Funding for Research Infrastructure of National Importance

Approved research organisations and publicly funded managers of research infrastructure that collaborate closely with Norwegian research organisations are eligible to apply. See the list of approved research organisations.

Requirements relating to the Project Owner and partners 

The organisation listed as the Project Owner in the application form must have approved the submission of the application. The application must be strategically supported by the Project Owner's institution and all partners. The Project Owner (applicant) must be an institution with a named administrative officer. 

Research organisations, publicly funded managers of research infrastructure that collaborate closely with Norwegian research organisations, as well as other organisations or enterprises may be partners in research infrastructure projects. 

Please refer to What type of research infrastructure is eligible for funding? for a detailed description of the costs you can apply for.  

In general, you can apply for: 

• funding for the establishment and upgrading of all types of research infrastructures of national importance as defined in the Norwegian Roadmap for Research Infrastructure 2025 (in Norwegian)
• new memberships in international research infrastructures, including participation in infrastructures on the ESFRI Roadmap  
• funding for coordination and facilitation of joint services based on existing research infrastructures 
• funds for long-term operation in special cases 

You can use up to NOK 500,000 of the Research Council funding for activities that contribute to training and mobilisation for increased use of the infrastructure. 

You cannot use the support for doctoral research fellows, post-doctoral research fellows or research positions, but we can provide support to finance the working hours for people who are necessary to establish the infrastructure. 

In some special cases, we can provide support for funding of research infrastructures' operating costs. A prerequisite for this is that you either apply for funding for the establishment/upgrade of the research infrastructure in question in the current call, or you must have received such funding previously (see What type of research infrastructure is eligible for funding?). We cannot grant operating aid in cases where the support for investment in infrastructure constitutes state aid. Long-term support for financing operations (beyond the establishment phase) is assessed on the basis of the applicant's information in a separate appendix.  

We encourage the use of the model for research infrastructure resource costs ("leiestedsmodell") as a basis for cost and capacity calculations. You can find more information about this on our website about what to enter in the project budget.  

When the aid constitutes state aid, it follows from the EU General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER) Article 26, Investment aid for research infrastructures, what support can be applied for. See more information about this below. 

Scope of support 

We can provide support for up to five years. The minimum funding from the Research Council is NOK 2 million, the maximum funding is NOK 200 million. When the awarded funding constitutes state aid, it may not exceed EUR 20 million per infrastructure. 

The amount applied for should, as far as possible, remain below NOK 60 million. For applications with a sought amount of more than NOK 60 million, you must clearly justify in the project description why a higher amount is needed, and why a step-by-step build-up or further development of the infrastructure is not possible. 

Please note that in this call for proposals, we do not require a description of an alternative "minimum framework" if the amount applied for exceeds NOK 30 million, as has been the practice previously. 

Conditions for funding 

For the part of the aid that goes to undertakings (actors offering goods or services in a market, i.e. engaged in economic activity), this call constitutes an aid scheme that must be notified to the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA). 

We then award the aid in accordance with Article 26 of the so-called Block Exemption Regulation (Commission Regulation 651/2014 of 17 June 2014). In addition, the general conditions in Chapter I of the Regulation must be met. The rules can be found here (in Norwegian).  

The scheme is practised in compliance with the EEA Agreement's state aid rules. In this context, terms and concepts must be interpreted in line with the corresponding terms and concepts in the support rules. In the event of any conflict between the announcement and the state aid rules, the latter shall take precedence. For the same reason, the call for proposals may also be adjusted.  

State ad may not be granted to undertakings that have not complied with the requirements for repayment following a previous decision by the ESA/EU Commission declaring the aid illegal and incompatible with the internal market. Nor may aid be granted to undertakings in difficulty within the meaning of EEA law. 

The call for proposals constitutes an aid scheme that has been notified to the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) and has the reference: GBER 53/2025/R&D&I . 

Further information on Article 26 of the GBER, as well as on the economic and non-economic activities of research organisations and research infrastructures, can be found on the Research Council's website on the state aid rules.  

You must follow the international FAIR principles for good facilitation and accessibility of research data. 

