Knowledge-building Project for Industry
Download the call
The Research Council understands that, due to the coronavirus situation, it may be difficult to establish satisfactory consortiums and/or obtain letters of intent regarding cash financing from project partners this summer. We will therefore process the grant application even if the project has a lower level of cash financing in the start-up year than is stipulated in the requirements. The deviation must be clearly described, and a plan must be drawn up for meeting the requirements of the call relating to collaboration and funding for the rest of the project period. When reviewing grant applications, the degree of binding commitment and risk associated with project start-up and execution will be assessed. As previously, this will have an impact on the mark assigned to the grant application and the funding decision taken by the portfolio boards.
Important dates
29 Jun 2020
Date call is made active
02 Sep 2020
Application submission deadline
01 Jan 2021
Earliest permitted project start
01 Jun 2021
Latest permitted project start
31 May 2026
Latest permitted project completion
Important dates
Purpose
Collaborative and Knowledge-building Projects are to develop new knowledge and generate research competence needed by society or the business sector to address important societal challenges. The projects are to encourage and support collaboration between research organisations and stakeholders from outside the research sector that represent societal and/or industry needs for knowledge and research competence.
About the call for proposals
This is a joint call for proposals in which multiple Research Council programmes are participating. An estimated total of approximately NOK 278 million is available for basic and applied research activities alike. Each relevant thematic area is described separately below. Applicants are to select the thematic area and topic in the application form themselves. Please note that in cases where applicants have clearly selected the wrong topic, the Research Council may consult with the applicant to move grant proposals across the various thematic areas.
Applicants are advised to consult the Guide for Applicants for answers to various questions related to this application type.
The Norwegian-language call for proposals is the legally binding version.
Who is eligible to apply?
The call is open to approved Norwegian research organisations in binding cooperation with relevant actors from trade and industry and any potential partners from other sectors.
Who can participate in the project?
Requirements relating to the Project Owner
The research organisation listed as the Project Owner in the grant application must have approved the submission of the grant application to the Research Council. The grant application must describe how the project incorporates the strategic objectives and priorities of the Project Owner.
Requirements relating to the project manager
The project manager’s scientific expertise and capability to manage the project will be assessed by peer reviewers. There are no formal requirements for the project manager’s qualifications. The roles of project manager and project administrator in the project may not be filled by the same individual.
Requirements relating to partners
- Projects are to be carried out by one or more research organisations in binding cooperation with relevant actors from Norwegian trade and industry and any potential partners from other sectors.
- The grant application must describe how the project incorporates the strategic objectives and priorities of all the partners.
- All project partners are required to take active part in planning and following up the project as well as in disseminating project results and promoting the utilisation of new knowledge.
- The project must involve at least two funding partners that are not research organisations.
- The project proposal must describe how the knowledge developed under the project will be of benefit to wider user groups. The project must not involve contract research carried out for individual companies.
- Projects are to have a steering committee or reference group comprising representatives of the project partners.
- The combined cash contribution from Norwegian partners forms the basis for the maximum amount of funding that the Research Council can provide. Partners from outside Norway may participate as partners in the project and may contribute cash financing, but this funding will not be calculated as part of the required cash financing.
A project participant may not be assigned two different roles in the project. This means that a sub-contractor for the project may not have the role of Project Owner or partner in the same project.
What can you seek funding for?
Scope of funding
- The amount of funding awarded by the Research Council may not exceed a maximum of four times the total cash contribution from the Norwegian partners.
- The minimum amount of funding that may be sought is NOK 4 million.
- Please note that the Research Council does not award state aid to companies under this call for proposals. More information about this is provided below.
- Applicants may seek funding to cover actual costs that are necessary for the execution of the project. For more detailed information about what to enter in the project budget, please see the Research Council website.
- Costs to be incurred by project partners from the business sector must be specified and explained in the project description. These costs are not to be entered in the budget tables. This applies for Norwegian and international partners alike.
