Supplementary Funding for Ongoing Projects to Enhance Knowledge and Results Transfer from ICT Research to the Defence Sector

Only approved Norwegian research organisations that are Project Owners for an active or recently completed Researcher Project or Collaborative Project within the topics of artificial intelligence (AI), autonomy and/or quantum technology, and are funded by the Research Council, are eligible to apply. You can apply for supplementary funding while the project is active and up to one year after the end date of the project. It must be clear that it is the results of the main project that are to be taken further. 

You cannot apply for new supplementary funding for the project if you have previously been granted supplementary funding for the project, in corresponding calls for proposals. 

See the list of approved research organisations.

Requirements relating to the Project Owner 

The Project Owner must be identical to the one stated in the contract for the main researcher/collaboration project. The research organisation listed as the Project Owner in the application form must have approved the submission of the application. 

If the application is a collaboration between several organisations, the Project Owner must submit the application on behalf of all partners. 

Requirements relating to the project manager 

The project manager must be identical to the person listed as the project manager in the contract for the main researcher/collaboration project. 

Requirements relating to collaborating partners 

The project must have at least one collaborating partner from the defence sector. Other collaborating partners in the supplementary funding project should preferably have formal roles in the main project. Companies cannot participate as collaborating partners, even if they have that role in the main project. 

We accept collaborating partners other than those who participate/have participated in the main project when it provides added value in the supplementary funded project. You must account for this added value in the application. Approved Norwegian research organisations may participate as partners in the project and receive funding. 

The aim of the call is to link Norwegian research groups to the defence sector, and international research organisations are not eligible for funding. 

You can apply for funding for specific major measures and activities that are not already part of the main project. 

Activities covered can be: 

• bringing a new partner or resource from the defence sector into the project. 
• mobility in or out of the project for the transfer of knowledge and results between the project and persons (employees) in the defence sector, for example by project participants doing secondments with actors in the defence sector and/or employees in the defence sector doing secondments with research partners. 
• extra efforts to disseminate or exploit results from the project that lead to the transfer of expertise and results to the defence sector and/or that realise synergies with other technology initiatives in the defence sector. The activities can be series of working meetings with relevant actors, dissemination activities such as the establishment of communication channels and networks, or other activities. 
• new doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships for candidates who can be security cleared to a minimum of "Secret". 

We recommend that any PhD candidates who are employed by a company or in a public enterprise also investigate the possibilities of applying for an Industrial PhD. – PhD project in a company or Public Sector PhD – PhD project in the public sector. 

All activities must comply with the requirements for responsible research and innovation (see Responsible research and innovation at the Research Council of Norway (forskningsradet.no)).

You can apply for funding to cover the actual costs necessary to carry out the project. The Project Owner must obtain information on costs from the partners in the project. These costs must be entered in the cost plan under the cost type to which they belong. 

We require that you break down the project budget into the following cost types in your application: 

• Payroll and indirect expenses, which are costs incurred by the Project Owner and collaborating partners in the public sector and research organisations.  
• Other operating expenses, which are costs for other activities necessary to carry out the project's R&D activities. Any purchases from subcontractors must be entered here. All costs entered as "other operating expenses" must be specified in the application.  
• Equipment, which includes operating and depreciation costs for scientific equipment necessary to carry out the project.  

The cost type Procurement of R&D services shall not be used.  

If doctoral and postdoctoral research fellows are included in the project and there are specific plans for them to stay abroad, this may be included in the application. The Research Council also has a separate call for proposals for research stays abroad for doctoral and post-doctoral research fellows. Here, the project manager can apply for funding for research stays abroad for research fellows who are part of the project during the project period. 

Please note that the Research Council can only fund a three-year doctoral research fellow position or a postdoctoral position of a minimum of 3 years and a maximum of 4 years, see Postdoctoral position.  

You will find detailed and important information about what to enter in the project budget on our website.   

Scope of support 

Funding of up to NOK 3.5 million may be awarded to projects without a research fellowship, or up to NOK 5 million if a research fellowship is to be funded by funding from the Research Council. 

There are no requirements for own financing. 

Conditions for funding 

The supplementary funded project must generally start and end within the project period of the main project. You can go beyond the end date of the project, but then it must be clear that the supplementary funded project builds on and reinforces the results of the main project. 