In addition, you must be aware of the following if you should receive an award from us: 

• 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.  
• For all projects that handle data, the Project Owner must prepare a data management plan in connection with the revised application. Here you will find more information about requirements for data management plans in projects that receive funding from us.  
• 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.  

Prior to any potential contract signing, you will be required to submit a plan for the future financial operation of the infrastructure to be upgraded. In this plan, you must highlight the future operating costs of the infrastructure and describe how the operating costs are intended to be covered. The Research Council will consider any own contributions to the operational financing of the infrastructure highlighted in this plan to be binding.  

Requirements for the institutions 

It is the institution's management that must submit the applications. We encourage that the applications are viewed in the context of the institution's strategy and that you focus on long-term operating costs that may accrue to the institution(s) following new investments and upgrades of research infrastructure. The institution's management must also approve all applications in which they are a partner. 

We expect you to make thorough strategic priorities before submitting the applications. 

The institutions must allocate qualified personnel to the management and operation of the research infrastructure. 

Requirements for the application 

The Project Owner (applicant) must be an institution with a named administrative officer. 

Applications for upgrading/further development of research infrastructure that have previously received funding under this scheme must complete a separate attachment. For such applications, it must be clearly stated that the application concerns upgrading of the existing research infrastructure, and not as a new infrastructure. 

Applications relating to Norwegian participation in collaboration on the establishment or upgrading of international research infrastructures, including projects on the ESFRI Roadmap, must submit a separate attachment describing the Norwegian participation and its intrinsic value. 

Applications that include the use of existing national infrastructures for storing and making data available must include a confirmatory letter from the person responsible for the existing national infrastructure(s) stating that they are in favour of the project's plan. You must account for how any costs associated with handling, storing and making data available will be financed. 

In addition to the cost and funding plan for the project in eSøknad, applications for research infrastructure must have a separate attachment: Excel form for costs and funding, which can be found at the end of the call. In the form, costs associated with investment/establishment and operation of the infrastructure, respectively, must be made visible separately. Costs and financing of operations must be completed for a period of 10 years. 

Requirements for the project description 

The project description must follow the current template, which can be found at the end of the call. 

The project description must: 

• include a clear justification if total costs exceed NOK 60 million 
• clearly describe the risk of increased costs and how they will be handled 
• clearly describe how the infrastructure will be made available to research communities and relevant industry by parties other than the Project Owner and partners. In order to safeguard the interests of the user community, we recommend establishing a steering group or advisory board with representatives from several institutions. This also applies to infrastructures that are established, owned and operated by only one institution, but which have a larger user group. 

In applications that include the development of new storage solutions and/or services for making data available, you must take into account in the description of the future plan for the infrastructure's financial operation that a share of the operating revenues must be able to cover a minimum of costs associated with upgrading. You must also describe how these solutions will be integrated with relevant existing national/international data infrastructures. 

You can change and submit the application several times until the application deadline. We recommend that you submit your application as soon as you have completed the application form and uploaded the mandatory attachments. When the application deadline expires, it is the version of the application that was submitted most recently that we process. 

• The application and all attachments must be written in English. 
• All mandatory attachments must be included. 
• All attachments must be in PDF format. Please note that for the Excel documents, each sheet must be converted to PDF format. 

Attachment 

It is mandatory to use the templates, which you can download at the bottom of the call. 

Mandatory attachments 

• Project description of a maximum of 15 pages according to the established template 
• Description of work packages of up to 2 pages per work package according to the established template 
• Excel form for costs and financing 2025 according to established template 
• Excel form for an overview of all names mentioned in the application according to the established template 
• CV for the project manager at the applicant institution and sub-project managers (work package leaders) at all partner institutions of maximum 4 pages per person according to the established template 
• a declaration from the applicant institution at the institutional level that explains how the infrastructure is anchored in the institution's research strategy, and that confirms the institution's obligations related to the financing, use and operation of the infrastructure. 
• a declaration from each partner at the institution level documenting how the infrastructure is integrated into the institution's research strategy, and confirming the partner's commitments related to the funding, use and operation of the infrastructure. 
• Additional attachments if the application concerns: 
  • Projects that have previously received funding through INFRASTRUCTURE and are applying for further investments (in phase 2/3/4) must attach a separate attachment of a maximum of 2 pages according to the established template. 
  • Norwegian participation in international infrastructures: separate appendix of a maximum of 3 pages according to the established template. Select! new nodes in ESFRI infrastructures must attach a letter of support from the international coordinator. 
  • Long-term basic financing of operations: separate attachment of a maximum of 4 pages according to the established template. 
  • Applications that include the use of existing national infrastructures for storing and making data available: a letter of affirmative from the person responsible for the existing national infrastructure(s) stating that they are in favour of the project's plan. 

