Disbursement of funding

You can see whether your project funding will be disbursed automatically or not in the agreement document for your project (see section 6.4).

Our preferred method of payment is a scheme we call "grant payment on invoice". This method of payment has been introduced to most new projects that receive funding from 2023.

On this page, you will find more information about:

• Automatic payment
• Non-automatic payment with EHF invoice 
• Grant payment on invoice

Automatic payment

Still most projects receiving Research Council funding will have an agreement on automatic payment three times a year. 

Agreed progress reports and/or financial reports must be submitted and approved before funding can be disbursed. The payment plan is agreed in the contract with the Research Council. It is important that payments to the project are made in step with the costs recorded in the project accounts.

The final report must be submitted and approved by the Research Council before the last agreed payment can be made.

The tables below show the payment plan for 2023. Funding in subsequent years is expected to be disbursed in about the same period.

Automatic payment for the first tertiary 2024

Form of support	Disbursement
Basic allocation and other basic funding (basic allocations, the VITEN scheme and RETUR-EU will be paid 100 per cent in the first tertiary)	Week 10 at the latest
Researcher Projects, institution-based projects, Researcher Projects for Young Talents, grants and a few other schemes	Week 12
Innovation Projects, Collaborative and Knowledge-building Projects and other user-driven projects	Week 16

Automatic payment for second tertiary 2024

Form of support	Disbursement
Researcher Projects, institution-based projects, Researcher Projects for Young Talents, grants and a few other schemes	Week 25
Innovation Projects,  Collaborative and Knowledge-building Projects and other user-driven projects	Week 27

 Automatic payment for third tertiary 2024

Form of support	Disbursement
Researcher Projects, institution-based projects, Researcher Projects for Young Talents, grants and other basic funding	Week 51
Innovation Projects, Collaborative and Knowledge-building Projects and other user-driven projects	Disbursed on the basis of the project account report

For automatic payment, the Research Council sends an overview of the planned payments by email to the Project Owner. The Project Owner sends feedback to the Research Council as stated in the email.

Non-automatic payment with EHF invoice

In projects that do not receive automatic payment, funding will normally be disbursed on the basis of an EHF invoice to the Research Council (see section 6.4 of the agreement document). The Research Council’s organisation number is 970141669.

The Project Owner must submit at least one invoice annually for projects spann several years and otherwise as often as is desired for the Project Owner. Summary invoices for multiple projects are not accepted. Remember to mark the invoice with the Research Council's project number under "Your ref." (see below).

Invoices are paid on an ongoing basis and without undue delay as soon as the invoice is approved.

Reference requirements, see Sending invoices electronically to the Research Council and the section Fill in the fields on EHF invoice - customer order number.

Grant payment on invoice

Grant payment on invoice is a funding disbursement scheme for R&D projects. The goal is to improve the management and utilisation of public R&D funds administered by the Research Council, while also simplifying the financial reporting process.

When you have been granted funding, the funds will be disbursed as soon as you have documented the need to cover the actual costs of the project. The procedure for this is to send a request for disbursement specifying the project costs and what share of the costs the grant will cover.

You can send such a request as often as you want. The request is processed automatically, which allows the payment to be made within five days. 

Who does this disbursement scheme apply to?

The disbursement scheme currently applies to Research Projects in the university and university college sector, the institute sector and regional health authorities.

From 2023, the disbursement scheme "grant payment on invoice" is the preferred method of payment for almost all new projects. The contract indicates the disbursement scheme for each project.

A new case management system is currently under development. On its completion in 2024, all disbursement of funding will take place through the scheme.

Step-by-step guide to the process

• When you have signed a contract with us for an R&D project, we will send an EHF order to the Project Owner’s accounting system. This will contain an order amount corresponding to the grant awarded to the project.
• When the Project Owner has entered the costs of the project, you can send us a request for disbursement of funding (in the form of an invoice) to be offset against the order we sent. Along with the order, you must also attach a specification of the project costs for the period. See the example below.
• The Project Owner may not send reminders, interest notes, payment requests or debt collection notices on R&D funds.
• There is no maximum limit to how many times you can submit a request, but the Project Owner is to invoice the Research Council for grants at least every tertiary, around April, August, and December. The last deadline for submitting an invoice is 20 January of the year following the calendar year in which the costs were incurred.
• We normally disburse funding within five working days of receiving a request.
• The specification attachments are subject to spot checks.
• No limits apply to the invoice amount except that it must not exceed the remaining funding amount allocated to the project. If you send an invoice exceeding the expected annual disbursement, it will be processed manually. This might lead to a longer processing time before disbursement.
• You will still need to submit annual progress reports for the project. The same applies to applications for project changes if the project is delayed or other significant changes are made.