- If the project includes doctoral and post-doctoral research fellowships and there are concrete plans in place for research stays abroad for the fellowship-holders, funding for these stays may be included in the grant application. The Research Council has also issued a separate call for Funding for Research Stays Abroad for Doctoral and Post-doctoral Fellows. The project manager may seek funding under that call if plans for research stays abroad for research fellows affiliated with the project emerge later in the project period.
Conditions for funding
The Research Council will not award support that constitutes state aid under this call. This means that the Research Council funding is only to go to the non-economic activity of the research organisations in the form of independent research. The Research Council requires a clear separation of accounts for the organisation’s economic and non-economic activities. Companies will not be eligible to receive support to cover projects costs and may not receive indirect support by being given rights to project results under favourable terms.
The project is to be implemented by means of effective collaboration as defined in the state aid rules. Effective collaboration is defined as follows:
“Collaboration between at least two independent parties to exchange knowledge or technology, or to achieve a common objective based on the division of labour where the parties jointly define the scope of the collaborative project, contribute to its implementation and share its risks, as well as its results. One or several parties may bear the full costs of the project and thus relieve other parties of its financial risks. Contract research and provision of research services are not considered forms of collaboration.”
If the project is awarded funding, the Project Owner is to draw up collaboration agreements with all of the Norwegian and international partners in the project. The collaboration agreements regulate the reciprocal rights and obligations of the partners and safeguard the integrity and autonomy of the research. The collaboration agreement is to ensure that no participating undertaking receives indirect state aid from a research organisation serving as Project Owner or partner. The agreement must therefore include conditions for the collaboration which ensure compliance with paragraph 28 of the EFTA Surveillance Authority’s guidelines for state aid for research and development and innovation.
“Where collaboration projects are carried out jointly by undertakings and research organisations or research infrastructures, the Authority considers that no indirect State aid is awarded to the participating undertakings through those entities due to favourable conditions of the collaboration if one of the following conditions is fulfilled:
b) the results of the collaboration which do not give rise to IPR may be widely disseminated and any IPR resulting from the activities of research organisations or research infrastructures are fully allocated to those entities; or
c) any IPR resulting from the project, as well as related access rights are allocated to the different collaboration partners in a manner which adequately reflects their work packages, contributions and respective interests; or
d) the research organisations or research infrastructures receive compensation equivalent to the market price for the IPR which result from their activities and are assigned to the participating undertakings, or to which participating undertakings are allocated access rights. The absolute amount of the value of any contribution, both financial and non-financial, of the participating undertakings to the costs of the research organisations or research infrastructures' activities that resulted in the IPR concerned, may be deducted from that compensation.”
Research results are to be made accessible through sharing and publication in line with the Research Council’s Policy for Open Science.
The Research Council’s requirements relating to allocation and disbursement of support for the first year and any pledges for subsequent years are set out in the General Terms and Conditions for R&D Projects.
Projects awarded funding under this call are required to submit an annual project account report documenting incurred project costs and their financing.
Scientific articles and research data
The Project Owner (R&D organisation) is responsible for selecting the archiving solution(s) to use for storing research data generated during the project. The Project Owner must specify the planned solution(s) in connection with the revised grant proposal.
Relevant thematic areas for this call
The topics encompassed under this call are grouped into the thematic areas below. Any special requirements and guidelines will be indicated for each topic.
Energy, transport and low emissions
Environment-friendly energy
Funding is available for projects that promote the long-term, sustainable development of the energy system, that enhance the competitiveness of Norwegian trade and industry and accelerate the transition to a low-emission society. Achieving a zero-emissions society means reducing anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero in order to stabilise the climate, the environment and ecosystems.
To be eligible for funding grant applications must address one of the priority areas within the scope of the ENERGIX work programme. The priority areas are:
- renewable energy (solar, wind, marine, bioenergy, geothermal and hydropower);
- the energy system and markets;
- efficient use of energy in buildings, industry, and the transport sector;
- energy policy, economics and sustainability.
