European Commission - Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

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Innovation vouchers

Region
POLSKA›MAKROREGION WSCHODNI›Podkarpackie
Title of measure
Full title in national language:
Bony na innowacje
Duration:
2016 to 2020
Policy objectives Plus
4.1. Direct funding to business R&D and innovation
Presentation of the measure:

According to the diagnosis presented in the Regional Operational Programme for Podkarpackie for 2014-2020, one of the significant barriers hindering the economic development of the Podkarpackie region is the low level of innovativeness of companies, the low ability of the R&D sector to create and diffuse the economically useful knowledge towards the companies, the low propensity to the mutual co-operation among the science units and enterprises, as well problems of the companies with the implementation of modern solutions. To address these challenges the regional decision makers earmarked financial support for the development of company R&D infrastructure and activities.

One of the measures aimed at the improvement of the ability of the Podkarpackie companies towards the R&D solutions development is the grant scheme type I “Innovation vouchers”, which is included in the measure 1.2. ”Improving the R&D of enterprises” and is implemented in the framework of the Regional Operational Programme for Podkarpackie for 2014-2020. According to the Programme, the objective of the measure is to strengthen the innovative capacity of companies by providing financial support for the preparation of ‘tailor-made’ future R&D company agendas and their feasibility studies. The eligible organisations for the provision of the abovementioned expert services is limited to research units that are accredited according to the Polish law.
 
The total budget for all types of the grant schemes included in the measure 1.2 amounts to €85m. The eligible beneficiaries in the case of Innovation Vouchers measure are SMEs from the Podkarpackie region.

Keywords:
Applied business research
Innovation support services
Innovation vouchers
Budget, source and type of funding
Year20162017201820192020
National public funds
Regional public funds
EU Structural Funds
Private funds
Other
Form of funding provided
Grants
Policy learning
To what extent the measure can be considered as a success and worthy of policy learning?:
It is too early to judge the success of the measure (e.g results of first call for proposals still not known).
Evidence of outcomes based on evaluation and other evidence:

In accordance with the mid-term evaluation of the Regional Operational Programme for Podkarpackie for 2014-2020, the overall achievement of the indicators (ratio of firms' expenditure on innovation activity in relation to GDP and ratio of firms' expenditure on R&D activity in relation to GDP) for the broader meaure 1.2. is lower than expected. However, the innovation vouchers themselves attracted a relatively high interest on the part of the eligible SMEs, raising the overall achievement of the relevant indicators for measure 1.2. 

What are the most important “Do’s and Don’ts” that regional stakeholders should be aware of when launching a similar measure?:

The relative attractiveness of the innovation vouchers for SMEs indicates that simplified application procedures and the possiblity to correct one's mistakes in the application are conducive to the success of the application of similar measures.
 

Would you recommend this measure as an example of regional good practice to policy-makers from other regions ?:
Yes