Can an Innovation Voucher pay a private AI consultant?
Enterprise Ireland Innovation Vouchers · Workflow and technical feasibility · Information checked 2 October 2026
There is a limited route for specialist input—not a general grant for an agency build. A registered knowledge provider can ask Enterprise Ireland for advance approval to use up to 20% of the voucher’s value for external consultancy in exceptional cases. Raven Design can propose a defined technical contribution under that arrangement; we do not redeem the voucher. Enterprise Ireland FAQ, questions 18 and 32.
The question is not simply “can someone connect our apps?” It is whether there is a genuine uncertainty about a proposed new process that needs investigating before you invest in a working system.
We help turn that uncertainty into a small, practical technical brief: what should be tested, what information is needed and what result would justify the next step.
Discuss the workflow you want to investigate · What Raven can contribute
A new process is different from another software installation
A business may know exactly what it needs: a booking form, a CRM connection or a dashboard. That is a delivery brief. Another business may be unsure whether a proposed approach can handle its unusual data, exceptions or decision rules. That is a question to investigate.
For example, a team might need to compare a rules-based approach with an AI-assisted one, understand where either fails, or decide which cases must stay with a person. We can help describe and test that question without assuming that AI is the answer.
Adding “AI” to ordinary implementation work does not change the funding rules. Enterprise Ireland identifies standard website, software and mobile-app development, software purchases and marketing among work that has not received support. The knowledge question must justify the innovation project. Read FAQ question 22.
What we can do for you
Raven’s workflow integration service connects the way a business operates with the systems it uses. For a knowledge-provider-led research project, we would narrow that work to a specific technical contribution rather than sell the complete production build.
Map the process and the unknowns
We examine the proposed workflow: where information begins, which systems hold it, where someone makes a decision and which exceptions interrupt the normal path.
The purpose is to identify what the project still needs to learn. Perhaps the available data is inconsistent. Perhaps a decision depends on information that is not recorded. Perhaps the proposed automation has no reliable way to recognise when it should stop.
What you receive: a workflow and data map, a list of technical dependencies and a focused set of feasibility questions.
Build a small technical demonstrator
Where a prototype is the right way to investigate the question, we can scope one limited test in a separate environment. That might compare two ways of classifying an incoming request, preparing a structured record or suggesting a next step for a staff member to review.
We start with synthetic or appropriately de-identified examples wherever practical. The demonstrator does not need permission to send messages, spend money or change customer records simply to show whether the approach is worth exploring.
What you receive: the agreed demonstrator, its test inputs and configuration, and a record of the assumptions behind it.
Examine failure cases and human control
A demonstration that works on an easy example is not the end of the question. We can investigate what happens with missing details, conflicting information, repeated requests or outputs that cannot be relied on.
We define where a person needs to review the result and what the system should do when it cannot proceed. The objective is to make the limits visible, not hide them behind a successful demo.
What you receive: test scenarios, observed failures, proposed review points and questions requiring further investigation.
Write the technical handover
We document what was attempted, what the results support, what remains unknown and what a later build would require. That gives the knowledge provider usable evidence and gives your business a clearer basis for deciding whether to continue.
What you receive: a feasibility note, technical outline and prioritised next steps. Any production implementation is scoped separately.
Example: can an unusual repair request become a usable job brief?
An example technical brief, not a completed funded project.
An equipment business receives repair enquiries in inconsistent formats. Its proposed new service would turn the request into a structured brief for an experienced staff member, but the information may be incomplete or contradictory.
The question is: Can the proposed approach extract the required details, recognise missing information and hand uncertain cases back to a person reliably enough to warrant further development?
Raven could contribute a small comparison using an agreed set of sample requests. A simple rules-based approach would provide a reference point; an AI-assisted approach would need to demonstrate where, if anywhere, it adds value.
The outputs would be the test setup, structured examples and an account of failure cases. The provider would lead the research and decide how these results fit the wider project. No customer messages would be sent and no live jobs would be created by the demonstrator.
This description alone does not establish novelty or eligibility. Its purpose is to expose a question the provider can assess, including whether an existing standard product already solves the problem.
How much outside input could the voucher support?
The published limit is based on the voucher’s value, not our full implementation quote. On a €10,000 standard voucher, the arithmetic is a maximum of €2,000 for approved external consultancy. It is not an automatic entitlement or a separate allowance for each agency. Check the current voucher and consultancy terms.
A complete system build will often be a different proposition from a limited technical contribution. We would agree the smallest useful investigation and quote it on that basis. Platform charges, data preparation and any other requested costs need their own treatment in the scope.
For a co-funded project or more than one external specialist, ask the knowledge provider to confirm how the limit and costs will be handled before work is commissioned.
Can the university just subcontract the build to Raven?
No. Enterprise Ireland excludes subcontracting the entire project to the private sector. The provider must have a substantive project of its own; its involvement is not an administrative wrapper around an agency invoice. FAQ question 33.
A useful arrangement gives each party a defined job. The provider leads the research, your business supplies the agreed context and access, and Raven delivers only the specialist contribution that has been scoped and approved.
Approval is one part of that arrangement. We also need to agree contracting, responsibility for test data, access restrictions, deliverables and payment before starting.
What happens when you need a working system?
Once you know what is worth building, Raven can quote a separate commercial implementation. That may involve connecting your website, forms, business tools and internal workflow, then agreeing how the system will be maintained.
That production work is not presented here as covered by the voucher. Keeping the research contribution and the live build separate makes it easier to see what each engagement is buying.
Explore AI workflow integration · See Raven’s services and pricing
Take a useful question to your knowledge provider
We want to investigate [specific uncertainty] in a proposed [process or service]. Raven Design could contribute [limited mapping, demonstrator or testing work], producing [named outputs].
Would this support your research programme, and would you consider seeking approval for the external input? Could we agree the test environment, data responsibilities, technical scope, fee and contracting route before anything begins?
Send a description of the workflow, not system passwords, customer files or a production database. Those details belong in a properly agreed project environment, not an initial enquiry.
Use the technical-contribution template
Tell us what needs to work—and what is still uncertain
Describe the proposed process, the tools involved and the decision you need to make. Tell us whether you already have a knowledge provider or whether you need a direct commercial quote instead.
We will identify the contribution Raven could make and what must be established before it is commissioned. You get a defined next step, not a promise that a voucher will pay for an entire system.