Michael Ahern (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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The establishment of an Innovation Voucher initiative was a key recommendation of the Small Business Forum in their report 'Small Business is Big Business', published in May 2006.

The Innovation Vouchers initiative, which is being 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 initiative was formally launched in March 2007 on an initial pilot basis. Applications were sought from small businesses who have a business opportunity or problem that they want to explore for an Innovation Voucher worth €5,000. The vouchers can be used to facilitate knowledge transfer from the public research sector to small businesses.

The pilot phase has met with a very positive response both from the small business sector and from knowledge providers with sixteen Universities and Institutes of Technology participating. The pilot has resulted in 194 Innovation Vouchers being approved.

It is now intended to proceed with a second and a third phase of the initiative to be rolled out in July and October 2007 respectively with Enterprise Ireland envisaging a total of 600 applications being approved for funding by the end of this year.

The Vouchers will be available to the widest possible range of small businesses in Ireland as permitted by European Union State Aid regulations and to a total of 66 sectors. Applicants need not necessarily be clients of Enterprise Ireland to qualify.