Industrial flexible energy management

With this call for proposals we want to finance research and innovation projects that strengthen the ability of electricity-intensive industries to understand, plan and act on their electricity supply using advanced digital technology. Electricity-intensive industries can be, for example, paper mills, mines or the steel industry. The projects that are financed must be driven by the needs of the industry. They must lead to increased energy efficiency and/or the ability to use electricity flexibly through data analysis and digital tools. The call for proposals is aimed at consortia with at least two project parties, where at least one need owner from electricity-intensive industry must be included. Project can also be implemented in collaboration between several industrial actors, for example within a defined geographical area. Other innovative companies, universities, university colleges, research institutes and relevant organisations can be part of the consortium. results of the projects must be scalable to strengthen the competitiveness of the industry. They must also contribute to robust and secure energy systems.

Project consortia can apply for between 1 and 10 million SEK. The project duration should be 12 to 36 months. Vinnova's funding can amount to a maximum of 50 percent of the project's eligible costs. The total preliminary budget of the call is 30 million SEK.

The call for proposals is part of the Advanced digitalisationprogram, an industry-driven programme to promote Sweden's and Swedish industry's ability to create future digital solutions. The projects funded will contribute to Sweden's shared ability to create and utilize digitalisation opportunities.

The electrification of industry is central to the transition to a sustainable society, but it also means a greatly increased need for electricity and power. To manage this, more efficient energy use and increased flexibility in how and when electricity is used are required.

We want to finance project that develop and apply advanced digital solutions that enable efficient, flexible and cost-effective electricity use in industry. The projects will help secure access to electricity and power where and when it is needed. They will also strengthen the ability of industry to meet its energy needs in a renewed energy ecosystem, individually or in collaboration with others.

We want to fund project that, using advanced digital technology for data collection, analysis and management:

• Increases energy efficiency and electricity flexibility.
• Reduces costs and climate impact.
• Enables collaboration between industry, service and technology players.
• Manages variations in energy prices and power requirements through scalable solutions.

The projects funded shall contribute to one or more of the following:

• Electrically flexible use of energy by one or more industrial actors, for example in collaboration within a defined geographical area.
• Decision Support that improves the ability to plan for electrical power needs and provides more predictable energy costs.
• New technologies and working methods for secure and efficient handling and analysis of large amounts of data in electrification, which work throughout the entire value chain and meet high eligibility requirements for cybersecurity.
• New business models that strengthen industry's ability to independently secure its energy needs.

Programmet Avancerad digitalisation

The call for proposals is part of the Advanced digitalisation program, an effort from Vinnova in collaboration with industry, which mobilizes actors from different parts of society towards common objective.

Advanced digitalisation aims to strengthen Swedish research and make Sweden more attractive for research and innovation investments, and stimulate the development of advanced digital technology. The programme will be implemented with a long-term perspective and contribute to innovative, enabling technologies and the development of core competence areas that meet the needs of industry.

Read more about the program on the Advanced Digitization website.

Contribute to a sustainable system transformation

Eftersom Vinnova is tasked with promoting sustainable growth and system transformation, should your project also contribute to increased gender equality and climate change? We are based on the UN's global sustainability goals, defined in the 2030 Agenda. There we focus on two perspectives: gender equality and climate change.

This means that gender equality and climate change should be integrated into both how your project group is composed and in the intended outcome of your project.

Equal funding of innovations

An innovative force in a sustainable world

Making scientific publications and results available

This the call for proposals will help make results available to everyone. Therefore, all scientific publishing should be open access. When results from research and innovation are made freely available, more people can contribute to solving societal challenges.

The call for proposals is aimed at consortia with at least two project parties where at least one demand owner from electricity-intensive industry is included, for example:

• Paper and pulp industry.
• Mining and steel industry.
• Other electrified industries with a large electrical power requirement that is at risk of not being met.

The projects should be run in collaboration between several actors, for example in a defined geographical area. In addition to industrial stakeholders, consortia can consist of:

• Providers of advanced digital solutions, including startups, scaleups and innovative SMEs.
• Electricity grid companies and other business actors.
• Universities, university colleges and research institutes.
• Public organisations and authorities.

The projects must be driven by industrial needs, and therefore at least one company must be part of the consortium. All participating parties can be companies.

In the Advanced digitalisation program, industry refers to the entire production chain – from the extraction of raw materials to finished products, as well as industry-related service sectors and technology sectors that are needed for the production chain to function. This includes, for example, energy, logistics and transport, telecommunications, water/air/ventilation and recycling. The defense industry is also covered.

Each participant seeking funding must be a Swedish legal entity. In this respect, a Swedish legal entity is considered to be a foreign organisation that has a branch or establishment in Sweden. The costs in the project must be attributable to activities of the branch or establishment.

We fund research and innovation projects for electricity-intensive industries, such as paper mills, mines and the steel industry, which need solutions for flexible energy management using advanced digital technology (see section 2).

