Dementia Connect is making 20k available for new collaborative partnerships that develop out of their development lab events. A voucher represents small sums of money distributed to individuals or project teams that enable rapid, small-scale, and exploratory work to be conducted. As such, vouchers have been used in the past to ‘nudge innovation’ where challenges have been identified that cross between different sectors and disciplines.

Vouchers projects are expected to be delivered within three months of initiation. Dementia Connect’s creative Producer works closely with each team to provide project and administrative support (from signing contracts through to delivery). In the spirit of the voucher scheme’s principles, administrative processes (including the application process and the funds-allocation process) are kept as simple as possible.

Voucher Scheme Tracks

  • The Creative Voucher: Awards of between £1000 and £5000 made for project proposals supported by a cross-sector or cross-disciplinary team of 3-4 partners. A Creative Voucher may enable a team to explore the transfer of best practices between sectors; support new forms of network exchange; or develop a prototype product / service in response to a Lab challenge.
  • The Research Voucher: Awards of between £500 and £1000 made to individuals (from any sector) with a research proposal that contributes to an understanding of Lab challenges. An individual Research Voucher may enable further inquiry opportunities for cross-sector R&D; support in-depth sector mapping work; or enable research into sector practices