Enterprise Ireland opens April round of Innovation Vouchers
03 April, 2009
Small companies of all descriptions are encouraged to apply for a €5,000 Enterprise Ireland Innovation Voucher this month. The call for applications for the vouchers opened today (1st April 2009) and will remain open until 5pm on Thursday 30th April.
To be successful in an application for an Innovation Voucher, the company's project must require an innovative solution, provide additional value for the company and have on-going benefits.
Over 260 companies have successful completed innovation voucher projects with a 'knowledge provider' to date. There are 38 knowledge providers participating on both sides of the Irish border - 10 in Northern Ireland and 28 in the Republic. Knowledge Providers are publicly funded research institutions.
Carlow Institute of Technology has completed the most Innovation Voucher projects to date, having delivered 32 innovative solutions in answer to challenges put forward by small businesses.
Declaring the April 2009 call for applications open, Pat O'Brien, Enterprise Ireland's Innovation Vouchers Programme Manager said;
"The feedback from innovation voucher holders has been very positive to date, with most participating companies citing the 'lack of red tape' as one of the main reasons they would use the initiative again".
The Innovation Voucher initiative has continually adapted to suit the needs of the companies it seeks to help. Since it was launched in April 2007, the initiative has introduced flexibility for groups of companies to join forces and apply for a 'pooled voucher' worth up to €50,000. To date, 4 such pooled applications have been funded.
Enterprise Ireland also worked closely with Invest Northern Ireland who introduced the vouchers there in May 2008. Through this partnership, companies in the Republic of Ireland can get knowledge providers in Northern Ireland to work with them and vice versa.
The first successful Innovation Voucher project between a company in the Republic and a Knowledge Provider in Northern Ireland was recently completed between University of Ulster and Dublin based WithURecruitment and there are 4 more cross-border innovation voucher projects in progress right now.
The full list of Knowledge Providers and a list of companies that have completed Innovation Vouchers projects to date are available on www.innovationvouchers.ie
ENDS
For more information please contact:
Grace Labanyi (née FitzGerald)
Communications & Media Relations Officer
Research Commercialisation & FP7
Enterprise Ireland
The Plaza
East Point Business Park, Dublin 3
t: +353 1 7272746 m:+353 87 3286404
email: grace.labanyi@enterprise-ireland.com
www.enterprise-ireland.com