We anticipate awarding funding to 10–14 projects in total, and both small and large-scale projects will be considered. Doctoral degree education should normally be incorporated into projects, but smaller projects that adequately explain why such education is not of relevance may also be granted funding. Large-scale projects must justify why the scale is necessary and should indicate how results from the project can be delivered on an ongoing basis.
The ENERGIX programme will give priority to the following:
- Projects that satisfy the priorities set out in the ENERGIX work programme.
- Projects with two or more funding partners, in which multiple partners contribute a substantial amount of the project funding and all partners play an integral part in the project.
Increased allocations from the Ministry of Climate and Environment in connection with the Government’s third package of financial measures to address the impacts of the coronavirus outbreak (Prop. 127 S (2019-2020))
The Research Council is increasing the funding amount available under calls for proposals in 2020 with an additional NOK 75 million for projects that promote research-driven innovation for low-emissions solutions, and/or research on and business development of new solutions and technology to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and safeguard biodiversity. Projects under this thematic area may be of interest for funding in keeping with the supplementary allocations.
When prioritising projects for funding, importance will be attached both to the assessment of scientific merit for each individual grant application and to achieving a balanced project portfolio. Consideration will therefore also be given to the distribution of proposed and ongoing projects among the priority areas of the ENERGIX programme and the Centres for Environment-friendly Energy Research (FME). You may search the Project Databank to find ongoing projects and FME centres.
ENERGIX work programme and attachment
The work programme provides an overview of
- challenges, objectives and priorities
- anticipated results, impacts and societal outcomes
- available resources and budget
Oceans
Maritime research
Funding is available for new projects within all the priority areas set out in the MAROFF work programme:
- opportunities in ocean industries;
- autonomous and remote-controlled vessels;
- digital transformation of the maritime industry;
- promoting greener maritime activities;
- safety and security at sea;
- the Arctic and northern areas.
Priority will be given to:
- Projects that incorporate doctoral degree education.
MAROFF work programme
The work programme provides an overview of
- challenges, objectives and priorities
- anticipated results, impacts and societal outcomes
- available resources and budget
See: The MAROFF work programme (pdf).
Contact person
Petroleum
Petroleum research
Funding is available through the PETROMAKS 2 programme for projects within all of the programme’s priority areas and cross-cutting priorities. Applicants seeking to address the cross-cutting priorities must link these specifically to one or more of the priority areas. The PETROMAKS 2 work programme sets out the following priority areas:
- Priority area 1: Reducing greenhouse gases, energy efficiency and the environment;
- Priority area 2: Subsurface understanding;
- Priority area 3: Drilling, completions and intervention;
- Priority area 4: Production, processing and transport;
- Priority area 5: Major accidents and the work environment.
Grant applications related to CO2 for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) qualify under “Priority area 2: Subsurface understanding”. Applicants with projects that focus on carbon capture and storage (CCS) are requested to direct their grant applications to this year’s upcoming ERA-Net ACT Cofund call for proposals. More information is provided here.
Strategic guidelines:
Projects targeting the programme’s priority areas or cross-cutting priorities will be of thematic relevance to this call. The Research Council also seeks to fund projects that in addition address the strategic focus below.
Of the funding available under the petroleum-related calls for the autumn 2020 submission, a minimum of NOK 35 million is earmarked for projects targeting “Improving energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions related to petroleum activities on the Norwegian continental shelf”. The earmarked funds apply across the calls “Knowledge-building Project for Industry” (this call), “Innovation Project for the Industrial Sector” and “Demonstration Project for the Industrial Sector”. At least NOK 10 million is to go towards testing and demonstration of technology for the supplier industry (see “Demonstration Project for the Industrial Sector”).
