REACH: Silicon Valley Incubator Programme for Commercialisation of Research

Start-ups, approved research organisations, and their Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs) are eligible to apply. See the list of approved research organisations.  

Applicants must have a recently completed or ongoing verification project. 

Requirements relating to the Project Owner 

The research organisation/undertaking listed as the Project Owner in the application form must have approved the submission of the application. 

Requirements relating to the project manager 

The project manager's professional competence and suitability to carry out the project will be assessed by Innovation Norway. There are no formal requirements for the project manager's qualifications. 

The project manager must be employed by the Project Owner. 

You can apply for reimbursement of the cost of the course fee. This must be entered under the cost type other operating expenses. The Project Owner covers all other costs (time/travel/accommodation).  

Conditions for funding 

The projects must start between 15 October 2025 and 3 November 2025. The latest permitted project completion date is 26 June 2026. 

Support for a research organisation goes to the organisation's non-economic activity. It therefore does not constitute state aid. The Research Council assumes that the necessary accounting separation is in place. 

Enterprises will receive the aid as "de minimis aid". This means that the company can receive a maximum of EUR 300,000 over a three-year period. Prior to any payment of de minimis aid, we will ask for a written confirmation and an overview of all other de minimis aid that the company has received during the last three financial years. For enterprises that are part of a group, the maximum limit generally applies to the group as such. See also the EU de minimis aid regulation (Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/2831). Read more about de minimis aid.  

The Research Council's conditions for funding can also be found in our General Terms and Conditions for R&D Projects on the information page What the contract involves.  

The project manager and the Project Owner must have assessed and handled the consideration of research security in the project. Research security refers to risks associated with unwanted transfer of knowledge and technology, impact on research and innovation, or breaches of research ethics/integrity where knowledge and technology are used to undermine key societal values.  

Please note that you can only submit the application once. If you submit the application and subsequently see that it still needs to be changed, you can create a new application – e.g. as a copy of the one you have already submitted – and in this way submit a new version as long as the call is open for applications. 

• The application and all attachments must be written in English. 
• All attachments must be in PDF format. 

Mandatory attachments 

• A PowerPoint presentation of no more than 10 pages that should contain: 
  • Information about the project/company: Technology/product, customer needs (which problems are to be solved), commercial goal, status, planned next steps and the team. 
  • Background: Origin of research/startup (university/research institute) and research funding sources 
  • Motivation: Why you want to join REACH, and which two team members would participate. 

Applications that do not meet the requirements above will be rejected. 

All attachments to the application must be submitted with the application. We do not accept attachments submitted after the application deadline unless we have requested additional documentation. 

Be careful to upload the correct attachment type, as there are no technical restrictions on what kind of templates it is possible to upload in the application form. 

The applications will first be assessed administratively by representatives from Innovation Norway. 

Teams applying for REACH should be able to demonstrate the following: 

• clear potential to benefit from participation in REACH and networking opportunities in Silicon Valley; 
• strong motivation to participate and engage throughout the programme; 
• commitment from at least two team members, with at least one actively participating in all meetings and physical activities, including the stay in Palo Alto; 
• ability to accept guidance and feedback, including willingness to reflect, adapt, and apply learning throughout the programme. 

The representatives from Innovation Norway will assess the applications on the basis of the following points: 

• Information about the project/company: Technology/product, customer needs (problems to be solved), commercial goal, status, plans for next steps and team. 
• Origin of the research/startup (university/research institute), source of funding for the research, motivation for participating in REACH and who from the team will participate in the programme. 

After that, two people from the team behind each application will be asked to take part in a digital interview. The interviews will be conducted by the Programme Director of REACH and a representative from the national team. 

It is Innovation Norway's administration that will make the final decision on the allocation of funds. 

We expect to publish which applications will be awarded by 15 October 2025.