Eligible Activities

Eligible Activities

Eligible activities

Note: All project applications must have B2B application as the primary focus. If you’re unsure whether your project would qualify, please get in touch with the Innovation Vouchers team. 

  • Opportunity Analysis to support your ideas in the Idea Screening Phase
  • Idea Screening
  • Concept development, prototyping and testing
  • Development the marketing and engineering details
  • Identification & investigation of intellectual property, including the process for intellectual property creation, protection (but not patent maintenance fees to Intellectual Property Office or relevant official organisations)
  • Feasibility through virtual computer aided rendering and rapid prototyping
  • Conducting focus group customer interviews
  • Commercialization (often considered post-NPD)
  • Critical path analysis
  • New Product Pricing
  • Impact of new product on the entire product portfolio
  • Analysis of competition and alternative competitive technologies
  • Analysis of costs and selling price
  • Forecast of unit volumes, revenue, and profit
  • Equipment purchases to develop prototypes
  • Capital items to develop physical prototypes
  • Beta Testing and Market Testing
  • Producing a physical prototype or mock-up
  • Testing the product (and its packaging) in typical usage situations
  • Producing an initial run of the product
  • Economic impact assessment
  • Launch new products or services
  • Beta Testing and Market Testing
  • Conducting focus group customer interviews
  • New Product Pricing
  • Producing a physical prototype or mock-up
  • Testing the product (and its packaging) in typical usage situation
  • Opportunity Analysis to support your ideas in the Idea Screening Phase
  • Idea Screening
  • Concept development/Concept testing
  • Critical path analysis
  • Analysis of competition and alternative competitive technologies
  • Analysis of costs and selling price
  • Forecast of unit volumes, revenue, and profit
  • Efficiency audit, process change
  • Off the shelf market research reports
  • Customised market research done through professional consultants & market research
  • Overseas market entry research reports done by specialist Accredited organisations / trade & industry bodies in the UK & overseas
  • Development of innovative business models/ strategy
  • Engineering operations planning
  • Program review and monitoring
  • Contingencies – what-if planning
  • Innovation/technology audit

Finalising Quality Management System

  • Department scheduling
  • Supplier collaboration
  • Logistics plan
  • Resource planning/publication
  • Resource estimation
  • Consultancy towards IT Strategy and Value Optimisation
  • Building security algorithms & AI
  • Specialist electronic system, Software design and computer engineering tools
  • Designing of Specialist CRM systems that drive hardware
  • APP design & development for Mobile & portable devices (such as tablets, phones and PDAs)
  • Development of GIS (Geographical Information Systems)
  • Analysis and Design of Algorithms
  • Electronic Communication and Concurrency
  • Compression Methods for Multimedia
  • Cryptography and Information Security
  • System Modelling
  • Distributed Systems and Applications
  • Software Measurement and Quality Assurance
  • Informatics (including Bioinformatics) e.g. Software & hardware design of fingerprint or IRIS or Biometric Identification
  • Scanners etc. that can be controlled through web technologies

Ineligible activities

  • Website Design
  • Website Coding (exclusions apply)
  • Launch marketing for products not developed in-house
  • Traditional Business Marketing
    • Leaflets
    • Banners
    • Video production
    • Photography
    • Cold Calling, Sales Calls, etc.
    • Radio, TV, online adverts etc…
  • Google / Keyword Adwords
  •  Social Media Marketing
  •  Accommodation
  • Car parking
  • Company vehicles
  • Courier services
  • Flights
  • Food and drink
  • Mileage
  • Petrol, diesel or other fuel
  • Refreshments
  • Travel abroad
  • For use as working capital
  • Capital items NOT for use in developing a physical prototype (Inc. laptops, PCs, tablets & other hardware)
  • Installation of generic hardware/software
  • Telesales, Adverts / Marketing
  • Forwarding of post for a change of address as part of relocation
  • Ink/toner cartridges or printer ink
  • Internal employee wages/time
  • Monthly bills/annual charges (ie telephone, internet, utilities, servicing of equipment, etc)
  • Newspapers/journals
  • Printing of current promotional material
  • Postage of current promotional material
  • Service/maintenance charges on office equipment
  • Stock items
  • Subscriptions to magazines, etc
  • Conversion of a building into offices for rental purposes
  • Building a new building or extension, etc
  • Demolition
  • External costs (ie landscape gardening, driveways, exterior furniture)
  • Planning permission/building regulation fees
  • Rent & rates for current or new premises
  • Rent deposit on new premises
  • Roofing
  • Service charges
  • Solar Panels
  • Accountancy fees
  • Accreditation fees
  • Bank or payments system fees (Inc. fees associated with paying your chosen supplier)
  • Coaching and mentoring
  • Consultancy fees relating to completing the Innovation Vouchers application form
  • Fees associated with registering a trademark
  • Legal fees (Unless as part of approved project activity)
  • Membership fees of professional organisations
  • Photography/Videography for marketing
  • Recruitment
  • Training
  • Writing of a generic business plan, generic marketing strategy, etc.
  • Purchase of ‘off-the-shelf’ or white labelled software