveness of all programmes. The most recent external evaluation of the Innovation Voucher programme in 2012 indicated high levels of programme effectiveness and company satisfaction. As part of this evaluation 94% of companies said that they would be willing to participate in an Innovation Voucher project in the future and 93% would be willing to recommend the programme to other businesses. A further 82% stated that participation in the project has increased their desire to work with research partners in the future. One of the key objectives of this programme is to improve links between industry and academia – these findings suggest that the Voucher programme has been successful in doing this. The findings also demonstrate a very positive company experience and indicate how beneficial companies found the Innovation Voucher programme.

The evaluation noted that the programme has delivered direct benefits for 69% of companies including new and improved products and processes to the company and to the commercial market. The evaluation also found that the scheme achieved €7.65 in company turnover per €1.00 invested by Enterprise Ireland to date. This evaluation also found that most companies were either satisfied or very satisfied with their partner institutes when asked about the following aspects:

- overall role of the provider (72%)

- partner institute’s role in the setting up of the project (67%)

- partner institute’s role in supporting the project (68%)

- partner institute’s role in following up the partnership after completion (57%)

As a more immediate measure of the achievement of the Voucher’s objectives, at the completion of an Innovation Voucher project the company must sign a declaration to confirm that the knowledge provider has completed the project to their satisfaction. On receipt of the signed declaration Enterprise Ireland can issue a payment in respect of the Voucher.

Innovation Voucher projects are independent projects carried out by the knowledge providers at the company’s behest. The company requires the skills and expertise which is available within the third level research community to help them address a particular technical issue or challenge that the company faces. These projects are defined by companies and are in the research domain of the knowledge provider involved. They are distinct and additional projects to the knowledge provider’s core work and are paid for via the Innovation Vouchers.

A full list of approved knowledge providers who have agreed to participate in the programme is available on the Innovation Voucher website www.innovationvouchers.ie. This provides a directory of the skills and expertise available within each third level institute and a designated contact person for each knowledge provider. Enterprise Ireland advise companies who have been awarded Vouchers to use this directory to assist them to contact and select the most appropriate knowledge provider for their project. The competence of the knowledge provider in relation to providing knowledge to the companies participating in the Innovation Voucher programme is validated by the companies’ level of satisfaction and through Enterprise Ireland’s evaluation of the programme.

The Innovation Voucher programme is restricted to small companies* (less than 50 employees) and medium size companies are not currently eligible to apply for a Voucher. Specific data breaking down further the "small company" designation into further strata such as spin off companies or micro enterprises is not available.

*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. (Exclusions: small enterprises in the agricultural sector are excluded in line with EU State aid guidelines).

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