Examples of activities

We fund these types of activities:

• Investigation of technical and design conditions.
• Development of prototypes or demonstration versions of products or services. This may also include pilot work, testing and validation.
• Research and development of production methods.
• Planning and conducting studies and tests to verify an innovation.
• Investigation of market conditions, for example identifying customers, reviewing customer needs, and finding possible partners and competitors.

We do not finance:

• Project that are limited to the benefit of an individual actor.
• Routine or recurring changes to existing products, services, manufacturing methods or manufacturing processes.
• Project that primarily focuses on technology development for electricity production and/or battery technology.
• Electrification of vehicles and charging infrastructure, unless it is part of a concrete industrial context, such as autonomous vehicles or machinery in a mine or a port.

What costs can we finance?

Our funding is subject to state aid rules. The rules govern what types of costs we can finance. These are called eligible costs.

In this the call for proposals, these types of costs are eligible:

• Salary costs: Salary costs, including employer contributions and other salary-related 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 an external party. Costs of this type may constitute a maximum of 20 percent of a project party's budget. We can accept a higher proportion than 20 percent in case of special needs. You must then justify the need for this in proposal. This justification is taken into account in our 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 a direct result of but can be related to the project, for example 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.

For more detailed information about which costs we can finance, see Instructions for eligible costs

What eligibility requirements apply to costs we finance?

For a cost to be eligible, it must be:

• necessary for the activities in the project
• accounted for correctly and separately from the organisation's other costs.

An organisation may also not claim someone else's costs as its own.

For more detailed information on which eligibility requirements, limitations and exceptions apply, see Instructions for eligible costs

state aid rules govern how much of the costs we can finance. This is determined individually for each organisation. We therefore differentiate between how much funding the project can receive, and how much each participant can receive.

How much funding can the project receive?

A project can receive between 1 and 10 million SEK in funding, and a maximum of 50% of the project's total eligible costs. The total preliminary budget for the call for proposals is 30 million SEK.

How much funding can a participant receive?

How much funding each participant can receive depends mainly on:

• party size and activities
• which activities the party will carry out in the project.

Descriptions in the following sections about what support we can provide are simplified. For full details, see funding Criteria and Levels.

Support for companies conducting research and development

In this the call for proposals we provide support for industrial research or experimental development.

The nature of the projects is expected to meet the support basis Industrial research or the support basis Experimental development.

Industrial research can be simply described as seeking new knowledge through planned research or critical analysis to develop or significantly improve products, processes or services.

Experimental development can be simply described as combining, shaping and using existing knowledge to develop new or improved products, processes or services.

How much of the costs can we finance?

The organisation's size and type of activity determines how large a proportion of the costs we can finance, i.e. the maximum level of support.

Support for non-economic activities

In this the call for proposals we also provide support to organisations that do not engage in economic activities. This means that the organisation does not offer a service or product on a market. This usually includes universities and university colleges, research institutes and other organisations.

We can finance up to 100 percent of such an organization's costs.

How is it determined whether an organisation is engaged in economic activities?

An organisation that offers any kind of service or product on a market is considered to be conducting economic activities and cannot be granted this form of support. It does not matter how the organisation is financed: whether it is public or private, or whether it has a profit motive. It also does not matter what legal form the business has. For example, whether it is a limited liability company, a trading company, an economic association, a non-profit association or a foundation.

If you are unsure whether an organisation in your project is conducting economic activities, contact call manager. However, The organisation is responsible for assessing whether it is conducting economic activities.

In order for us to assess your proposal it must meet certain formal eligibility requirements. If the requirements are not met, we will reject proposal immediately.

Eligibility requirements for project parties

• All project partners must be legal entities. Natural persons or individual companies cannot participate.
• The coordinating party must be a Swedish legal entity and conduct activities in Sweden.
• At least two project partners, of which at least one is a company, must participate in the project. This includes the coordinating party.

Eligibility requirements for the project

• The project manager must be employed by the coordinating party in the project.
• The project may not begin before proposal is submitted.

Eligibility requirements on proposal

• Proposal must be written in Swedish or English.
• Proposal must follow the instructions given in section 9.
• Proposal must contain all requested attachments.

Applications that meet our eligibility requirements will proceed to assessment. In the assessment, we look at how much potential your idea has, how realistic it is and who will implement the project.

What do we assess?

When assessing applications, we look at three main criteria:

• Potential: We analyze what effects and what value we can expect from the project.
• Actors: We assess the participants' competence and ability to implement the project and achieve the desired results and effects.
• Feasibility: We assess how realistic and credible the project plan is, both for implementing the project and for achieving desired results.

Eftersom Vinnova is tasked with contributing to increased gender equality and climate change, and we always follow up and assess these perspectives.

