Impact Innovation - Relationships for future research expertise

This the call for proposals is part of a strategic effort to develop the role of PhD students in the metal and mineral industry. The goal is to get a long-term useful model for how Sweden strengthens, integrates and develops doctoral students as future key players in the metal and mineral industry's knowledge and innovation system. The model will give doctoral students a holistic understanding of the value chain and the interaction between industry and society. It will also strengthen the exchange of knowledge between doctoral students, increase understanding of the industry's challenges and needs, and broaden their insight into how different perspectives are connected in the transition towards a sustainable and resilient metal and mineral supply.

The strategic effort is intended to consist of a project with an actor constellation consisting of at least 10 participants. In order to give the project the breadth required to achieve the purpose of the initiative, the actor constellation should include at least 4 higher education institutions that conduct doctoral education in relevant areas, as well as industrial actors that well reflects the metal and mineral industry's value chain. Only legal entities can be participants. 

The call for proposals is implemented within the framework of the Impact Innovation program Swedish Metals & Minerals.  

Funding can be granted with a maximum of 80 percent of the project's total eligible cost and a maximum of SEK 12 million.

This the call for proposals is part of a strategic effort where a project will develop the role of PhD students in the metal and mineral industry. The goal is to get a long-term useful model for how Sweden strengthens, integrates and develops doctoral students as future key players in the metal and mineral industry's knowledge and innovation system. The model will be based on tested and evaluated tools aimed at strengthening doctoral students' relationships with each other, industry and society.

The project will document and disseminate methods and results and investigate the possibilities for long-term management of the model. The intended recipients of the results are research funding authorities, higher education institutions, companies and organisations in the sector's ecosystem that can use the model in future project and educational initiatives.

The model needs to give doctoral students both an understanding of how the value chain is connected and a sense of how industry interacts with the places and communities where it is located. The doctoral students will develop a broader understanding of how industry, environmental issues, digitalisation and societal development are linked in the transition to a sustainable and resilient metal and mineral supply. The initiative should also help doctoral students gain insight into what it means to live and work in the regions where the metal and mineral industry is located.

The project should contribute to answering these questions:

• What types of activities and working methods have the greatest effect on skills supply?
• How can relationships and learning between doctoral students, industry and society create long-term benefits within, but also outside, the direct value chain?
• What factors determine whether knowledge and skills remain in Sweden and contribute to the continued development of the metal and mineral industry?

To fulfill the purpose, a joint testing and learning process is required that spans several fields of knowledge, disciplines and stakeholder groups. The methods and structures that are developed are expected to live on after the end of the project. Overall, the initiative creates a joint effort that strengthens and complements other program activities within Swedish Metals & Minerals. For more information see the website for Swedish Metals & Minerals.

What is the project expected to result in?

The project is expected to meet the following result targets:

• A model or method for organising and scaling up a national sector-specific doctoral initiative. The model will strengthen research students' contacts, system understanding and insight into the industry's role in the transition. Relevant parts of the model or method must have been tested and at least partially evaluated.
• Improved and documented relationships between doctoral students, industry and society, both between individuals and between organisations.
• Preliminary proposals for tools, formats and recommendations for future initiatives.
• Documented experiences, guidelines and examples of effective activity types.
• Preliminary proposals for long-term ownership, funding and management of the model after the implementation of the initiative.
• Reported impact on networks and understanding of industry and society needs as well as hypotheses about effects on doctoral students' employability.
• An analysis of responsible internationalisation and research safety, policy and legislation, and risk-based practical management. On behalf of the Government, the Swedish Research Council and Vinnova have produced indicative national guidelines for a responsible internationalisation.

The assignment with the initiative is long-term. This the call for proposals applies to the funding of a project with an execution time of up to four years. After the end of the project, further funding can be considered in aim to build on the project's results and, among other things, achieve the delivery of a fully developed and evaluated model.  The actor constellation granted to funding by this the call for proposals may be offered a new funding, depending on how well it delivers towards the performance targets of this call for proposals.

