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Innovation Project for the Industrial Sector

Innovation Project for the Industrial Sector
The following describes requirements for grant proposals submitted under this type of application. Any amendments or additions to the requirements below will be described in the call for proposals. Grant applications that do not satisfy all the requirements listed for the application type and/or stipulated in the call for proposals will be rejected.

Objective
To stimulate R&D activity in trade and industry, particularly activities that promote innovation and sustainable value creation.

Comments

An Innovation Project for the Industrial Sector is an R&D project designed around the anticipated potential for innovation (value-creating renewal) for the companies participating in the project.
The Project Owner and any partners will generally fund at least 50 per cent of the project costs.

Expenses that may be covered:
Relevant project costs such as payroll expenses, procurement of external R&D services and one or more grants/fellowships and direct project expenses.
Applications will be accepted from
Companies, groups of companies or trade and industry organisations that have been officially issued an enterprise number under the Register of Business Enterprises. Any exceptions to this will be described in the call for proposals.

Application requirements

The Project Owner (formal applicant) must be a Norwegian company/organisation, and must supply the name of the designated project administrator. The Project Owner may seek funding on behalf of a group of companies.
Requirements regarding the language in which the grant proposal is to be submitted will be specified in the call for proposals.
The project description must be submitted using the designated template. Template for project description for Innovation Project for the Industrial Sector
Innovation Project for the Industrial Sector (Word-50.5 KB) - All items of information on the template for project description must be completed.

The project description is not to exceed 10 pages, including the list of references, unless otherwise specified in the call for proposals. It is not possible to upload an attachment that exceeds the page total stipulated. The page format must be A4 with 2 cm margins, single spacing and Times New Roman 12-point font. It is permitted to use 9-point font for the list of references and any text on figures.
Partner information must be provided as indicated in the designated template:
Template for information about partners, English Information about partners (Word-32 KB)

All mandatory attachments

Other special requirements may apply. For details, please see the call for proposals.

Attachments to the application:

A Mandatory attachments

The project description (must use the designated template).
CV including publications list for the project manager (max. 4 pages per CV). (The page format must be A4 with 2 cm margins, single spacing and Times New Roman 12-point font. It is permitted to use 9-point font for the list of publications.)
Information about partners for the company submitting the grant application and each of the key participating companies (must use the designated template).

B Attachments that may be required in the call for proposals
Only the attachments requested in the call for proposals should be submitted. Attachments that have not been requested will not be included in the application review process.

Other attachments

Assessment of grant proposals
The Research Council views it as a prerequisite that all projects will maintain high ethical standards, and give adequate consideration to potential environmental impacts.
The Research Council considers it essential that research projects seek to promote the internationalisation of Norwegian research, to increase the recruitment of women to higher academic positions and within MST subject areas, to enhance the gender balance in Norwegian research and to ensure that gender perspectives are adequately integrated into research activities.
These elements will be taken into consideration when assessing and ranking grant proposals.

Assessment criteria for the grant application

Level of innovation
Potential for value creation for industrial partners
Realisation of the innovation
Level of research
R&D project quality
Implementation capacity
Relevance of the research for innovation
Other socio-economic benefits
Additionality
Quality of the application documents
R&D-related risk
International cooperation
Relevance relative to the call for proposals

Additional assessment criteria may be specified in the call for proposals.

Level of Innovation

This criterion gives an indication of the significance of the innovation in relation to the “state-of-the-art” in a field. In this context, the term “innovation” is to be understood as renewal or new creations that generate value added. The innovation will be assessed as to whether it represents an innovation solely for the partners or applies in a national/international context as well.

Innovation areas:

New or improved products/services.
New or updated methods of production/delivery/distribution.
New or updated structures for management/organisation/working conditions/competence.
New or updated business models.

Potential for value creation for industrial partners

This criterion gives an indication of the anticipated financial gains for the industrial partners that will result from industrialisation and commercialisation activities related to the project. This potential will be compared against the aggregate expenses for the entire period (i.e. beyond the R&D project's duration and expenses per se). It should be assumed that the project will be successfully realised. The potential for value creation may encompass:

New sales.
Reduced costs.
Upholding levels of competitiveness.

