Impact Innovation: Change alliances for a reformed public sector in 2026

This offer provides support to change alliances where the public sector, together with other actors drives system change within one of SustainGov's three focus areas: complex care needs, inclusive society and food security.

Alliances for change should build on solid preparatory work with a network of actors who already have a good understanding of the system issues that affect different target groups. Alliances for change are expected to develop a common system capability that creates value for residents' health and well-being, and develop and implement interventions that change the conditions of the system.

The grant can amount to a maximum of SEK 10 million, and a maximum of 60 percent of the total eligible costs. The project may last for a maximum of 3 years and must start in November 2026.

A change alliance is a long-term effort that should have the ambition to work for lasting system shifts even after the three-year project period.

This call for proposals is carried out within the framework of the SustainGov program, part of Impact Innovation – an initiative of the Swedish Energy Agency, Formas and Vinnova. The call for proposals aims to contribute to SustainGov's mission to better promote health and well-being for all residents.

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 have achieved 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 sustainable transformation within the planet's boundaries.

A reformed public sector with a systems approach

To achieve the program's mission, the public sector needs to move from simply doing things right to doing the right things. The following shifts are considered central to achieving SustainGov's mission:

• From reactive to proactive – shift focus from only dealing with problems when they arise to anticipating and preventing them. This enables more sustainable and efficient use of resources.
• 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.
• 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 truly contribute to societal development.
• 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.

With these starting points, SustainGov intends to contribute to long-term shifts in how the public sector works and co-creates value for society and its residents.

Program focus areas

This call for proposals covers three of SustainGov's four focus areas:

1. System-wide collaboration for complex care needs. Residents with complex care needs, which account for a large part of healthcare costs, are currently faced with fragmented systems and a lack of coordination. This creates quality deficiencies, inefficient use of resources and inequality. To meet the needs of the future, a renewed and collaborative public sector is required, where the individual's health and long-term well-being are at the center.
2. An inclusive society for all. Today, there are groups in society that face significant obstacles to fully participating in society. Structural problems, lack of a holistic perspective and lack of coordination between public actors to meet the actual needs of the individual exacerbate exclusion. A more inclusive society requires joint efforts from the public sector that address fundamental causes and strengthen individuals' opportunities for participation and co-creation.
3. Future-proof food supply for health and well-being. Sweden faces major challenges with a vulnerable food system, while climate change and unhealthy eating habits affect both the environment and public health. A future-proof food supply requires long-term solutions that strengthen preparedness, reduce environmental impact and ensure access to nutritious and affordable food for all. The public sector has a key role in the transition, but the work is hampered by fragmented governance and complex conflicts of objectives.

More information about SustainGov

For further information about SustainGov's focus areas and the efforts the program is implementing to achieve systemic changes in the public sector, see the SustainGov website. There is also a page with information about the project that have been granted in previous calls for proposals.

More information about Impact innovation

Impact Innovation is Sweden's major innovation initiative to tackle the challenges of our time and the future. In collaborations between actors in the private, public and non-profit organisations Impact Innovation meets real technical and societal needs with groundbreaking solutions. On the way to a sustainable and competitive Sweden, attractive to live in for everyone. Together we show what is possible, and are ahead internationally.

Impact Innovation works with new methods, approaches and tools to meet societal needs with groundbreaking solutions. More information about mission-oriented working methods and concepts such as systems innovation can be found at Impact Campus.

Change Alliance within SustainGov – new role for the public sector

Responsibilities, resources and mandates in the public sector are divided between state, region and municipality, and between different sectors. This can lead to separate working methods and make it difficult to deal with issues that require joint efforts with business and civil society.

When no one has overall responsibility, important needs risk not being captured, costs are shifted between actors and measures become fragmented. Different objective, compensation systems and the logics of individual professions also make it difficult to jointly manage complex problems.

Therefore, collaboration – not just collaboration – is required between all levels. That is, several independent actors coordinate and integrate their efforts to act together and solve problems that no one can handle alone. Alliances for Change are an effort to make this possible.

A change alliance should be based on solid preparatory work with a network of actors who already have a good understanding of the systemic issues that affect designated target groups within one of SustainGov's three focus areas: complex care needs, inclusive societyor food security.