Compared funding of innovations

The action shall integrate gender equality both in the composition of the project organisation and in the implementation of the project. This means that you need to

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

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

Gender equality as a tool for innovative social development

How the call for proposals contributes to Swedish Metals & Minerals objective

Access to competence is crucial for a continued competitive Swedish metal and mineral industry. The Impact Innovation program Swedish Metals & Minerals implements, and will implement, initiatives aimed at identified challenges in the area of skills supply.

Swedish Metals & Minerals has identified a need to complement the program's efforts with a long-term useful model for how Sweden strengthens, integrates and develops doctoral students as future key players in the metal and mineral industry's knowledge and innovation system. This is a system-wide issue that goes beyond individual needs and individual research and innovation projects.

Skills needs span the entire value chain – from exploration to recycling – and require collaboration between multiple fields of knowledge and stakeholder groups. Today's research training and industrial collaboration often take place in separate initiatives, which means that systematically collected experiences about which forms of collaboration actually have an effect are lacking. In order to achieve the programme’s mission of ‘enabling a sustainable and resilient supply of metals and minerals for the transformation of society’, a deeper understanding of how future excellence is shaped in the meeting between academia, industry and society is needed.

Metal and mineral industries are looking for new ways to

• strengthen the link between research and industrial needs for increased societal benefit.
• deepen the understanding of industry’s role in the climate transition.
• give doctoral students the opportunity to collaborate and communicate across disciplines and sector boundaries.

Many doctoral students spend a large part of their time in defined academic environments. They therefore have limited direct contact areas with doctoral students in other research environments and with industry, with its challenges and conditions.

There is therefore a clear need for an intervention that develops a model with methods and structures to strengthen relations, for example between:

• doctoral student - doctoral student; to build knowledge sharing, collegial learning environments and attractive research environments.
• doctoral student – industry; to increase understanding of industry challenges, enable future recruitment and strengthen industry access to the research frontier.
• doctoral student - society; to develop decision-making skills and understanding of existing and future actors within government agencies, academia and the innovation system.

The initiative contributes to the programme's mission by strengthening skills supply, attractiveness and knowledge flows, which are crucial prerequisites for the Swedish metal and mineral industry to remain a strong enabler for society's transition.

Impact Innovation – Sweden's major innovation initiative

This call for proposals is implemented within the framework of the Swedish Metals & Minerals programme, part of Impact Innovation – an initiative by the Swedish Energy Agency, Formas and Vinnova.

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

Impact Innovation will contribute to a sustainable transition for global competitiveness and societal benefits in line with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, defined in Agenda 2030.

About Impact Innovation

The operation shall be carried out by an actor constellation consisting of at least 10 participants, one of which is the coordinating participant (coordinator). All participants participate actively in the implementation of the project and share risks.

Relations for future research expertise concern results along the entire value chain. Examples of relevant actors could be:

• academy
• research institutes
• mining companies
• mining technology companies
• steel companies
• aluminium companies
• foundries
• customers of steel, aluminium and foundry companies
• public actors within the innovation system
• regional development actors, including organisations working with placeattractiveness and establishment issues

To give the project the breadth needed to achieve the purpose of the initiative, the actor constellation should contain at least 4 higher education institutions, such as participants. Higher education institutions shall conduct postgraduate education in relevant areas. Industrial actors will also be included as participants, which well reflects the metal and mineral industry's value chain. The expectation is that relevant actors finds each other and creates a broad actor constellation in a project, instead of smaller constellations competing with each other in several project proposals.

Organisations can contribute to the effort in other ways than by being participant, for example as a subcontractor or as a member of the reference group or equivalent. Participation in ways other than formal participant may be valuable but does not count towards the requirement of at least 10 participants.

We fund activities that contribute to building, testing and establishing a model to strengthen relationships between doctoral students, industry and society over time. The activities will contribute to a better understanding of the effects that different forms of collaboration have on these relationships.

