The Standard Innovation Voucher encourages first-time collaboration between a company and a university or college. The voucher will support the development of a new product, process, or service for their company.

The value of the voucher is between £1,000 and up to £7,500 to cover the academic project costs and is paid directly to the university or college. 

Interface provides support with finding a suitable academic partner who has the right specialist expertise to progress your research and development project. You will need to match the voucher's value in cash, in kind (such as staff time, materials or equipment) or a combination of both.

Yes, if you:

• are a registered business operating in Scotland
• are a small to medium-sized enterprise – with fewer than 250 employees, a turnover of less then €50 million or a balance sheet less of than €43 million – or a social enterprise
• have never collaborated with a university or further education college to undertake research and development
• have a novel or pioneering idea that will lead to new products, services or processes that will benefit the company, the academic institution and the Scottish economy
• have a project which cannot be delivered commercially and requires the technical expertise of an academic partner

Sole traders and businesses not registered in Scotland will need to submit a pre-submission form to establish if they're eligible. 

There is no cost to apply for the innovation voucher. 

You will need to match the voucher's value in cash, in kind (such as staff time, materials or equipment) or a combination of both.

Any small or medium-sized business or social enterprise in Scotland looking to partner with a Scottish university or further education college for the first time.

Applications must be submitted by the relevant academic institution, via the Interface Partner Portal. It may take up to 3 weeks for your application to be approved by the Scottish Funding Council.

Projects should generally start within 4 weeks of the grant being approved and should be completed within 3 months, depending on your project.

A company can receive only one Product/Process/Service Innovation Voucher. You can also apply for a Workforce Innovation Voucher.

Sole traders and businesses not registered in Scotland will need to submit a pre-submission form to establish eligibility.

The voucher cannot be used to match other public funding schemes.

Please submit an enquiry and a member of the Interface team will respond shortly.