A change alliance should contribute in two closely related ways:

1. Build joint system capabilities to create value for designated target groups.
   This means that the change alliance works from a shared understanding of how the system works today. The focus is on identifying obstacles to interaction, clarifying who can influence what and creating access to the forums and decision-making spaces where changes can be implemented. The change alliance will also connect and strengthen initiatives that already exist and act with a systems perspective that extends beyond the organisation's own boundaries.
2. Develop and implement initiatives that change the system's conditions.
   Based on the current state of knowledge and the prioritized obstacles that have been identified, the change alliance will focus its efforts on measures that can create lasting and systemic improvements. This includes identifying, adapting, implementing and scaling practical solutions and initiatives that collectively increase the system's value creation. These solutions and initiatives should be able to be put into use in regular activities and contribute to more coordinated and long-term sustainable working methods.

Together, this means that a change alliance both builds capacity for system transformation and drives the changes required for the system's actors to better promote health and well-being for the designated target group.

In addition, a change alliance needs to have the capacity to:

• in the organizational gaps that contribute to the system problems, implement or scale up solutions that generate positive effects for the designated target group,
• establish a systems view in the institutions, forms of governance and regulations that shape the scope for action of the project partners and other actors, since these structures are crucial for how the system functions,
• within its part of a focus area, drive a development that increases the public sector's capacity to handle complex societal challenges and lays the foundation for cross-border cooperation.
• work transparently, methodically developing and learning in a way that benefits the entire SustainGov programme and new project or initiatives that arise in the alliance's vicinity or as a result of its work.

Change alliances are a long-term effort that should have the ambition to work for lasting system shifts even after the three-year project period.

Part of a larger effort

The offer on Alliances of Change is part of a larger effort with several calls for proposals. Within this effort there is also the opportunity to seek support for:

Preparatory project – mobilize, identify, analyze and begin addressing system issues. Lay the foundation for cross-border proposals for testing and development at a later stage.

Implementation projects – develop, test and further develop new ways of organizing, financing, governing and working within the public sector and between sectors.

The three project types are planned to recur annually.

Learning and exchange of experiences

SustainGov is actively working with its project portfolio to enable learning between project, program offices and other system actors. A change alliance is expected to contribute to this learning process by actively participating in forums for exchange of experiences.

A special process and method support focusing on the conditions for scaling up and reusing system innovation is planned from SustainGov. A change alliance is also expected to contribute to this support.

Each change alliance needs to allocate at least 150 hours per year to participation in these and other joint activities within SustainGov.

Contribute to a sustainable system transformation

Impact Innovation will contribute to global competitiveness through transformation for sustainable development in line with the UN's global sustainability goals, defined in the 2030 Agenda.

An innovative force in a sustainable world

Equal funding of innovations

Your project should integrate gender equality both in how your project team is composed and how you implement the project. This means that you need to:

• take into account the gender distribution within the project team
• assess whether aspects of sex and gender are relevant to the design of the project, and if so, in what way.

By integrating different perspectives, more inclusive and relevant solutions are developed. This strengthens both the innovation capacity and the project's results.

Gender equality as a tool for innovative social development

Free access to scientific publications and results

Results from research and innovation that are made freely available increase the opportunity for more people to contribute to solutions to societal challenges. This the call for proposals will contribute to making more results freely available to everyone. Therefore, all scientific publishing should be open access.

The project must be conducted jointly by at least five participants, of which at least three are stakeholders in the public sector and represent all three levels of government (local, regional or national).

The coordinating participant must be a public sector need owner, such as municipality, association of municipalities, association of municipalities, region or state public authority. Universities and publicly owned companies cannot be coordinating participant.

We would like the approved projects to include a broad range of public actors from across the country, including both large and small municipalities and organisations from different parts of the country.

In addition, other relevant actors from civil society, universities, university colleges or companies should participate as participants or in the role of other stakeholders in a reference group or similar.

We have identified that the following types of actors can be crucial for successful implementation:

• Stakeholders – municipalities, municipal associations, municipal associations, regions, government agencies. These represent the organisation that is expected to implement a solution and thereby improve the system's results. We would like to see universities and publicly owned companies participate as participants but do not count them as stakeholders here.
• Enablers in the public sector – normative or governing organisations and functions, for example administrative managers, lawyers, economists, controllers, management strategists who have the ability to interpret, adapt or change the system's conditions.
• Users or recipients – those affected by the solutions, from residents in general to more specific groups such as users, clients, patients or customers.
• Perspective providers – for example, universities and institutes with expert knowledge, business and non-profit organisations. These can contribute new ways of thinking, good knowledge of current challenges and suggestions for how initiatives can be further developed in another context.
• Border crossers – actors with a systems perspective and expertise in systems analysis, design methodology, innovation management, facilitation, communication, etc. that contribute to active action, implementation and system movement.

What activities do we want to finance?

Alliances for Change is an initiative that aims to develop into SustainGov's national flagship. They will create lasting effects linked to a chosen focus area, systemic problem and target group.