The activities will be designed so that the doctoral students develop a broader understanding of how industry, environmental issues, digitalisation and social development are linked in the transition. Activities may include, but are not limited to,

• designing and testing concrete tools aimed at strengthening the relationships between doctoral students, industry and society over time.
• analysing the results of the tools and drawing conclusions on the extent to which they strengthen the relationships between doctoral students, industry and society and are relevant to include in the model.
• carry out evaluations of effects in relation to the aim of strengthening, integrating and developing doctoral students as future key players in the knowledge and innovation system of the metal and mineral industry. Examples of effects to investigate could be the extent to which the tools affect the doctoral students' employability, networks and understanding of the needs of industry and society.
• compile and document experiences and examples of effective activity types.
• design a methodological description containing, for example, guidelines, tools, formats and recommendations.
• disseminate information about results and method.
• develop and anchor a plan for long-term management of the model.

The project should be based on the established state of knowledge about how efforts to strengthen doctoral students and research environments are best designed. This means that the project will

• be based on research and documented experiences of postgraduate education, mobility between academia, industry and society, as well as competence provision in technology-heavy industries.
• take advantage of lessons learned from previous national and international initiatives with a similar focus.
• clearly identify which methods, formats and collaboration models have already shown good effect and further develop them where there is potential.

Search research can be usefully linked to the project to ensure learning and method development.

What costs can Vinnova finance?

Vinnova's funding be subject to rules about state aid. The rules govern the types of costs that can be financed. These are called eligible costs.

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

• Remuneration costs: Gross wages and salaries paid, employer's contributions and other non-wage labour costs.
• Equipment, land and buildings: Costs of instruments, equipment and rent for premises other than ordinary business premises.
• Consultancy and licensing costs: costs of consultancy services, knowledge and patents purchased or used under licence from an external actor; These costs may not exceed 20% of an organisation's budget. In case of special needs, for example if the project requires specialist expertise, Vinnova can accept a higher proportion. You should then justify this in your proposal, and the justification is taken into account in the assessment.
• Other direct costs: Costs such as materials, supplies and travel necessary to carry out the project.
• Indirect costs (overheads): Costs linked to the project but not directly incurred, such as premises and cleaning. Indirect costs may not exceed 30% of wage costs. Universities, university colleges, research organisations and government agencies may have higher permitted levels, depending on activities.

For more detailed information on what costs Vinnova can finance, see Instructions to eligible costs

What eligibility requirements applies to costs that Vinnova finances?

For your costs to be eligible, this applies, among other things:

• They must be actual, reasonable and necessary for the activities in the project.
• They must be recorded correctly and on a separate project code in the accounts. You may not cover project costs with other public funding or own funds intended for other project.
• A organisation may not include other organisation's costs as its own.

For more detailed information on which eligibility requirements, restrictions and exceptions apply, see Vinnovas general terms and conditions.

The rules on state aid determine how much of the costs Vinnova can finance. This is determined individually for each organisation. Vinnova therefore distinguishes between how big the funding project can get, and how much each participating organisation can get.

How big funding can the project get?

Funding can be granted with a maximum of 80 percent of the project's total eligible cost and a maximum of SEK 12 million.

How big funding can a participating organisation get?

How big funding a participating organisation can get 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 which support can be given are simplified. For full details, see Grounds and support rates for funding.

Support to universities, university colleges and other public organisations

In this the call for proposals, Vinnova gives support to organisations not engaged in economic activities. This means that the organisation does not offer a service or product on a market. This usually includes universities, research institutes and other public organisations.

This aid is not covered by the State aid rules. Vinnova can therefore finance up to 100 per cent of such an organisation's costs. The aid is often referred to as ‘not state aid’.

How is it determined whether a organisation engages in economic activities?

A organisation offering any kind of service or product on a market is considered to engage in 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 is profit-making. Nor does it matter what legal form the activity takes. For example, whether it is a limited liability company, a partnership, an economic association, a non-profit association or a foundation.

If a organisation conducts economic activities is determined by their ordinary activities, not by the activities of the project.

Some organisations conducts both economic and non-economic activities, such as research institutes. Then it is important that you know in which of these activities you apply.

Are you unsure if a organisation in your project conducts economic activities, please contact call manager. However, The organisation itself is responsible for assessing whether it conducts economic activities.

Support of minor importance to companies

In this the call for proposals, Vinnova can provide de minimis support, also called support of minor importance. Vinnova can finance up to 100 percent of an organization's costs.

