Patent Voucher

In the main the success of a technological startup is dependent on two factors: the creativeness of its invention and the marketing of the same. The Patent Voucher is a support of the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) and provides simple access to protection of your invention. www.ffg.at/patentscheck shows you step-by-step how to obtain this voucher. The voucher covers 80% of a patent application’s accruing costs. Additionally, you receive the assistance of a team of experts. This saves both time and money and enables you to gain confidence in dealing with your intellectual property. The team of experts provides concrete answers to such questions as: is patent protection principally feasible in my case or what protection rights already exist in a particular technological field? In short, the Patent Voucher supplies the necessary tools for entering the national and international markets. 

• By means of a few clicks you can apply for a Patent Voucher
• A team of experts’ support. The skills of the FFG, Austrian Patent Office and patent agents
  are at your service
• Whether your invention is principally patentable is determined within a very short while
• A customized patent search in cooperation with an expert in your technical field
• Support right up to the procedural stages of national and international patent application
• 80% of the costs are absorbed by the Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology in cooperation with FTE Nationalstiftung. The maximum subsidy is EUR 10,000.

You must either be an Austrian technological startup, a small or medium-sized enterprise or an individual that can credibly demonstrate a concrete intention to commercially utilize the undertaking (e.g. company being established, under care of diverse support initiatives, AplusB-Centers) In any case, the commercial aspects and activities must predominate.

The invention must not have been published yet - even a sale counts as publication.

Regarding small to medium-sized enterprises: these must have a staff of less than 250 employees and an annual turnover of no more than EUR 50 million resp. the sum of the annual budget must not exceed EUR 43 million.

1. Submit an application for the Patent Voucher at the FFT via the online form https://ecall.ffg.at.
2. After a short formal verification, the Patent Voucher will generally approved.
3. This enables you to commission the Austrian Patent Office with a custom search directly online in the e-call system of the FFG (Project data: Transfer data to the Patent Office) for a fee of EUR 1,710.
4. This is followed by an interview with patent experts of the Austrian Patent Office, who carry out a search. In a second, concluding call the search results are presented.
5. At this point, it should be evident whether a patent application is adviseable or not. If not, you can devise other protective strategies with the respective agents in charge. Finally, the applicants will receive roughly EUR 1,300 from the FFG.
6. Should a patent application be adviseable, then the FFG will cover the expenses for an agent such as a patent attorney, a notary or an attorney at law with experience in intellectual property law.
7. National patent application. Your chosen agent assists you with the actual application procedure.
8. Internationalization. Agents provide support in the international PCT application. 
9. Finally, the incurred expenses are settled with the FFG through the Patent Voucher.

• The maximum subsidy is EUR 10,000 (subsidy rate: 80 %); 20%, i.e. a maximum of EUR 2,500, is the contribution of the subsidized companies.
• Only patents can be funded with the Patent Voucher. Other protection rights, such as utility model, trademark or design protection cannot be covered with the Patent Voucher.

More details about the patent application and the procedure can be found in our WIKI & FAQs or at the info sheets.

As this is a service governed by private law our terms and conditions of conducting business according to www.patentamt.at/AGB obtain.

apply for the Patent Voucher now