Below are suggestions for activities that can be included in change alliances:

• Combine existing knowledge and skills to develop new or improved ways of working in the public sector.
• Adapt and further develop innovative solutions that have been reused, combined or scaled from your own or others' organisations or businesses.
• Scale, distribute and implement improved processes and services that strengthen the system's ability to create value for the target group.
• Demonstrate and validate new ways of working in operations to understand how they work in actual organizational and institutional conditions.
• Identify and test ways to remove system barriers through joint experiments across organizational boundaries.
• Develop guidelines, methods or models so that innovative solutions can be scaled both nationally and internationally, and used by more stakeholders in the public sector.
• Develop new knowledge and capacity for long-term change work – with a focus on solutions that provide concrete value for residents.
• Create and use common arenas where actors with mandates can make decisions, manage obstacles, and drive long-term system shifts.
• Actively contribute to SustainGov's shared learning and experience exchange.

Subsequent effort

A change alliance is a long-term effort that will continue to operate and develop over a considerable period of time, even after the project ends in 2029. This may involve a targeted or open call for proposals, or an extension, of the change alliances funded in this call for proposals.

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: Gross salary paid, employer contributions and other salary-related costs.
• Equipment, land and buildings: Costs for instruments, equipment and rent for premises other than regular business premises.
• Consulting and licensing costs: Costs for consulting services, knowledge and patents purchased or licensed from external parties. These costs may not exceed 20 percent of an organization's budget.
  In case of special needs, for example if the project requires specialist expertise, we can accept a higher percentage. This must be justified in proposal, and the justification will be taken into account in our assessment.
• Other direct costs: Costs for, for example, materials, supplies and travel that are necessary to carry out the project.
• Indirect costs (overhead):Costs that are linked to the project but are not directly incurred, such as premises and cleaning. Indirect costs may not exceed 30 percent of salary costs. Universities, university colleges, research organizations and government agencies may have higher permitted levels, depending on 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 your costs to be eligible for support, the following applies:

• They must be factual, reasonable and necessary for the activities in the project.
• They must be booked correctly and under a separate project code in the accounting. You may not cover project costs with other public funding or your own funds intended for other project.
• You may not claim someone else's expenses as your own.

For more detailed information about which eligibility requirements, limitations and exclusions apply, see our general terms and conditions.

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 a participating organisation can receive.

How much funding can the project receive?

The grant can amount to a maximum of SEK 10 million, and a maximum of 60 percent of the project's total eligible costs.

The project that are financed may last for a maximum of 36 months and must start no later than November 20, 2026.

How much funding can a participating organisation receive?

The amount of funding a participating organisation can receive depends primarily on:

• the organisation's size and activities
• what activities the organisation 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 universities, university colleges and other public organisations with non-economic activities

We provide support to organisations that do not engage in economic activities. This means that the organisation does not offer a service or product to a market. This usually includes universities and university colleges, research institutes and other public 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.

Minor Support for businesses

We can provide de minimis support, also known as support of minor importance. We can fund up to 100 percent of an organization's costs.

An organisation can receive a maximum of 300,000 euros over a three-year period in this form of support, regardless of the funder and project. This means that if the same organisation has received support of lesser importance in other project from other funders in the past, it will affect how large the support can be in this the call for proposals.

Submit a certificate of de minimis support when you submit proposal. This is required for us to be able to grant this support.

Certificate of de minimis support

Support for companies for research and development

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

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 the proportion of costs that we can finance. This is called the maximum support level.

Situations where we finance a higher proportion

If the project is covered by any of these bonus bases, we can finance a higher proportion of the costs.

• Actual cooperation: Some level of cooperation between small and larger companies, between companies in two different European countries or between research organisations and companies
• Dissemination of results: Extensive dissemination through, for example, conferences or open databases.
• Another bonus basis.

An organisation seeking support in its economic activities, and which has not attached a de minimis certificate, can be granted funding with the support basis Experimental development. The activities that the organisation will carry out in the project must then correspond to Experimental development as defined in art. 25, see Support bases and support levels for funding.

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 on participants

• All participating organisations must be legal entities. Individuals or sole proprietorships cannot participate.
• Participant seeking funding must be Swedish legal entities. In this regard, a Swedish legal entity is considered to be a foreign organisation that has a branch or establishment in Sweden.
• The coordinating project party must be a Swedish municipality, association of municipalities, municipal association, region or state public authority. Universities and publicly owned companies cannot be coordinating participant.
• At least five participants must participate in the project. This includes the coordinating party.
• At least three of the project partners must belong to one of the following categories:
  • Municipality
  • Local government association
  • Municipal Association
  • Region
  • State public authority
• All three levels of government should be represented among the project partners:
  • Municipality
  • Region
  • State public authority
• The project manager must be employed by one of the project parties.

