Invest NI Innovation Vouchers

Northern Ireland-based SMEs with a specific, well-defined problem an external knowledge provider can address in a short, scoped piece of work — typical examples are a feasibility assessment, materials or process review, prototype scoping, IP landscape, or short technical study. Especially useful for companies that have never worked with a university and want a structured way to start.

Northern Ireland SMEs working with an approved public knowledge provider.

Defined project scope, knowledge provider confirmation.

Identify problem and knowledge provider → co-draft scope with provider → submit to Invest NI ahead of the call cut-off → assessment over several weeks → award notification → voucher redeemed by provider on completion of the agreed scope. Most engagements run 1–3 months from award to delivery.

A Northern Ireland SME (often manufacturing, agri-food, advanced materials, or software) that has hit a specific technical bottleneck — a process inefficiency, a materials choice, a regulatory question, an early IP landscape — and wants a focused piece of academic input to inform the next investment decision rather than a long R&D programme.

The voucher does not give cash to the SME — Invest NI pays the knowledge provider directly. The voucher is not a route to large R&D funding; the value is intentionally small. The "innovation" definition is broader than pure technology — process, product, service, and business-model innovation all qualify. And the voucher is NI-specific: a GB-based business cannot use it, even with NI customers.

On a successful voucher, the knowledge provider delivers the agreed output (study, prototype, technical report) and Invest NI pays the provider on completion. The SME holds the deliverable and any agreed IP terms set in the contract. The strong signal is whether the SME then commissions further work, applies for follow-on funding, or makes an investment decision — Invest NI tracks this as the real measure of success, not the voucher itself.

A successful voucher typically leads to one of: a second, larger piece of paid work with the same provider, an Invest NI Grant for R&D for a more substantial in-house project, a Knowledge Transfer Partnership embedding a graduate to take the work forward, or a UK-wide Innovate UK application where the voucher work provides the technical evidence base. Treat the voucher as the start of a funded pathway, not the destination.

Innovation Vouchers sit at the bottom of Invest NI's R&D funding ladder, below Grant for R&D, the Collaborative Growth Programme, and KTP. They are intentionally low-value to lower the barrier to first engagement with the NI research base — the policy goal is to grow the pool of NI SMEs that work with universities, not to fund the work itself. Companies in Northern Ireland also have access to UK-wide schemes (Innovate UK, KTP, Horizon Europe) and EU PEACE PLUS, which can stack with or follow on from a voucher.