Can you use an Innovation Voucher with a design agency?

Enterprise Ireland Innovation Vouchers · UX design and digital-service prototypes · Information checked 2 October 2026

A specialist design contribution may be possible, but the voucher is not a standard website-design budget. In exceptional cases, a registered knowledge provider can request advance approval for external consultancy of up to 20% of the voucher’s value. Digital Design can scope a contribution for that provider-led project; we are not a voucher-redeeming knowledge provider. Enterprise Ireland FAQ, questions 18 and 32.

Our role is to make a proposed digital service concrete enough to examine: the journey, the information on each screen, the decisions people make and the points where they need help.

That can give a research team something useful to evaluate before the business commits to a full build.

Scope the design contribution · What we can design

Can the voucher cover a website redesign?

A routine redesign is not the opportunity described here. Enterprise Ireland lists standard website and software development, advertising material and marketing among activities that have not received support. A commercial project does not become an innovation study because the website is new. Read FAQ question 22.

The more useful question is whether the provider is investigating a genuinely new product, process or service and needs a defined piece of design input to do that work. A prototype might help compare two interaction approaches or make an uncertain service journey testable.

An attractive screen is not research evidence by itself. The design needs a purpose in the study: what will it allow the team to examine, and what decision will the findings inform?

What we can do for you

Our UI/UX service covers interface and journey design for websites and digital products. For a voucher-related project, we would agree a limited contribution to the research rather than package a complete website, brand and marketing campaign together.

Structure the proposed digital service

We turn the service idea into a clear route through the information and decisions involved. What does someone need to know before starting? What must they provide? Which steps depend on earlier answers? What happens when they cannot continue?

This can expose assumptions that are difficult to see in a written concept alone. The provider can then decide which deserve investigation.

What you receive: a journey map, information structure and a record of assumptions to test.

Develop wireframes and alternative interactions

We sketch the key screens and, where useful, a small number of alternative approaches. The purpose is to make a design choice visible: one longer form or a staged journey; information before a decision or help at the point of need; a single route or a choice based on the user’s task.

We keep the work focused on the decision under investigation instead of spending the research contribution polishing an entire website.

What you receive: annotated wireframes showing the proposed sequence, content hierarchy and interaction choices.

Create a clickable prototype for evaluation

We connect the agreed screens into a prototype that represents the journey the research team needs to examine. Depending on the question, it may need to show progress, errors, a pause-and-return state or a confirmation—not just the easiest route to the final screen.

A prototype is a representation of the proposed interaction. It does not need to process real payments, hold live accounts or run a production service to be useful in a study.

What you receive: the agreed prototype and editable design files, with its scope and simulated behaviour documented.

Turn research findings into a design handover

Where the project supplies evidence from testing or evaluation, we can make the agreed design revisions and document why they were made. We distinguish changes supported by the findings from assumptions that still need investigation.

What you receive: revised screens, interaction notes and a prioritised handover for the next design or development stage. Production implementation is a separate scope.

Example: a prototype for a new self-service booking journey

An example design contribution for discussion.

A business is developing a new way for customers to configure a service before booking. The team is unsure when to ask for technical details, how to explain conditional choices and what to show when a customer needs to check information elsewhere.

The design question is: Which sequence lets customers make the required choices without misunderstanding the service they are requesting?

Digital Design could map the decision points, sketch two candidate sequences and turn the selected approach into a limited clickable prototype. We would include the particular help, error or return states the provider wants to evaluate.

The knowledge provider would lead the investigation and arrange how the prototype is assessed. A defined revision could follow the resulting evidence, with the design changes recorded for the next stage.

The deliverable is a design the team can investigate and discuss. It is not a live booking system, a finished commercial website or evidence of effectiveness before the evaluation happens.

What should stay outside this research contribution?

Brand identity, sales copy, SEO campaigns, social content and standard website delivery are available through Digital Design as commercial services. They should not be silently added to an externally approved design contribution.

For this page, we keep two briefs separate: the design input needed for the provider’s investigation, and the wider work your business may later commission. We also distinguish prototype interaction notes from compliance certification or a production accessibility audit.

If the immediate task is simply to improve your current website, the website-design service is the more direct starting point. You do not need to invent a research question to ask us for a normal quote.

What could the external design budget look like?

For a €10,000 standard voucher, 20% is €2,000. This is the ceiling in the published external-consultancy exception, not a guaranteed Digital Design fee or a promise that a complete prototype project fits inside it. Programme and consultancy terms.

Start with one service journey and the decision it needs to support. We can then agree whether the most useful contribution is a structure, a wireframe set, a prototype or a revision based on research findings.

Scope and price depend on what already exists, which states need representing, who supplies the content and how many revisions are included. VAT is separate from voucher funding. Confirm costs with the provider before commissioning, particularly for a co-funded project. Enterprise Ireland FAQ, question 14.

Working with your existing designer or knowledge provider

Already have a university involved? Bring the research question and the design task it needs help with. We can discuss that contribution directly with the relevant project contact once introductions are agreed.

Already have a developer? The output can be a prototype or design handover for your existing team. There is no need to buy the later build from us in order to discuss the design work.

Need the agency to deliver everything? That is a different arrangement. Enterprise Ireland excludes outsourcing the whole voucher project to a private supplier. A provider must lead substantive research rather than only process an agency invoice. FAQ question 33.

Not yet working with an institution? Start with a concise question and the registered knowledge-provider list. We can help define the design task, not replace the provider or its approval process.

A design brief your provider can assess

Our proposed service is [description], and the project needs to investigate [interaction or journey question]. We would like Digital Design to contribute [structure, wireframes, prototype or design revision], resulting in [specific deliverables].

Would that support your research plan, and would you consider requesting advance approval for the external design input? Could we agree the design scope, evaluation responsibilities, revisions, file ownership, fee and contracting route before work starts?

Use the design-contribution template

Show us the service you are trying to make clearer

Send a description of the proposed service, its audience and the design decision you need to make. Mention any existing research, wireframes or knowledge provider. A short summary is enough for the first conversation.

We will discuss what Digital Design can contribute, what the output should be and the scope of a written quote. The design brief can then be considered through the provider’s approval route or commissioned as a separate commercial project.

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