By Dr Mike Christian
Innovation vouchers are just what they say! A voucher to spend up to £10k on a new dairy innovation project at SRUC, University of Strathclyde or University of West of Scotland.
So what are my top 5 tips?
- They are collaborative projects so set aside time to talk with the Innovation Brokers and the academics to develop the idea and the project.
- Work out what you are wanting to achieve with the project and define that carefully.
- Everyone is busy! Make sure you start well in advance of the next deadline. You can check the deadline here.
- The vouchers have to be match funded either by in-kind contribution to the project or by cash. The voucher can only cover up to half of the total project costs. Ask yourself if you have the capacity to put in the time, equipment or ‘effort’ to match fund or would it be better to pay half the cost?
- Involve the Innovation Brokers at an early stage, it is their job to help you put together a project. As well as being experts in their fields, they have access to further resources and knowledge to develop your ideas into a fundable project.
So if you have an idea that could improve dairy farming, dairy beef, dairy logistics or processing then get in touch: [email protected]
