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Knowledge-building Project for Industry

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 contribute to industry-oriented researcher training and long-term competence development in the Norwegian research community within topics that are crucial to the development of business and industry in Norway.

Comments

A Knowledge-building Project for Industry contributes to industry-oriented researcher training and long-term competence development in the Norwegian research community, and is designed around identified needs for new knowledge in Norwegian companies.
Participating users can document that the knowledge gained from the project will be important to their future production or development of products or services.
The companies play an active role in the management of the project
The grant application is in keeping with the strategies laid down by the applicant institution
In most cases, the project encompasses cooperation with leading international specialist groups.
The groups performing the research will document project results in scholarly publications.
The project promotes the development of relevant educational programmes and other knowledge-disseminating activities.
The project normally includes a doctoral-level educational programme.
The support provided by the Research Council may not exceed a maximum of four times the total cash contribution from the companies.

Expenses that may be covered:
Relevant project expenses incurred by the Project Owner and any other cooperating research institutions, including payroll expenses, one or more grants/fellowships and direct project expenses.

Applications will be accepted from
A research institution (university, university college, research institute or other institution at which research constitutes an important activity), in binding cooperation with relevant users in Norwegian trade and industry.

Application requirements:

The Project Owner (formal applicant) must be a Norwegian research institution and must supply the name of a designated project administrator.
The project is to be conducted by one or more research groups under the scientific leadership of a designated research group.
Industrial partners must provide cash financing to cover a minimum of 20 per cent of the total project costs.
Grant proposals and project descriptions must be submitted in English.
The project description must be submitted using the designated template:
Template for project description for Knowledge-building Project for Industry
Knowledge-building Project for Industry (Word-51 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.
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 (in English, must use the designated template).
CV including publications list for the project manager and any other key personnel (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.)
Each of the companies that is expected to contribute funding must provide a statement confirming the company’s interest in participating in the project. This statement is primarily meant to be submitted by the company, but may under certain circumstances be provided by the applicant institution.

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

C Optional attachments:

Proposals for three to five expert referees who are presumed to be impartial and qualified to review the grant proposal.

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 research
Scientific merit
The project manager and project group
Feasibility
Benefits for the national knowledge base
Relevance and benefit to trade and industry
Strategic basis and importance
User participation
Quality of the application documents
Other socio-economic benefits
International cooperation
Relevance relative to the call for proposals

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

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.

Scientific merit

Scientific merit is a comprehensive criterion that gives an indication of essential, fundamental aspects of the research project. The scientific merit of a project will be assessed in relation to the following points:

Originality in the form of scientific innovation and/or the development of new knowledge.
Whether the research questions, hypotheses and objectives have been clearly and adequately specified.
The strength of the theoretical approach, operationalisation and use of scientific methods.
Documented knowledge about the research front.
The degree to which the scientific basis of the project is realistic.
The scientific scope in terms of a multi- and interdisciplinary approach, when relevant.

The project manager and project group

The qualifications of the project manager and project group will be assessed in relation to the following points:

Project management.
Expertise and experience within the field of research.
Publication record.
Experience with national and international collaboration on projects.
Experience with supervision of students and junior researchers.
The degree to which the project manager and project group are part of a research environment that has the competence and resources needed to ensure the success of the project.

Feasibility

The feasibility of the project will be assessed in relation to the following points:

Budget and resource parameters, including financing.
Plans for project implementation, including milestones and deliverables.

Benefits for the national knowledge base

This criterion gives an indication of the extent to which the project will contribute to long-term competence development in the Norwegian research community. The benefits for the national knowledge base will be assessed in relation to the following points:

The role of the project in maintaining/strengthening the knowledge base.
The development of cutting-edge expertise.
Researcher training.
The importance for relevant educational programmes and other forms of knowledge management
The national status of the R&D institution in relation to the thematic research areas.

Relevance and benefit to trade and industry

This criterion gives an indication of the anticipated potential of the expertise/knowledge developed in connection with the project to generate value added in Norwegian trade and industry. The relevance and benefit to trade and industry will be assessed in relation to the following points:

The need for this expertise among the participants from industry.
The need for this expertise within Norwegian industry at large.
The potential of the increased expertise to trigger new growth in Norwegian industry.

Strategic basis and importance

This criterion gives an indication of how the project is incorporated into, and the role it will play, in relation to the project owner’s and partners’ strategic objectives and plans, as well as the relevant research challenges (e.g. subject-specific evaluations, research agendas and technology roadmaps, strategic activities and business plans).

User participation

This criterion gives an indication of the extent to which those who will be utilising the R&D results have entered into a binding commitment regarding their involvement in the management and implementation of the project.

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.

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.

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:: 21.03.2011