Eligibility requirements for the project

• The project may apply for a maximum of SEK 10 million in funding.
• The requested grant from Vinnova should amount to a maximum of 60% of the project's total eligible costs according to the budget in proposal.
• The project must start no earlier than November 6, 2026 and no later than November 20, 2026 and the project duration must be a maximum of 36 months.
• The project may not begin before you have submitted your proposal.

Eligibility requirements on proposal

• Proposal must be written in Swedish or English.
• Proposal should follow the instructions under the heading “ How to apply”.
• 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 four main criteria:

• Relevance: We assess how relevant the project proposal is to SustainGov's mission and focus areas.
• 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.

Relevance

• How relevant the proposal for a change alliance is to SustainGov's mission and chosen focus area.

Potential

• How great potential the change alliance has to contribute to lasting systemic change within any of the three focus areas described in section 2.
• How likely it is that the change alliance will lead to new knowledge and new skills that are implemented and sustainably change the core business and spread to others.
• To what extent does proposal take into account a current systemic problem and the current state of knowledge linked to the results that the change alliance is expected to achieve?
• How innovative and ambitious the change alliance is in relation to existing solutions and ongoing major initiatives in the area.
• How well-established the change alliance is among decision-makers in applicant organisations.

Actors

• To what extent the parties in the change alliance together have the resources and capacity to implement long-term relocations.
• The extent to which the project manager and other key individuals have the skills and shared ability to carry out the planned work.
• To what extent does the change alliance and actor constellation build on previous activities and results.
• How well the financial contribution, participation, power and influence are distributed equally between women and men in the project team.

Feasibility

• How well the project plan and budget are assessed to be able to realize an appropriate solution in accordance with the project proposal.
• How credible the project plan's risk analysis and action plan for these risks are.
• How well relevant actors, including target groups, in the system are involved in the implementation.
• How good the conditions are for the project's results to be further developed, scaled up and disseminated.
• How well the need for consulting services and licenses is justified. This only applies if an organization's budget includes more than 20 percent consulting and license costs.

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. Supplementary interviews may be required before we make a decision.

In addition to assessing the quality of each application, in this the call for proposals we aim to achieve a spread of the approved projects between SustainGov's three focus areas. We expect to fund 1-3 change alliances per focus area.

How does it affect an organization's financial status?

Before we decide on funding we also conduct a comprehensive assessment of the organizational and financial status of those receiving funding.

We use information we receive from credit reports, currently from Dun & Bradstreet. We may also ask small and medium-sized businesses to demonstrate that they have the financial capacity to carry out the project.

In our assessment we check this:

• That organisations that are granted funding for payroll costs are registered as employers with the Swedish Tax Agency. If such registration does not exist when we make a decision, you must be able to show that a notification has been made. We do not approve retroactive registration.
• That organisations is not insolvent, or undergoing liquidation or corporate restructuring. You must also not have any significant unpaid debts with the Swedish Enforcement Authority.
• That the project manager is employed by the coordinating party in the project.
• That the limited liability company has not used up half or more of its share capital.

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 should report how things are going, your costs and achieved results to us during the project period.
• If you are several parties, you must have a written project agreement that regulates your mutual rights and obligations in the project. The project parties must have entered into the project agreement no later than the day on which the first progress report is to be received by Vinnova. Since it can take time to develop and negotiate an agreement, we recommend that you start with this as soon as possible.
• How the results will be used.

See our general terms and conditions

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

• The Change Alliance shall allocate at least 150 hours per year to participation in joint forums for learning and exchange of experiences within SustainGov.
• The Change Alliance must be represented by at least one participant at the conferences and other activities organized within the program, approximately one to two times per year. The costs for such participation are eligible for support.
• The Change Alliance will maintain a continuous dialogue with the SustainGov program office throughout the duration of the project.
• When providing information about the change alliance and when publishing project results, it must be stated that the work was carried out within Impact Innovation-programmet SustainGov – an initiative of the Swedish Energy Agency, Formas and Vinnova.
• In connection with the final reporting of the project, a summary of the project results must be sent to the SustainGov program office according to the template available at impactinnovation.se. This summary must be freely distributed and published on the websites of the Swedish Energy Agency, Forma, Vinnova, Impact Innovations and the program office. The summary must not contain confidential or otherwise sensitive information.

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 liable for repayment.

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.

Public documents and confidentiality