Potential (Weight 40 percent)

• The project's potential to develop solutions, knowledge and expertise that produce real impacts in line with the call's aim, as described in section 2.
• How innovative the project proposal is in relation to existing solutions and ongoing major initiatives in the area.
• How likely it is that the project proposal will lead to new knowledge and new skills that can be used to scale up or implement new solutions that can impact Swedish industry.
• How well perspectives on sex, gender and climate change have been integrated into the project proposal, and what significance these have for the project's results.

Actors (Weight 30 percent)

• The project partners' competence, credibility and ability to implement the project.
• Fulfillment of the requirement that at least one participant is a demand owner from electricity-intensive industry.
• The ability of the project partners to disseminate, utilize, commercialize and further develop the results and knowledge generated in the project, both within their own the organisations and outside the consortium.
• How well the financial contribution, participation, power and influence are distributed in an equal manner in the project team.
• How well the need for consulting services and licenses is justified. This only applies if a project party's consulting and license costs exceed 20 percent of the project party's total budgeted costs.

Feasibility (Weight 30 percent)

• How well the project plan is judged to be able to realize a solution in accordance with the project proposal and whether the budget is judged to be reasonable.
• How credible the project plan's risk analysis and action plan for these risks are.
• How well the project plan shows how the results will be anchored and disseminated to important actors in the area.
• How good the conditions are for the project's results to be taken forward and be of benefit after the project ends, both for the project participants and for the rest of Swedish industry.

How do we assess?

Once we receive the applications, we review them. We screen out any applications that are incomplete or do not meet our eligibility requirements.

Applications that are correct and complete are distributed among different evaluator and assessed in competition with each other. The evaluators are appointed by us based on their expertise in the field. Each proposal is assessed by at least three evaluator.

Once the evaluators have reviewed the applications, we have an assessment meeting where the evaluators recommend which applications should be granted.

How does it affect an organization's financial status?

Before deciding on funding we also conduct a comprehensive assessment of the organizational and financial status of those receiving funding. We use information we obtain from credit reports, currently from Dun & Bradstreet.

In order for us to grant funding the following applies:

• Organisations seeking funding for payroll costs must be registered as employers with the Swedish Tax Agency.
• Organisations must not be insolvent, or undergoing liquidation or corporate restructuring. They must also not have any significant unpaid debts with the Swedish Enforcement Authority.
• Organisations may not cover project costs in this the call for proposals with public funding or own funds intended for other project.
• Limited liability companies must not have used up half or more of their share capital.
• If requested, SMEs must be able to demonstrate that they have the financial capacity to carry out the project according to their budget in proposal. Financial capacity refers to a registered turnover or available capital that corresponds to the company's total budgeted own funding of the project.

Once we have assessed all applications, we will send you a decision either granting or rejecting your proposal. Since applications are assessed competitively, you may be rejected even though you meet all eligibility requirements and criteria.

In the decision, we state how much of the costs we will cover for each organisation.

You cannot appeal our decision, but you are welcome to apply to us again at another time.

What happens if you are granted funding?

If we grant your proposal, you must follow our general terms and conditions for funding. The terms include, among other things:

• That you will sign a special document in which you approve your participation and commit to carrying out the project.
• That you report how things are going, your costs and achieved results to us regularly during the project period.
• If you are multiple parties, you must agree on your mutual rights and obligations in the project in an agreement. It can take time to get a project agreement in place, so it is a good idea to get this in place before the project starts.
• How the results will be used and how scientific publication will take place.

See our general terms and conditions and get help understanding and fulfilling them

You also need to follow the special conditions that apply to this the call for proposals:

• The project will, at the invitation of Avancerad Digitaliserings, program manager, participate in relevant events within the program and thus contribute to the dissemination of knowledge within Swedish industry in accordance with the program's aim.
• When providing information about the project and when publishing project results, state that the work was carried out with support from Vinnova within the Advanced digitalisationprogram. Publication refers to, for example, publication, regardless of medium and oral presentations. In English, the name Vinnova is rendered as Sweden's Innovation Agency.

We may also decide to add supplementary special conditions for individual project. In such cases, they will be stated in the decision.

Could you have to pay back funding?

If you have received more money than you are entitled to or if you do not follow our term, you may be required to repay.

When the call for proposals closes, your proposal will be registered as. We will then send an email confirmation to the person responsible for the user account, as well as to the project manager and the signatory. If you have not received a confirmation within 24 hours of the call for proposals closing, please contact us.

Once the call for proposals is closed, you cannot change anything in proposal. You can only make additions if we ask you to.

Who can read your proposal?

Your proposal will be read by Vinnova employees and the evaluator participating in this the call for proposals. Everyone works under a duty of confidentiality.

Applications submitted to us become public documents. This means that we must disclose them if requested. However, we keep certain types of information confidential if disclosure could be expected to cause financial harm to the individual. This applies to information about business and operational conditions, inventions or research results.

How we handle public documents and confidentiality