Impact Innovation: Implementation project for a reformed public sector (Sweden)

SustainGov creates the conditions for a reformed public sector that holistically promotes and facilitates health and well-being for all residents regardless of geography and socioeconomic status, and ensures society’s sustainability transition within the planet’s boundaries.

This offer provides support for implementation projects where actors collaborate to develop, test and further develop new ways of organizing, financing, governing and working within the public sector, as well as in collaborations between the public sector and other societal actors.

SustainGov is a mission-driven programme within Impact Innovation that is a joint effort of the Swedish Energy Agency, Formas and Vinnova. SustainGov’s mission is to achieve a reformed public sector by 2035 that holistically promotes and facilitates health and well-being for all residents regardless of geography and socioeconomic status, and ensures society’s sustainability transition within the limits of the planet.

Focus Areas

• SustainGov has chosen to focus its efforts on four focus areas:
  • System-wide collaboration for complex care needs – Changed working methods between healthcare and social care actors where the individual’s health and long-term well-being are at the center.
  • An inclusive society for all – Shared responsibility from the public sector in aim of creating systemic change where the sector meets the needs of vulnerable target groups through co-creation and inclusion.
  • Future-proofing food security for health and well-being – A new role for the public sector that strengthens resilience in the food system and ensures a sustainable and nutritious food supply for all.
  • The social contract of the future: a renewed relationship between residents and the public sector – The public sector creates stronger ties to residents, business and civil society to contribute to new common solutions.

Funding Information

• The grant can amount to a maximum of SEK 4,000,000, and a maximum of 70 percent of the project’s total eligible costs.
• They expect to fund between 3 and 7 project per focus area. The project that are funded should have a project duration of 12 to 24 months with project start no later than December 1, 2025.

Expected Outcomes

• The following movements are considered central to achieving SustainGov’s mission:
  • from reactive to proactive – shifting focus from only dealing with problems when they arise to anticipating and preventing them, enabling more sustainable and efficient use of resources,
  • from organization-oriented to individualized interaction – creating joint solutions that are based on the needs of individuals, rather than being tied to fixed organizational structures,
  • from process and indicator-driven to impact-focused – shift focus from being process-driven and only measuring short-term results with simple indicators to assessing long-term effects that really contribute to social development, including by using impact indicators to follow up on actual improvements in the target group’s health and well-being,
  • from seeing the individual as a passive recipient to an active co-creator – recognizing individuals as active co-creators in the development of solutions to achieve more sustainable and relevant results.
• In addition, an implementation project is expected to demonstrate:
  • a clear connection to the needs of a designated target group and the systemic problems within one or more of SustainGov’s four focus areas,
  • a clear commitment from involved parties to contribute to a reform of the role of the public sector and its capacity to change attitudes, behaviors, practices, governance, frameworks and organization,
  • a goal to develop business-related solutions and components that can be scaled up beyond the individual project, into the company’s own core business.

Eligible Costs

• In this the call for proposals these types of costs are eligible:
  • Personnel costs: Salaries, social security contributions and other personnel costs.
  • Equipment, land and buildings: Instruments, equipment and rent for premises other than regular business premises.
  • Consulting and licensing costs: Consulting services, knowledge and patents purchased or licensed from a third party. Costs for consulting services from third parties may not exceed 20 percent of a project party’s budget.
  • A higher percentage than 20 percent may be approved in case of special needs. You must then justify the need for consulting services in proposal. This justification will be taken into account in the assessment.
  • Other direct costs: For example, materials, supplies and travel necessary to carry out the project.
  • Indirect costs (overhead): Costs that are not incurred as an immediate consequence of but can be related to the project, such as regular premises and cleaning.
  • Indirect costs may constitute a maximum of 30 percent of personnel costs. Universities, university colleges, and certain research organizations and government agencies have higher maximum limits depending on the type of activities.

Target Audience

• The project must be conducted jointly by at least three project parties, of which at least two are need owners within the public sector and represent at least two different levels of administration (local, regional or national).
• The coordinating participant must be a need owner in the public sector, such as municipality, an association of municipalities, a region or a state public authority. They would like the approved projects to involve a wide range of public actors from across the country, including, for example, both resource-rich and resource-poor municipalities and regions.
• In addition, other relevant actors from civil society, universities, university colleges or companies should participate as project partners or in the role of other stakeholders, for example in a reference group or similar.

Eligibility Requirements

• On organizational form of project partners
  • All project partners must be legal entities. Natural persons or individual companies cannot participate as project partners.
  • The coordinating party must be a Swedish legal entity and conduct activities in Sweden.
• For the project
  • The coordinating party must be a public sector stakeholder. By stakeholder is meant Swedish municipalities, municipality- and municipal associations, regions, state authorities. In this context, higher education institutions and publicly owned companies are not included.
  • The project must have at least three project partners, of which at least two are need owners within the public sector at at least two different administrative levels (local, regional or national level).
  • The project manager must be employed by one of the project parties.
  • The requested grant from Vinnova should amount to a maximum of 70% of the project’s total eligible costs according to the budget in proposal.
  • The project may not begin before proposal is submitted.
• On proposal
  • Proposal must be written in Swedish or English.
  • Proposal must contain all requested attachments.

For more information, visit Vinnova.