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.  
• 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.  
• Grant recipients in research organisations and the public sector (Project Owners and partners) must have action plans for gender equality (GEPs) available on their websites. This must be in place before the contract is signed for projects with grants from us. The requirement does not apply to the private sector, interest groups or the voluntary sector.  
• The Research Council requires full and immediate open access for scientific articles, see Plan S - open access to publications.  
• For all projects that handle data, the Project Owner must prepare a data management plan in connection with the revised application, where you will find more information about the requirements for data management plans in projects that receive funding from us.  
• For medical and health studies involving humans, the Research Council sets special requirements and guidelines for prospective registration of studies and publication of results. 

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 Norwegian and/or English. 
• All attachments must be in PDF format. 

Mandatory attachments 

• Project description of a maximum of 5 pages. Use the standard template that you can download at the bottom of the page. 
• If the application includes funding for a doctoral fellowship or postdoctoral fellowship, confirmation of security clearance and authorisation for the research fellow must be attached, or alternatively a confirmation including a description of how the process for advertising a research fellowship position and appointment is carried out so that the requirement for security clearance is met. 
• CV for new, key project participants who do not participate in the main project. Use the standard template that you can download at the bottom of the page. 
• Letter of intent from new partners (note that the call for proposals requires a partner from the defence sector). See sample letter of intent on our guidance page.  

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

Optional attachments 

• CV for key participants in the project, use the standard template that you download at the bottom of the page. 
  • You will assess which project participants are the most important, and in which cases it will be of importance for the application processing to assess the project participants' qualifications. 

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. 

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. 

Originality/Novelty
• The extent to which the concept is sound, credible and novel.

Solidity
• The extent to which the project objectives are clear and relevant.
• The quality of the proposed deliverables from the project.

Potential
• The extent to which the expected effects are specified.
• The extent to which expected impacts on the system and societal levels are specified.

Knowledge sharing and exploitation
• The quality of the proposed communication and dissemination activities.
• The extent to which it is credible that the proposed outputs will contribute to the specified effects and impact.

Project Manager and project group
• The extent to which the Project Manager and project group are qualified and have the necessary expertise and are positioned to implement the project.
• The extent to which management structures and procedures are appropriate.

Plans and management
• The extent to which the work plan is clear and understandable, and the time table realistic
• The extent to which objectives and measures are coherent.
• The extent to which the project has the support of the leadership of the Project Owner and any partners, and the allocation of roles in the project is clear.
• The extent to which the budget is realistic and appropriate, and resources are allocated so that each of the partners can fulfil their role.
• The extent to which potential risks have been discussed.

The extent to which the project satisfies the guidelines and stipulations set out in the call for proposals.

All applications will be assessed by the Research Council's administration and will be read by a minimum of two case officers. The applications are assessed against the four criteria above. All grades are given on a scale from 1 to 7, where 7 is the best. 

All applications with a mark of 4 or lower on one or more of the criteria will be rejected. 

Applications with a grade of 5 or higher on all criteria are eligible for support and will be ranked according to the average grade. 

If there are more applications eligible for funding than available funding, the following will be emphasised when prioritising which of the highest-ranked applications are to be funded: 

1. In total, the applications must cover the three priority technology areas of artificial intelligence, autonomy and quantum technology.  (One application is not expected to cover everyone.) 
2. Overall, the applications must contribute to the establishment of R&D projects with persons who can be security cleared and that at least 2 candidates are educated at doctoral and/or postdoctoral level who can be security cleared to a minimum of "Secret". 

The portfolio board for enabling technologies makes the final decision on allocation or rejection. 

The Research Council of Norway may reject applications where the Project Owner or any partner has significantly breached its obligations in other projects funded by the Research Council within the two years prior to the submission of the application.  

The application may be rejected if the project manager has been convicted of misconduct by the Joint Integrity Committee or the Investigation Committee in the last two years prior to the submitted application. 

The Research Council will fund projects that have a place on the road to a low-emission society in line with the Paris Agreement. In cases where two projects have received otherwise equal assessments, the portfolio board will prioritise the project that is most sustainable in terms of effects on climate, the environment and society. 

We expect to publish which applications will be awarded on 29 September 2026.