Examples of where there is a need for research, technology development and pilot testing include:
- Heat and power production with higher efficiency and lower greenhouse gas emissions compared to current solutions, such as:
- gas turbines with higher efficiency;
- further development of combined-cycle gas turbines;
- alternative fuels for gas turbines;
- hybrid solutions for power supply (e.g. wind turbines combined with energy storage systems, etc.);
- electrification using power from shore.
- Offshore energy systems and management, such as:
- increased degree of joint operation and remote control;
- digital solutions that promote optimal utilisation of energy;
- subsea solutions that reduce energy needs beyond current best practices;
- optimised production strategies in connection with greenhouse gas emissions;
- technology and process management that reduces the need for flaring;
- technology and processes that reduce non-ETS emissions (which are primarily emissions of methane and NMVOC from cold venting of natural gas, from point sources of emissions at onshore facilities, and from loading of crude oil and petroleum products, as well as emissions of CO2 from mobile solutions used for exploration drilling).
- Socio-economic research and new concepts, ideas and technology that can shed light on or facilitate integrated energy systems promoting low emissions, including solutions that incorporate new midstream energy value chains.
Applicants must give an account of the estimated total emissions reduction for the technology/technologies the proposed project will be targeting. The grant application must also describe the time perspective and framework conditions for implementing the knowledge/technology viewed in the context of the industry’s new climate targets for 2030 and 2050.
Priority will be given to:
- projects led by women project managers, assuming all factors relating to scientific merit and relevance are essentially equal.
When prioritising projects for funding, importance will be attached both to the assessment of scientific merit for each individual grant application and to achieving a balanced project portfolio. Consideration will therefore also be given to the distribution of proposed projects under all of this year’s calls for proposals across the priority areas and actors under the petroleum portfolio.
PETROMAKS2 work programme
The work programme provides an overview of
- challenges, objectives and priorities
- anticipated results, impacts and societal outcomes
- available resources and budget
See: PETROMAKS 2 work programme (pdf).
Contact persons
Practical information
Requirements for this application type
The grant application form must be created and submitted via “My RCN Web”. You may revise and resubmit your grant application form multiple times up to the application submission deadline. We recommend that you submit your application as soon as you have filled in the application form and included all mandatory attachments. After the deadline, it is the most recently submitted version of the grant application that will be processed.
- The grant application, including all attachments, must be submitted in English.
- All mandatory attachments must be included.
- The project description must be written using the designated template found at the bottom of this page.
- Requirements relating to the Project Owner (research organisation) must be satisfied.
- Requirements relating to the partners must be satisfied.
- The project must start between 1 January 2021 and 1 June 2021. Projects approved for funding that have not started within this period may lose their allocation.
Mandatory attachments
- A project description of maximum 11 pages using the designated template found at the end of this call.
- CVs (maximum four pages each) for the project manager and key project participants/work package leaders using the designated templates found at the end of this call.
- Letters of Intent from each partner listed. The letter must explain why the research project is important to the partner and describe the planned contributions to the project.
- For projects encompassing doctoral degrees, you must attach a Letter of Intent from the degree-conferring university/institution to the grant application. This does not apply if the Project Owner is a degree-conferring institution.
Grant applications that do not satisfy the above requirements will be rejected.
Optional attachments
- Applicants are free to propose up to three referees who are presumed to be impartial and qualified to review the grant proposal. The Research Council is not under any obligation to use the proposed referees, but may use them as needed.
Attachments other than those specified above, as well as any links to websites in the grant application, will not be included in the application review process.
Assessment criteria
Grant applications will be assessed in relation to the following criteria:
Excellence
• Scientific creativity and originality.
• Novelty and boldness of hypotheses or research questions.
• Potential for development of new knowledge beyond the current state of the art, including significant theoretical, methodological, experimental or empirical advancement.
The quality of the proposed R&D activities
• Quality of the research questions, hypotheses and project objectives, and the extent to which they are clearly and adequately specified.
• Credibility and appropriateness of the theoretical approach, research design and use of scientific methods. Appropriate consideration of interdisciplinary approaches.