A organisation can receive a maximum of 300,000 euros over a three-year period in this form of support, regardless of the financier and project. This means that if the same organisation received support of minor importance in other project from other financiers earlier, it will affect how large the support can be in this the call for proposals.

Submit a certificate of de-minimum support when you submit proposal. It is required for Vinnova to grant this support.

Certificate of de minimis-support

For Vinnova to assess your proposal, it must meet certain formal eligibility requirements requirements. If the requirements are not met, proposal.

Eligibility requirements on participants

• All participating organisations shall be legal entities. Natural persons or sole proprietorships cannot participate.
• The coordinating party must be a Swedish legal entity and operate activities in Sweden
• At least 10 participants must participate in the project. This includes the coordinating party. Different parts of a organisation are the same legal entity and count as a participant, for example, two departments of a university.
• Also foreign legal entities can participate. However, foreign actors receiving funding from Vinnova must have a branch or establishment in Sweden, and the costs must be incurred at the branch or establishment.

Eligibility requirements on the project

• The project may apply for a maximum of SEK 12 million.
• The project must start on 11 November 2026 and end on 31 October 2030.
• The project must not have started before you submitted your proposal.

Eligibility requirements on proposal

• Proposal must be written in Swedish or English.
• Proposal must follow the instructions under the heading "How to apply".
• Proposal must contain all required mandatory appendices.

Applications that meet the requirements will be sent to assessment. It assesses how big potential your idea has, how realistic it is and who will implement the project.

Vinnova also looks at how well your project integrates gender equality, both in how your project group is composed and how you implement the project. By integrating gender and gender perspectives, more inclusive and relevant solutions are developed. It strengthens both the innovation capacity and the results of the project.

Gender equality as a tool for innovative societal development

What does Vinnova assess?

The assessment of applications is made according to three main criteria:

• Potential: What effects and what value can be expected from the project.
• Implementability: How realistic and credible the project plan is, both to implement the project and to achieve the desired results.
• Actors: Deltagarnas kompetens och förmåga att genomföra projektet och nå önskade results och effekter.

Potential

• Hur stor potential projektförslaget har att uppnå insatsens resultatmål och bidra till syftet med the call for proposals, enligt avsnitt 2.
• Hur sannolikt det är att projektförslaget leder till ny kunskap och nya färdigheter som kan användas till uppskalning eller implementering av en nationell sektorsspecifik doktorandsatsning.
• Hur väl projektförslaget utgår från det etablerade kunskapsläget kring hur relevanta satsningar utformas.
• Hur väl projektet säkerställer lärande och metodutveckling, enligt avsnitt 4.
• Hur väl projektförslaget bidrar till ökad gender equality genom att integrera perspektiv kring kön och genus.

Genomförbarhet

• Hur väl projektplanen och budgeten bedöms vara i linje med projektförslagets objective.
• Hur goda förutsättningarna är för att projektets results tas vidare och kommer till användning efter projektets slut.
• Hur väl projektplanen visar på hur resultaten kommer att förankras och spridas till viktiga actors inom området.
• Hur väl proposal identifierar risker i genomförandet samt beskriver en lämplig plan för hantering av dessa risker.
• Hur väl perspektiv kring kön och genus har integrerats i projektplanen.
• Hur väl behovet av konsulttjänster och licenser motiveras för eventuella participants vars budget innehåller mer än 20 procent konsult- och licenskostnader.

Actors

• Hur väl aktörkonstellationens sammansättning avspeglar den bredd som the call for proposals efterfrågar, enligt avsnitt 3.
• Hur goda förutsättningar aktörskonstellationen bedöms ha att genomföra projektet samt säkerställa användning och nyttiggörande av projektets results.
• Hur goda förutsättningar projektledaren och andra nyckelpersoner bedöms ha att leda och genomföra projektet.
• I vilken grad kvinnor och män på ett jämställt sätt tar del av bidraget, deltar i, samt har makt och inflytande över projektet.

Hur bedöms ansökningar?

När Vinnova har fått in ansökningarna granskas de. Applications that are incomplete or do not meet the requirements will be rejected.

