NBIC Edinburgh Innovation Vouchers

• Prevent: Knowledge-based design of surfaces and materials.
• Detect. Innovative sensing, tracking and diagnostic technologies.
• Manage: Control and eliminate established biofilms from exploiting their life cycle dynamics.
• Engineer: Control and direct complex microbial community processes in process applications.

Projects involving small to medium enterprises (SMEs) must include at least an in-kind contribution from the company towards projects costs. Projects involving large companies must include a contribution of equal value or higher than the voucher value through a combination of in-kind and cash contributions. 

We are aiming to provide funding to approximately 10 projects.  

Benefits for Industry Partners

• Funding for University support to develop new innovations.

• Access to cutting edge facilities and expertise available through their academic partner.

• Introduction into the wider NBIC network of academic and industry partners, and ongoing NBIC support post project.

Eligibility

For companies: 

• Be defined as an SME (less than 250 employees and an annual turnover under £50M) or large company able to make an in kind and cash contribution to the project.
• Have an unmet need or new innovation relevant to biofilms.
• Need subject matter expertise to address this unmet need or develop the new innovation.
• Interest in building an ongoing relationship with their university partner and NBIC as a whole. 

For universities: 

• University partners must be NBIC academic research partners.

For both: 

• Both the university and company must be located within the NBIC Edinburgh regional catchment zone (Scotland, Northern Ireland, and the North East of England).
• The partners must not have worked together before OR this must be a new initiative.

What Can the Voucher Fund?

The voucher will pay for the costs incurred by an academic research project. This includes:

• Buyout of research staff time.
• Consumables.
• Initial Proof of Concept projects.
• Feasibility and scoping projects.
• Travel costs to facilitate any necessary site visits.
• Travel and meeting costs for in-person visits.

Vouchers are subject to VAT. They are issued exclusive of VAT and the value of the voucher cannot be used to cover the VAT. The company partner will be responsible for the payment of VAT.

Application assessment criteria

Applications will be assessed based on:

• Viability and clarity of proposal.
• Fit to NBIC remit.
• Value for money.
• Benefits to the academic, company, and the Northern Irish, Scottish, and/or North East of England economy. 

If you have any questions before applying, please contact us at nbic@ed.ac.uk

Please visit the Interface Partner Portal to apply for an NBIC Edinburgh Innovation Voucher. 

How to Apply

The application form must be completed by both the academic and company partners. All applications must be completed through the Interface Partner Portal. 

We’re very grateful to the team at Interface for their support in developing this scheme and for integrating the application process into their Partner Portal. Interface’s established and highly successful Innovation Voucher programme has enabled thousands of businesses to collaborate with academics to solve challenges, embed new skills, and drive innovation for sustainability and growth. We greatly value the opportunity to work together and learn from their expertise and experience.