• The extent to which appropriate consideration has been given to societal responsibility, ethical issues and gender dimensions in research content.
• The extent to which appropriate consideration has been given to the use of stakeholder/user knowledge.
Impact
• The extent to which the planned outputs of the project address important present and/or future scientific challenges.
• The extent to which the planned outputs of the project address important present and/or future challenges for the sector(s).
• The extent to which the competence developed and planned outputs of the project will provide the basis for value creation in Norwegian business and/or development of the public sector.
• The extent to which the planned outputs of the project address UN Sustainable Development Goals or other important present and/or future societal challenges.
• The extent to which the potential impacts are clearly formulated and plausible.
Communication and exploitation
• Quality and scope of communication and engagement activities targeted towards relevant stakeholders/users.
• The extent to which the partners are involved in dissemination and utilisation of the project results.
Implementation
• The extent to which the project manager has relevant expertise and experience and demonstrated ability to perform high-quality research (as appropriate to the career stage).
• The degree of complementarity of the participants and the extent to which the project group has the necessary expertise needed to undertake the research effectively.
The quality of the project organisation and management
• Effectiveness of the project organisation, including the extent to which resources assigned to work packages are aligned with project objectives and deliverables.
• Appropriateness of the allocation of tasks, ensuring that all participants have a valid role and adequate resources in the project to fulfil that role.
• Appropriateness of the proposed management structures and governance.
• Appropriateness of the partners' contribution to the governance and execution of the project.
Relevance to the call for proposals
Administrative procedures
Once the grant applications have been received, the Research Council will conduct a preliminary administrative review to ensure that they satisfy all the stipulated formal requirements. Grant applications that do not comply with the requirements will be rejected.
Grant applications that satisfy the formal requirements will be distributed to referee panels comprised of external specialists with expertise in the relevant thematic areas and disciplines. For each grant application, we check to ensure that the panel meets requirements relating to impartiality and has sufficient expertise to review the application’s research topic. Assessments from individual external specialists will be obtained in connection with some applications to support the panel in reaching a consensus-based assessment. The panel will assess the three criteria Excellence, Impact and Implementation, and will assign a consensus-based mark for each of these criteria.
After the panel review, the Research Council will conduct an assessment of the relevance criterion. Applications that receive an average mark of 4 or lower from the panel will not be eligible for funding and will therefore not be assessed in relation to relevance.
The assessment of the relevance criterion and the panel’s review are used to calculate the grant application’s overall mark, which is the average of the marks for the four equally weighted criteria. The Research Council will draw up a recommendation on which applications to fund based on an overall assessment of the project portfolio. The final decision on funding awards will be taken by the portfolio boards.
The project portfolio assessment will take the following factors into account:
- The grant applications’ overall and individual marks;
- Assuming all factors relating to scientific merit and relevance are essentially equal, priority will be given to projects led by women project managers.
- The thematic distribution, i.e. the distribution of proposed and ongoing projects in relation to priorities set out for a topic;
- The relative volume and quality of grant applications under each of the other calls in 2020 that are relevant for the topic.
- Any changes in the financial or scientific framework set by the ministries.
The meetings of the portfolio boards will be held in mid-December. The final funding decision will be announced after these meetings.