The applications that are correct and complete are distributed among different external evaluator and assessed in competition with each other. The evaluators is appointed on the basis of their expertise in the field.

The external assessors' overall assessment results in a recommendation to Vinnova on which applications should be granted.

How does an organization's financial status affect?

Before Vinnova decides whether funding is also made an overall assessment of the organizational and financial status of those who are relevant to funding.

Vinnova uses information from credit reports, currently from Dun & Bradstreet.

In the assessment, this is checked:

• Organisations granted funding for wage costs must be registered as an employer with the Swedish Tax Agency. If such a registration does not exist when Vinnova makes a decision, you must be able to show that a notification has been made. Vinnova does not approve retroactive registration.
• Organisations shall not be insolvent, or undergo liquidation or company reorganisation. Nor shall they have unpaid debts of significance to the Swedish Enforcement Authority.
• The project leader shall be employed by a participant, preferably the coordinating party.
• Shareholders shall not have used up half or more of their share capital.

Vinnova may also ask small and medium-sized enterprises to show that they have financial cover to carry out the project.

Based on the assessors' recommendation and Vinnova's assessment of financial status, Vinnova makes decisions on which applications are granted funding and which are rejected. This decision cannot be appealed.

Vinnova notifies the coordinating project party of the decision. If proposal is granted, the decision states how much of the costs Vinnova covers for each organisation.

As the applications are assessed in competition, you may be rejected even if you meet all eligibility requirements and criteria.

What if you are granted funding?

If your proposal is granted, you must comply with both Vinnova's general terms and conditions for funding and the special conditions that apply to Impact Innovation's calls for proposals.

Vinnova's general terms and conditions

The general conditions include this:

• To sign a special document in which you approve your participation and undertake to carry out the project.
• To report your progress, your costs and achieved results to us during the project period.
• Are you several parties, you must have a written project agreement that regulates your mutual rights and obligations in the project. All parties must sign the agreement before submitting your first progress report. As it may take time to develop and negotiate an agreement, Vinnova recommends that you start with this as soon as possible.
• How to use the results and that scientific publication should take place with open access so that the results are made freely available to everyone.

See our general terms and conditions

Impact Innovations special conditions

Because the call for proposals is part of the Impact Innovation initiative, these special conditions:

• At least one participant should represent the project at Swedish Metals & Minerals conferences and activities, estimated to be once or twice a year. Your costs for such participation are eligible.
• You must maintain a continuous dialogue with the Swedish Metals & Minerals programme office throughout the project. This includes separate reporting to the NA during the implementation of the project, and that the project is assigned a contact person at the NA who assists the project and follows it on behalf of the programme.
• When information or results from the project is shared, it must be stated that the work has been carried out within the Impact Innovation program Swedish Metals & Minerals, an initiative of the Swedish Energy Agency, Formas and Vinnova.
• When you report to Vinnova, you must also send a summary of the project results to the NA for Swedish Metals & Minerals. See template on Impact Innovation website. The summary shall be freely disseminated and shall not contain confidential or sensitive information.

Vinnova may also decide to add additional special conditions for individual project. If so, they are set out in the decision.

Can you have to repay funding?

If you have received more money than you are entitled to or if you do not follow Vinnova's term, you may be liable to repay.

When the call for proposals closes, your proposal will be registered. Then Vinnova sends an e-mail confirmation to the person responsible for the user account and to the project manager and company signatory for the coordinating project party. If you have not received a confirmation within 24 hours after the call for proposals closed, please contact Vinnova.

When the call for proposals closed, you can not change anything in proposal. Then you can only supplement if Vinnova asks for it.

Who can read you proposal?

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

Applications submitted to Vinnova become public documents. This means that Vinnova must disclose them if requested. But Vinnova keeps certain types of information confidential if it can be assumed that it will cause economic damage to the individual if it is disclosed. This applies to information about business and operational conditions, inventions or research results.

Documents you send to Swedish Metals & Minerals are not covered by Vinnova's provisions on confidentiality. Therefore, they should not contain confidential or sensitive information.

General documents and confidentiality