Optional attachments 

• Letter of Intent (LOI) or letters of support from external user communities (drafted by these and not by the applicant consortium) that substantiate the need and potential for utilisation of the infrastructure applied for. 
• Proposals for up to five referees who are presumed to be impartial to assess the application 

We will not consider documents and websites linked to in the application, or attachments other than those specified above. 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.

Applications will be assessed in light of the purpose of the call and the assessment criteria listed below. 

The first four criteria in the list will be assessed by external panels. The following seven criteria will be assessed in the internal administrative assessment.

The application review process includes an academic assessment carried out by external referees and a two-part strategic assessment carried out by the Research Council's administration. Finally, the administration prepares a recommendation to the decision-making body, which is the Research Council's Portfolio Board for the Research System. 

Step 1: Panel assessment 

All applications are first assessed by a committee consisting of external peers (called panels) who assess whether the research infrastructure will be able to contribute to research of high scientific quality. This assessment provides guidance for the Research Council's further processing of the applications, which is carried out by our administration. 

The panels are composed according to the academic profile in the application pool. Out of consideration for impartiality, all panel members are from abroad. 

Applications that are considered relevant to several of the strategic areas will be assessed by more than one panel. 

Step 2: Administrative assessment 

The administrative processing of applications for funding for research infrastructure is carried out by panels (called administrative panels) consisting of Research Council employees with good knowledge of an academic, thematic and/or technological area and of Norwegian research actors. These panels are divided in much the same way as the division in the Norwegian Roadmap for Research Infrastructure 2025 (in Norwegian). Applications that are considered relevant to several of the strategic areas will be assessed by more than one administrative panel. All applications that have an overall grade of 5, 6 or 7 from the external panels and no partial mark below 5 will be assessed administratively. 

Step 3: Final selection through overall administrative assessment 

No specific proportion of the announced funding has been allocated to each of the application groups. The distribution of available funds will be based on an overall administrative assessment. 

In the overall administrative assessment of the named research infrastructures in group 1, emphasis will be placed on the following: 

• the size of the available financial framework to be able to finance the project. A thorough review will be made of the cost level and the justification if the amount applied for is more than NOK 60 million. 
• The need for upgrading of the infrastructure 
• Requirements and guidelines in the call 

Based on the overall assessment of the group 2 applications by the administrative panels, an overall assessment is made across subject areas and portfolios. The following points will be emphasized in the overall assessment: 

• how the project responds to the priorities and overarching goals in the Government's long-term plan for research and higher education 2023-2032 and the national importance of research infrastructure within strategic priority areas
•  rankings and assessments from the administrative panels requirements and guidelines in the call 
• the link between investment in research infrastructures and research funded through the Research Council's other instruments. The investments must be proportionate to the scope of the research and the need for research infrastructure in the areas. 
• the degree of urgency to establish/continue the research infrastructures 
• achieving a broad, balanced project portfolio: all the nationally prioritised areas should be supported over time with research infrastructures if there are high-quality applications 
• whether there is sufficient financial framework available to be able to finance the project 
• how well prepared the establishment or upgrade applied for is in order to achieve a rapid project implementation 
• the need to address specific challenges related to the collection, access and management of research data due to reduced efforts from the United States, and the fact that the initiative contributes to Norwegian leadership in future international governance of these data 

The portfolio board for the Research System makes the final decision regarding funding. 

We expect to publish which applications will receive funding in the autumn of 2026.