About the results of the application assessment process
- Total amount sought
- NOK 900 000 000
- Amount awarded
- NOK 312 000 000
- Total number of applications
- 67
- Number of approved applications
- 24
Project no. | Organization | Project title | Subject | Sought | Published |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 320825 | Universitetsbiblioteket NMBU | Grid support from multiple assets | N/A | N/A | 22.06.2021 |
| 320794 | SINTEF ENERGI AS | HydroConnect - Impacts of connecting Norwegian hydropower to continental Europe and the UK | N/A | N/A | 22.06.2021 |
| 320789 | Institutt for industriell økonomi og teknologiledelse | Digitalization of short-term resource allocation in power markets | N/A | N/A | 22.06.2021 |
| 320760 | INSTITUTT FOR ENERGITEKNIKK | 2ND LIFE - The value of second life batteries in the future energy system | N/A | N/A | 22.06.2021 |
| 320750 | INSTITUTT FOR ENERGITEKNIKK | SUn in Norway: POtential and INTegration of the solar energy resource | N/A | N/A | 22.06.2021 |
| 320726 | NORCE NORWEGIAN RESEARCH CENTRE AS | Influence of Hydropower on Lake Ecology of Atlantic Salmon in a Changing Environment (LakES) | N/A | N/A | 22.06.2021 |
| 320700 | Stiftelsen Norsk institutt for naturforskning, Akvatisk naturmangfold | Turbulent eddies to create paths for safe downstream migration for salmonids and eel past hydropower intakes | N/A | N/A | 22.06.2021 |
| 320654 | SINTEF AS | Norwegian in-situ Rock Stress for Sustainable Development of Hydroelectric Power | N/A | N/A | 22.06.2021 |
| 320260 | SINTEF ENERGI AS | CCShip - Deploying Carbon Capture and Storage for ships to enable maritime CO2 emission mitigation | N/A | N/A | 22.06.2021 |
| 320257 | INSTITUTT FOR ENERGITEKNIKK | Monitoring of glycol quality to Reduce operational risks | N/A | N/A | 22.06.2021 |
| 320240 | CICERO SENTER FOR KLIMAFORSKNING | HYDROGEN: Climate and environmental impacts of hydrogen emissions | N/A | N/A | 22.06.2021 |
| 320233 | SINTEF ENERGI AS | LH2 Pioneer - Ultra-insulated seaborne containment system for global LH2 ship transport | N/A | N/A | 22.06.2021 |
| 320100 | UNIVERSITETET I TROMSØ - NORGES ARKTISKE UNIVERSITET | Environmental impact of Methane seepage and sub-seabed characterization at LoVe - Node 7 | N/A | N/A | 22.06.2021 |
| 319951 | NORSK REGNESENTRAL | GEOPARD - Geostatistical Event-based Object-model Predicted from Analogue Reservoir Deposits | N/A | N/A | 22.06.2021 |
| 319930 | SINTEF ENERGI AS | New gases for GIS - long-term reliability and fundamental understanding of insulation properties | N/A | N/A | 22.06.2021 |
| 319885 | NORCE Miljø/Klima VESTLAND | MetaBridge: Metabarcode data in marine environmental monitoring - bridging the gap between science and management | N/A | N/A | 22.06.2021 |
| 319849 | Norwegian Geological Survey | BASE - Basement weathering and fracturing on- and offshore Norway | N/A | N/A | 22.06.2021 |
| 319795 | SINTEF ENERGI AS | Waste-to-Energy and Municipal Solid Waste management systems in Circular Economy | N/A | N/A | 22.06.2021 |
| 319723 | SINTEF Energy Research | Next generation Biogas production through the Synergetic Integration of Gasification | N/A | N/A | 22.06.2021 |
| 319600 | SINTEF ENERGI AS | Sustainable wood stoves through stove, building integration and value chain optimisation | N/A | N/A | 22.06.2021 |
| 319289 | SINTEF ENERGI AS | Dynamic loading of transformer insulation | N/A | N/A | 22.06.2021 |
| 319158 | SINTEF ENERGI AS | Offshore energy system optimisation considering load and storage flexibility | N/A | N/A | 22.06.2021 |
| 319014 | UNIVERSITETET I STAVANGER | New Cementitious Material for Oil Well Cementing Applications - SafeRock | N/A | N/A | 22.06.2021 |
| 318899 | SINTEF ENERGI AS | Digital Twin for Optimal Design and Operation of Compact Combined Cycles in Offshore Oil and Gas Installations | N/A | N/A | 22.06.2021 |
Messages at time of print 2 October 2023, 19:03 CEST