As an SME or other type of organisation with fewer than 250 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs), you can apply for an innovation cheque (preliminary study) worth up to 15,000 Swiss francs to assess the viability of your innovation concept. This voucher enables you to commission idea studies and analyses of your project’s innovative and market potential with a Swiss research partner across all thematic areas and to test the collaboration with the research partner.
This support offer is aimed at:
SMEs, start-ups and other small and medium-sized organisations from the private or public sector (with fewer than 250 full-time equivalents).
1. Submit application
Are you an SME with an innovative idea and would like to find out whether it is actually feasible? The innovation cheque enables you to do just that, with the help of a research partner.
The innovation cheque is awarded by Innosuisse to finance preliminary studies of your innovative idea, for example concept developments and idea studies as well as analyses of the innovation and market potential of new processes, products, services or technologies. Innosuisse finances 100% of the research partner’s costs up to 15,000 Swiss francs.
To apply for an innovation cheque, your organisation as an “implementation partner” must meet the following requirements:
You are an SME, a start-up or organisation with fewer than 250 FTEs. For group companies, the number of FTEs in the entire group is definitive.
Your organisation is based in Switzerland. You will need a Swiss company identification number (UID number) as evidence.
You have already identified a Swiss research partner who can conduct the preliminary study on your behalf.
You have not been granted a voucher for a preliminary study in the past two years (based on decision date).
Please note that research and development partners must respect the code of scientific integrity. Projects or activities that are contrary to scientific integrity or good scientific practice are not eligible for funding.
Complete the online form on the Innosuisse application platform of Innosuisse. Your application should contain the following information:
title of the preliminary study
general information: implementation partner, research partner, contact information, etc.
nnovation: novel and innovative content, feasibility of the results, task of the research partner, deliverable result, competitive situation, potential benefit for the implementation partner
financial plan: staffing and material costs. Further information on the financial plan can be found under Frequently Asked Questions.
Do you meet the requirements? Then complete the form on the application platform. The application must be submitted by you, the implementation partner. You can submit your application at any time. As soon as you have done so, you will receive a confirmation by e-mail.
Once you have submitted your application, Innosuisse will start the evaluation process.
2. Evaluation and decision
Your application will first be reviewed by the Secretariat of Innosuisse to make sure it meets the formal requirements. The evaluation process then begins. An expert evaluates the application and makes a recommendation. Based on this assessment, a member of the Innosuisse Innovation Council decides whether to award you an innovation cheque. This process usually takes four to six weeks, and you will be notified of the decision by IncaMail.
Your application must contain all information necessary to evaluate your project from a technical, scientific and economic perspective. The expert assesses the quality of the applications submitted on the basis of the following criteria:
Level of innovation: is the scientific and economic approach novel? Specifically: what makes your innovation unique? What are its scientific, technological or social innovations?
Potential benefit: what is the added value for the implementation partner? What is the added value of the preliminary study?
Expertise of project partners: do the project partners have the expertise needed to carry out the project and implement it on the market as envisaged?
Financial plan: are the stated staffing and material costs for the preliminary study realistic?
Follow-up project: what is the likelihood of a follow-up project (e.g. an innovation project) being implemented?
Once the Innovation Council has made a decision, Innosuisse will notify you if your project has been approved by IncaMail. You can then start your preliminary study with the research partner.
If the Innovation Council decides not to approve your application, Innosuisse will notify you of the decision by IncaMail, outlining the reasons for the rejection.
You can revise a rejected application at any time and re-submit it to Innosuisse as a new application, provided that the new application remedies the identified shortcomings. The changes made to your application must be easily identifiable; please highlight them in colour in the application. The newly submitted application will be re-evaluated according to the standard evaluation process.
3. Conclude contract and conduct preliminary study
The implementation partner is responsible for formalising the legal relationship with the research partner. The implementation partner therefore agrees on the contractual terms of the cooperation with the research partner. Innosuisse does not draw up contracts between implementation partners and research partners, nor does it provide any contract templates.
You have six months to conduct and complete the preliminary study with your research partner.
4. Submit final reports and redeem innovation cheque
Once you have completed the preliminary study, you must send a final status and financial report to Innosuisse. These reports are used for quality assurance, financial auditing and impact measurement. Note: Please submit both reports directly via the application platform.
To enter the material costs, please refer to the document “Eligible material costs”:
As soon as Innosuisse has reviewed the final reports, the project partners receive a final statement. The amount is automatically transferred to the research partner’s account at the end of the 30-day period for appeals.
