Apply online by Wednesday 11 June at 13:00 CEST
| Deadline: | Wednesday 11 June 2025 at 13:00 CEST |
| Available funding per project: | Up to NOK 200 000 |
| Funding decision: | By the end of June 2025 |
| Project start: | At the latest by 1 September 2025 |
| Project announcement: | August 2025 |
| Project duration: | Up to 3 months |
| Webinar - 23 April: | Funding Opportunities for a Green and Competitive Nordic Region |
About the call
Nordic Innovation is calling for proposals for project outlines within two separate programs:
- Innovative solutions for 2030. The proposed projects should help speed up the green transition, demonstrating measurable effects by 2030. Possible outputs include new solutions, partnerships, value chains, or business models. Priority will be given to projects that contribute to faster commercialization of new solutions, as well as to projects that demonstrate a high level of market readiness.
- Resilience and competitiveness for 2050. We are looking for proposals to accelerate the transition to a more sustainable, integrated, resilient and competitive Nordic region, where strengthened collaboration, use of technology and data are essential drivers. The proposed projects should have a longer time horizon and provide solutions beyond 2030. Possible outcomes or outputs include tech-driven cross border ecosystems and value chains, business opportunities and ventures. Priority will be given to projects that demonstrate high potential impact in the longer term. Nordic Innovation intends to support the creation of business consortia or networks that find and want to use technology and data as essential tools to promote the transition to a more sustainable, integrated and resilient Nordic region.
This 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. This larger call for proposals will be announced in Autumn 2025 and will also be open to entities that do not participate in this first step.
Funding
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). The aim is to develop the most promising initiatives into larger Nordic Innovation projects in step 2.
- No co-funding in the form of direct funding (capital) or in-kind contributions (working hours) is required in this call for early-stage projects.
- The funding will be given in the form of a grant.
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.
The focus is on the following areas:
- Using new solutions. By promoting sustainability, economic resilience, and new ways of working, we 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, we 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 – we want to enable systemic change towards more sustainable and biobased economies.
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.
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.
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.
Who can apply
The project partners can be:
- Companies
- Clusters
- Cluster organizations
- Ecosystems
- Public sector bodies
- Business networks
- Innovation institutions
- Consultancies
Please note that the involvement of industry and the benefit for companies in the Nordic region will be part of the evaluation criteria. We are looking for consortia that show ambition, complementary strengths and competence.
We emphasize the significance of active participation of problem and technology owners as well as the industry. Consortium partners from countries outside the Nordic region are welcome to participate, but only partners from the Nordic countries can receive funding from Nordic Innovation. Only Nordic partners will count towards the requirement of participants from a minimum of two Nordic countries at the time of applying and three countries during the project period.
Eligibility
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, we 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, our 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.
Evaluation criteria
All proposals will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
Impact (40%)
- How will the step 2 project (following this pre-project) have the potential to create systemic change, clear results and potential scalability?
- How does the step 2 project provide companies (especially SMEs) with value creation, new business opportunities, entrepreneurship and/or sustainable growth?
- How does the step 2 project contribute to the Nordic Vision 2030 and to solving societal challenges?
Quality, relevance and Nordic added value (30%)
- How is the project relevant to Nordic Innovation’s mission and the topics of “Innovative solutions for 2030” or “Competitiveness for 2050”?
- How does the project enable innovation that involves different sectors?
- What is the Nordic added value of the project? In other words, what is the benefit of carrying it out at the Nordic level rather than at the national or regional level?
- The project must show relevance for ongoing initiatives nationally, regionally and internationally (the project should be “well-connected”, and build on best practices and earlier work).
- Where relevant, the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) should be 6-9.
Consortium competence and capacity (30%)
- How are the consortium members relevant to the project and what do they add to the consortium? In step 1 it is sufficient to briefly describe the role, competence and responsibilities of potential partners.
- How is the industry involved in the project?
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. Writing of a proposal for the step 2 project/call is not an eligible cost.
Two-step process
Step 1: This is a call for project outlines. Nordic Innovation welcomes project proposals for funding of a fixed amount of up to NOK 200 000. No co-funding is required at this stage. The proposal should be submitted through Nordic Innovation’s application portal. The intention of the call is to give potential project partners the opportunity to form a viable consortium and develop a robust idea with considerable impact.
Funding decisions will be made by the end of June 2025.
Implementation period: Maximum 3 months, starting 1 September 2025 at the latest. Deviations must be justified.
Step 2: Nordic Innovation will invite applicants to apply for considerably larger projects in step 2 after the project-outline phase has ended. The budget for step 2 will be approximately 26 MNOK, with project funding in the range of NOK 500 000 – 5 000 000. (50% co-funding required).
It is not a pre-requisite to have participated in the call for project outlines to be able to compete for funding in the next round. A formal consortium consisting of a minimum of three Nordic partners must be in place when competing in step 2.
Nordic Innovation reserves the right not to award any funding under this call. Nordic Innovation reserves the right not to use the entire allocated budget.
Matchmaking and further information
Nordic Innovation will host a webinar about this call on 23 April, during which you will be able to ask questions. This webinar will also be a matchmaking opportunity for prospective applicants. More information will be published on Nordic Innovation’s website.
Questions can also be submitted via email (see contact information below). These questions will be answered publicly on our website in an FAQ available here asap.
Evaluation
In step 1, proposals will be evaluated by a committee consisting of innovation advisors from Nordic Innovation. An external evaluation panel will be set up for step 2. Project inputs from step 1 may be used to form the basis of step 2 opportunities.
Submission
The proposal should be submitted through the application portal that will open on 3 April 2025.
Apply online by Wednesday 11 June at 13:00 CEST
Please note that length restrictions apply throughout the application form. You will also be asked to attach an activity plan and short CVs for the main participants.
Contact information
Questions or other inquiries? Please reach out us.
Make sure to join our webinar 23 April:
FAQ
The FAQ section will be updated continuously. Last day for asking questions is 4 June 2025.
Can my organization participate in more than one proposal for this call?
Yes, you may participate in more than one proposal. However, since we aim to fund a variety of projects, it is less likely that we will fund two projects supported by the same entity.
Our consortium consists of an organization based in Norway, as well as a second organization that has offices in both Norway and Denmark. Does this count for the requirement of two Nordic countries?
Yes, such a consortium would be eligible – on the condition that the second partner participates through its Danish office. This would then meet the requirement of representation from two different Nordic countries at the time of applying.
Will the disbursement from Nordic Innovation be paid at the start of the project, in instalments during the project, or at the end of the project?
50% of the Grant is disbursed at the signing of the Contract. The remaining 50% is disbursed after an approved final report. Please see Art. 2.2 of Nordic Innovation's Standard Terms and Conditions for more information about disbursements.
Do the de minimis regulations (under ‘Eligibility’) apply to municipalities and public actors?
State aid regulations apply to entities operating in a commercial market. This does not usually include public actors.
Could we send you material about our project idea and have a short meeting to identify whether this call for project outlines would be a good fit?
Unfortunately, we will not be able to meet with individual applicants and provide specific advice on proposals. We also believe that applicants are better placed to decide whether a project idea is relevant for the topics and purpose of the call and to argue the case.
