The Innovation Voucher Program is a new initiative of the Victorian Government that supports businesses wanting to explore ways of improving their competitiveness and productivity. The program is a separate but complementary to the Technology Voucher Program. It provides responsive and nimble funding to help companies access the know-how needed to innovate.

The Innovation Voucher Program helps companies by providing a voucher that is exchanged for access to innovation and R&D related facilities, training, goods, services, advice or expertise provided by other companies or publicly funded research organisations (e.g. universities, CSIRO and research institutes).

Voucher Types

The types of vouchers available are as follows:

Voucher types	Purpose	Status
$25,000 Business R&D	This voucher can be used:by businesses to start doing R&D and/or do more in Victoriaby local and international companies to access Victoria’s extensive R&D capability	Open for voucher applications
$10,000 Innovation Skills	This voucher can be used:by Victorian businesses to develop innovation-relevant skillsOr by Victorian publicly funded research organisations to improve their capability and capacity to engage with companies	Open for supplier applications.voucher applications to be open from  Nov 2012.

 

By supporting greater business innovation, the Innovation Voucher Program aims to facilitate improved performance (particularly with respect to productivity) and growth of businesses.

The program supports businesses at various stages of their product or development life cycle, and encourages and stimulates further business collaboration and research partnerships.

The program is primarily targeted at small and medium businesses.

How to apply

Complete the online application form.

The Innovation Skills Voucher supports Victorian companies and publicly funded research organisations to improve their skills through access to professional courses, training or specialised skills development programs.

 

1. Skill Voucher $10k

The Innovation Skills Voucher can be used by Victorian businesses to access innovation skills development opportunities provided by Victorian suppliers/service providers. The skills development must have an impact on the innovation capability of the entire company. For example a Victorian company could use the voucher to develop or improve:

• intellectual property and/or knowledge management
• commercialisation skills
• technology road mapping
• communications skills, in particular to interact with R&D providers and work across disciplines
• idea generation, selection and implementation

Publicly funded research organisations may use the voucher to improve their capability and capacity to service industry projects. For example a Victorian publicly funded research organisation could use the voucher to develop or improve:

• in house sales or customer service skills
• marketing and communications capability, in particular to interact with companies of different sizes and work across different industries

For more examples of how the Innovation Skills Voucher could be used, visit the Innovation Voucher Program Case Studies page.

Applicant eligibility

The Innovation Skills Voucher is open to Victorian small to medium businesses and Victorian publicly funded research organisations.

Victorian small to medium businesses must:

• employ less than 200 employees
• be registered in Victoria or carry out more than 50 per cent of their business activity in Victoria
• not be currently involved in litigation with the State Government of Victoria.

Victorian publicly funded research organisations must:

• not be currently involved in litigation with the State Government of Victoria

Program conditions

Voucher applicants:

• are required to make a minimum cash co-contribution from the business/organisation of 25% of the voucher amount requested (i.e. $2,500 cash contribution for a $10,000 voucher)
• may apply individually or jointly with other applicants. Vouchers may be pooled to a maximum of $50,000 and may be used to commission development of a tailored program for a number of companies or facilities with shared training needs
• cannot redeem vouchers to pay for services already funded through other local, state or federal government grant programs
• must be an entirely separate entity from the supplier(s), with no financial or other ties (companies/organisations and suppliers may not be owned by the same parent company, share governance or have common directors)
• declare any existing governance relationships between themselves and the nominated supplier(s), including whether any of the project suppliers:
  • are subsidiaries or related bodies corporate within the meaning of Corporations Act 2001
  • share common directors, officers or senior managers
• must commence the project within 6 months and complete the project within 18 months of the date of voucher issue
• must not make any public announcement or issue any press release regarding the receipt of a voucher, except in consultation and with the approval of the Department of Business and Innovation
• if successful, must submit a written service agreement signed both parties, within 3 months of voucher award.

2. R&D Voucher $25k

The Business R&D Voucher can be used to undertake actual or scoping work for activities that meet the AusIndustry definition of R&D. It can also be used by local and international companies to access Victoria’s extensive R&D capability.

The voucher project should involve exploring or testing new ideas. R&D activities can be relevant in both a “high-tech” and “low-tech” sense, but vouchers are not intended to cover technology adoption activities (which are instead supported by the Technology Voucher Program). Preference will be given to projects that are based on new to world and/or disruptive innovations.

For example a company could use a Business R&D Voucher to work with a supplier to:

• develop an experimental plan (e.g. with a university)
• undertake a freedom to operate search
• test a new or improved material, construction method or manufacturing process

For more examples of how the Business R&D Voucher could be used, visit the Innovation Voucher Program Case Studies page.

Definition of R&D

R&D includes a group of activities involved in discovering, developing or testing a new idea (which can be brand new to the world, or just new to your business, your industry or Australia).

The definition of R&D adopted for this Program is as defined formally by AusIndustry to include experimental activities:

• whose outcome cannot be known or determined in advance on the basis of current knowledge, information or experience, but can only be determined by applying a systematic progression or work that:
  • is based on principles of established science; and
  • proceeds from hypothesis to experiment, observation and evaluation, and leads to logical conclusions
• that are conducted for the purpose of generating new knowledge (including about creating new knowledge or improved materials, products, devices, processes or services)

Applicant Eligibility

The Business R&D Voucher is open to all small to medium businesses, including non-Victorian & foreign-owned, looking to undertake work in Victoria with a local R&D supplier/service provider.

Victorian small to medium businesses must:

• employ less than 200 employees
• be registered in Victoria or carry out more than 50 per cent of their business activity in Victoria
• not be currently involved in litigation with the State Government of Victoria

Non-Victorian small to medium businesses must:

• employ less than 200 employees
• not be currently involved in litigation with the State Government of Victoria
• be willing to undertake the voucher project in Victoria with a local R&D supplier

Please note Small Technologies Industry Uptake Program (STIUP) andTechnology Voucher Program recipients are not eligible for a Business R&D Voucher.

 

 

For more information about how Treadstone can assist with your grant application, call us on 03 9008 9537.