Please use this form to submit your study for inclusion into our database. It will be checked by a member of the Innovation Growth Lab team, who may be in contact to ask for more information. Your email address * Your name * Title * The name of the study Short summary An innovation voucher scheme in the Netherlands appears to successfully encourage SMEs to work with public research institutes on innovative projects. A brief description of the project's goals and its current state Abstract <p>The Dutch innovation voucher aims to stimulate the interaction between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and public research institutes. This document provides an estimate of the effectiveness of the innovation voucher instrument, employing the fact that the vouchers were assigned randomly by means of a lottery. The main conclusion is that the innovation voucher instrument does stimulate SMEs to engage in many new assignments with public research institutes. Out of every ten vouchers, eight are used for a project that would not have been assigned without such a voucher, one is used for a project that would have been assigned anyhow, and one voucher is not used. An overall assessment of the innovation voucher also needs to take into account the value added of the additional assignments, however. No insights have yet been obtained here.</p> <p><strong><em><a href="https://www.innovationgrowthlab.org/content/long-term-effect-innovation-vouchers-smes-business-results">A subsequent paper analyses an additional year (2005) and also tracks long term outcomes</a>.</em></strong></p> The full abstract of the study, if available Links http://www.cpb.nl/en/publication/do-innovation-vouchers-help-smes-cross-bridge-towards-science Links to any published papers and related discussions Authors * Affiliations Academic and other institutes that the authors of the study are members of Delivery partner Organisations involved in delivering the trial, if appropriate Year Year Year199419951996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026 Month MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec Day Day12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031 Journal Journal publishing the study, if available Publication stage * Working Paper Published Ongoing Research Forthcoming Discussion Paper Research theme * Entrepreneurship Innovation Business Growth Country Country or countries where this study took place. Topics What sort of topics does the study cover? Sample attributes Hypotheses / research question What is the effect of the innovation voucher on the commissioning of assignments by small and medium-sized enterprises from public research institutions? Specifically: - What was the effect on the number of knowledge transfer projects: does the innovation voucher instrument lead to more assignments by SMEs for public research institutions over a certain period? - What was the effect on the size of knowledge transfer projects: does the innovation voucher instrument lead to larger assignments by SMEs for public research institutions? - What was the effect on the timing of knowledge transfer projects: does the innovation voucher instrument lead to already planned assignments for public research institutions being brought forward? Sample Trial population and sample selection Any Dutch SMEs welcomed to apply. SMEs were defined here as firms with less than 250 employees or less than €40 million turnover/annual balance sheet of less than €27 million. Maximum 25% of capital or voting rights in the SMEs can be in hands of firms who do not fall under the previous characteristics, exceptions include openly noted companies or those with institutional investors. SMEs who had received more than €100,000 in government subsidies over a three-year period were not eligible. The innovation voucher was allocated on a first come first served basis. In the first round 1044 SMEs applied on the first day for one of the 100 vouchers available. Number of treatment groups Size of treatment groups 71 SMEs Size of control group Unit of analysis Clustered? Yes No Cluster details Trial attributes Treatment description Innovation Vouchers were offered to SMEs as a credit note that the firms could use to buy technological (or other) knowledge from or place an application-oriented research problem with a public or semi-public knowledge provider. Vouchers were worth €7,500. If the proposed research question was more expensive the SME were welcomed to add own budget in. Rounds of data collection Baseline data collection and method N/A Data collection method and data collected Evaluation Outcome variables <p>Number of assignments per firm. Value of assignment(s). Timing of assignment(s).</p> Results <p>Number of Assignments: 90% of the SMEs with innovation vouchers actually used them for an assignment, whereas only 10% of SMEs in the control group commissioned an assignment. The additionality of the innovation vouchers was calculated to be 8/10. 76% of SMEs in treatment group reported they would have commissioned less assignments if they had not received the voucher, whereas 86% in the control group said they would have commissioned an assignment had they been given the voucher. Value of assignment(s): 38% of firms in treatment group reported topping up the voucher with firm funds. However, due to lack of information from the control group on this the effect cannot be compared. Timing of assignment(s): Not enough information obtained to conduct quantitative analysis of this effect. With help of participant opinions from interviews, some small timing effects can be seen.</p> Intervention costs €7,500 per voucher. Cost benefit ratio Reference Cornet, M., Vroomen, B., & van der Steeg, M., 2006. 'Do Innovation Vouchers Help SMEs to Cross the Bridge Towards Science?'. CPB Discussion Paper, no. 58. Citation for use in academic references
