The Research Council of Norway has a total of NOK 700 million in funding available for top innovation companies in Norwegian trade and industry. And now, the same application submission deadline will apply across the board for all innovation projects.
Good news from the Research Council for companies planning exciting innovation projects: for the first time, there is a common deadline for applications to all programmes providing funding for Innovation Projects for the Industrial Sector.
"Many companies have found it difficult to get an overview of what we offer, when and to whom," says Anne Kjersti Fahlvik, Executive Director of the Research Council's Division for Innovation. "Now we are taking the first steps towards streamlining the overall process, and our website will also gradually be refined and simplified."
Gives new motivation
A total of NOK 700 million has been announced. Companies of all sizes may now seek funding for innovation projects for products, services and more. It is the company itself that determines not only the research topic but also which research groups to cooperate with, in Norway or abroad, in order to best achieve its objectives.
The Research Council has further honed its system to ensure that all applications can flow through it as efficiently as possible, and notification of grant awards will be made available in the period from December 2013 to January 2014.
"Streamlining the process motivates companies to expand their competencies," asserts Ms Fahlvik, "and we need a knowledge-based industrial sector to ensure Norway's future competitiveness on the global market."
All applications will be considered
Ms Fahlvik emphasises that the scope of the Research Council's funding for innovation projects is very wide.
"We now have a system in place to make sure each application will be assessed in a targeted fashion. This is possible as a result of the close cooperation between the thematic programmes and the broad-based, industry-oriented Programme for User-Driven Research-based Innovation (BIA), which alone accounts for NOK 300 million of the available funding announced."
Each research programme has a different amount of funding available, and seeks projects targeting specific segments.
"Research Council allocations directly reflect this, so it is wise to get to know the various programmes' frameworks," advises Ms Fahlvik.
