Call for Project Outlines: Green and Competitive Nordic Region

The call is the first of two steps. Businesses or other organizations selected in this step will be given grant funding to develop a project idea and assemble Nordic consortia to carry out the projects. These consortia can then apply for full-scale funding to realize their projects in the second step.

Types of Program 

• Innovative Solutions for 2030
  • 2030 is drawing nearer, yet the Nordic countries are still far from meeting the climate and sustainability goals set for that year. For that reason, Innovative Solutions for 2030 is about creating real change, fast. By helping new and improved solutions reach the market and creating and sharing new knowledge – and by contributing to the development of new industrial policies, sustainable and resilient value chains for critical raw materials and technologies for strengthened Nordic autonomy and competitiveness – the program aims to speed up the green transition and foster systemic change across the Nordic region.
  • In this call, applicants are free to suggest themes, methods and opportunities that fit the above framework. However, the following keywords may serve as a source of inspiration: bioeconomy, circular economy, emissions reduction, global and Nordic societal challenges.
• Nordic Forward: Resilience and competitiveness for 2050
  • Nordic Forward is a program aimed at strengthening the Nordic region’s competitiveness and resilience through collaborative innovation.
  • The program is about finding unknown solutions to current and upcoming societal challenges, and maturing solutions that will be market ready after 2030 and where business models are still to be developed. The program will support ecosystems and value chain collaboration to solve global and Nordic societal challenges and achieve impact at a systemic level. The program is aimed at businesses and actors that can contribute to a more sustainable, integrated, resilient and competitive Nordic region by the application of new technologies and collaboration structures. Examples of technology and deep tech include AI, quantum, robotics, autonomy, IoT, 5G, 6G and immersive technologies. This is not a comprehensive list; the examples merely illustrate a wide range of opportunities that need to be combined with relevant use cases.
  • Applicants are free to suggest themes and topics that fit the above framework. Projects must address societal challenges, for instance like changes in demography, climate change and self-sufficiency.

Focus Areas

• Innovative Solutions for 2030
  • The focus is on the following areas:
    • Using new solutions. By promoting sustainability, economic resilience, and new ways of working, they want to accelerate the green transition in established, high-emission sectors.
    • Commercialization and market introduction. By positioning the Nordic region as an attractive early market, they want to support emerging businesses and the implementation of new green solutions and technologies.
    • Accelerating sustainable circular economic systems. By increasing the application of circular business models and optimizing the use of resources – including organic materials and waste streams – they want to enable systemic change towards more sustainable and biobased economies.
• Nordic Forward: Resilience and competitiveness for 2050
  • The focus is on the following areas:
    • Establishing Nordic innovation ecosystems and value chains for long-term competitiveness and transition to a more sustainable, resilient and competitive society.
    • Using critical technologies to increase innovation capacity for sustainable transition and uncovering the business opportunities, scaling the innovative and digital service sector
    • Contributing to strategic innovation projects where resilience against external threats against, for instance, the climate and environment, health and demography, and democracy are addressed.

Funding Information

• Nordic Innovation will provide grant funding of up to NOK 200 000 for up to 20 early-stage Nordic projects related to green and innovative solutions (program 1) and resilience and competitiveness for 2050 (program 2).
• Project Duration: Up to 3 months.

Eligible Costs and Activities

• Travel costs, meeting costs and working hours are eligible costs. Feasibility/market studies, consortium building or partner search, concept or project development are relevant activities.

Who can apply?

• The project partners can be:
  • Companies
  • Clusters
  • Cluster organizations
  • Ecosystems
  • Public sector bodies
  • Business networks
  • Innovation institutions
  • Consultancies

Eligibility Criteria

• Participation of at least two Nordic countries at the time of applying
  • Normally, all projects funded by Nordic Innovation require partners from at least three Nordic countries. In this call for project outlines, however, they will accept proposals where only partners from two countries are confirmed at the time of applying. It will nevertheless be an advantage to have partners from at least three Nordic countries in place from the outset. Otherwise, the proposal must contain a convincing strategy for how a Nordic consortium will be formed during the project period. In proposals where only two partners are involved initially, a share of the budget should be reserved for partners that enter the project.
• De Minimis aid obligations
  • Under EU law, an undertaking may receive State Aid of up to EUR 300 000 over a three-year period (de minimis aid). Since Nordic Innovation is financed by the five Nordic governments, their grants are divided into five parts when calculating State Aid. As such, only 20% of a grant counts towards the de minimis limit for any one country.

For more information, visit Nordic Innovation.