Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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329. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if the innovation voucher will be amended to allow SMEs purchase digital equipment and machinery for their business. [28797/25]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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The Innovation Voucher Programme is funded by my Department under the Science and Technology Programme, through Enterprise Ireland.

The Innovation Voucher Programme is designed to build links between Ireland's public knowledge providers (higher education institutions and research performing bodies) and small businesses and help to create a cultural shift in the small business community's approach to innovation. The vouchers encourage companies and public knowledge providers to work together on specific innovation questions and projects related to a company’s needs and is available to the broadest number of companies. The nature of these projects will be such that they transfer knowledge that is new, thereby enabling a company to use this newly acquired knowledge to innovate a product, production process or service.

The primary aim of the Innovation Voucher programme therefore is for businesses to purchase academic support from registered knowledge providers, to ultimately improve a company's innovation capability. Eligible activity that can be funded under the Innovation Voucher programme includes:

• new product design/development.
• new or improved production process.
• new business model development.
• new service delivery and customer interface.
• new service development.
• tailored training in innovation management.
• innovation/technology audit.