Realisation of the innovation

This criterion gives an indication of the extent to which the conditions are in place for the potential for value creation to be realised, assuming that the R&D project will be successful. The realisation of the innovation will be assessed in relation to the following points:

The plan for realisation (business plan).
Risk elements relating to industrialisation, commercialisation and implementation.
Market risks.
Organisational risks.
Financing risks.
Other risks.

Level of research

This criterion gives an indication of the extent to which the project will produce new knowledge of significance for the scientific development of the fields covered by the research. It must be evident that the project incorporates knowledge about the research front.
The level of research will be assessed in relation to the following points:

Status of the project in relation to the international research front.
The proportion of research in the R&D project.

R&D project quality

This criterion gives an indication of the extent to which the R&D project can be considered to be realistic and feasible assessed in relation to the following points:

R&D method.
Project implementation plan, including milestones and deliverables.
Budget and resource parameters, including financing.

Implementation capacity

This criterion gives an indication of the extent to which the partners, viewed as a whole, are seen as capable of performing the R&D project in an optimal fashion.
The implementation capacity will be assessed in relation to the following points:

Scientific management.
Organisation and administrative leadership.
Constellation of cooperating parties (make-up and competence).

Relevance of the research for innovation

This criterion gives an indication of how important the R&D project is for achieving realisation of the innovation.

Other socio-economic benefits

This criterion gives an indication of the impact of a project on society outside of the utility value/commercial benefits for the partners in the target group. It should be assumed that the project will be successfully realised.
External effects may encompass

Value creation in industry.
Useful applications for the public sector.
Useful applications for civil society.
Dissemination of knowledge, diffusion of technology and knowledge-building within R&D institutions.
Enhancement of the external environment.

Additionality

This criterion gives an indication of the extent to which funding from the Research Council will affect the project by triggering efforts and actions by the target group partners that would not be achieved if the support had not been granted. Additionality will be assessed in relation to the following points:

The impact of the funding in determining whether the project will or will not be realised, and the overall magnitude of the project.
Whether the funding will lead to changes in the way the project is structured and implemented.

Quality of the application documents

This criterion gives an indication of the extent to which the application documents are satisfactory as a basis for assessing whether a project should be granted funding. The information and plans that have been requested must be clearly described.

R&D-related risk

This criterion gives an indication of the level of ambition established for the scientific objectives of the R&D project, and how scientifically challenging it will be to achieve these objectives in full.

International cooperation

International cooperation will be assessed in relation to the extent and quality of the international cooperation activities set out for the project.

Relevance relative to the call for proposals

The grant application will be assessed in relation to the guidelines and stipulations set out in the call for proposals.

Ethical perspectives

The Research Council emphasises the need for projects to maintain high ethical standards and not conflict in any way with the fundamental principles for ethics in research.
More information on ethical perspectives may be found in the guidelines for ethics in research drawn up by the national committees for research ethics and in the Act on Ethics and Integrity in Research.

Environmental impact

The Research Council attaches importance to whether research projects give adequate consideration to any potential impacts (positive or negative) on the natural environment (external environment), when this is relevant. This applies both to the performance of the projects and to the utilisation of the results.

Recruitment of women

The Research Council considers it important for projects to promote increased recruitment of women to higher academic positions and within the MST subject areas (mathematics, science and technology).

Gender balance in the project

The Research Council works actively to enhance the gender balance in the Norwegian research sector. Each project can play a role in this by seeking to ensure gender balance in the composition of the project group.

Gender perspectives in the research

The Research Council views it as essential that gender perspectives are given adequate consideration in research projects where this is relevant. Good research must take into account biological and social differences between women and men, and the gender dimension should be one of the main pillars of the development of new knowledge. In research projects this dimension may be manifested through the research questions addressed, the theoretical approaches chosen, the methodology applied, and in the efforts to assess whether the research results will have different implications for women and men.

Internationalisation

In this context, internationalisation refers to the extent to which the project serves to promote the internationalisation of Norwegian research, by such means as:

International networks.
International mobility.
Measures that enhance Norway’s attractiveness as a host country for research activities.

Published:: 23.12.2010
Last updated:: 23.09.2011