Impact Innovations acceleration pot: Experiment, work and explore, spring 2026

The acceleration pot is for actors who are participant in a program office in the Impact Innovation initiative, together with other actors that the program offices intend to collaborate with. The purpose is to stimulate the program offices' work for system transformation and further drive the work in line with the programs' missions.

The ambition is to give the program offices the opportunity to experiment, work and explore in short and thematically limited project in order to translate the learning into initiatives and activities that accelerate the work towards the program's objective and missions.

The funders set the themes and direction for the acceleration pot's offerings. These are based on an assessment of the individual needs of the programs and the needs of Impact Innovation as a whole. The ambition is that funding will be available once in the spring and once in the fall of 2026.

The offer in spring 2026 wants to encourage the programs to experiment with, for the program, new actors from civil society, the public sector, business and academia on increased resilience. The experiments will result in knowledge and learning that will develop the program's future efforts and activities with the goal of accelerating work towards the missions.

Funding from the acceleration pool can be applied for by actors in Impact Innovation's program office together with other actors with whom the program offices intend to collaborate.

Projects can apply for up to SEK 800,000 in funding from Vinnova. The total budget for the call for proposals is SEK 4 to 6 million. The projects can last a maximum of ten months, but the length of the projects can vary.

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.

The Swedish Energy Agency, Formas and Vinnova fund five programme within Impact Innovation. Together they cover important societal areas; production, consumption and value chains, community development and transportation, and good and equal health The programmes are led by their programme offices which are responsible for and manage the programme's operation, coordinate activities and programme efforts towards the set mission and in adaptation to changes in the external environment ( Impact Innovation).

Acceleration pot to accelerate work towards objective and missions

To stimulate and accelerate the program offices' work for system transformation towards objective and missions, actors in the program offices are offered the opportunity to seek funding from a joint acceleration pool in collaboration with others.

The ambition is to give the program offices the opportunity to experiment, work and explore in short and thematically limited project in order to translate learning into initiatives and activities that accelerate work towards the program's objective and missions.

The funders select the themes and direction for the acceleration pot's offerings based on an assessment of the programs' individual needs and Impact Innovation's needs as a whole. The ambition is that funding will be available once in the spring and once in the fall of 2026.

Spring 2026 – Increased resilience through new sector or actor constellations

The offer in spring 2026 wants to encourage actors of the program offices to experiment with, for the program, new actors from civil society, the public sector, business and academia on increased resilience. The experiments will result in knowledge and learning that will develop the program's future efforts and activities to accelerate work towards the program's objective and missions.

Resilience

Resilience in this call for proposals refers to the capacity of a system – whether a forest, a city or an economy – to cope with change and continue to evolve. It is about both resilience and adaptability, but also the ability to turn shocks and disruptions into opportunities for renewal and innovative thinking.

Issues of resilience have become increasingly important in our societies due to the uncertain world of recent years, including a new geopolitical landscape, climate change, cyber threats, resource shortages and pandemics. The Impact Innovation programs have an important role in contributing to these issues, where increased resilience from a societal perspective is a basic prerequisite for various actors to be able to continue to drive the work of system transformation.

Sector and actor constellations

System transformation requires program collaboration across sector boundaries between actors in civil society, the public sector, business and academia.

This the offer aims to stimulate collaborations with new actor constellations, especially with actors from sectors that have so far been underrepresented in the programs and that have been identified as important to the programs' missions. This could involve:

• National or international actors and sectors that the program office has identified as important but that for various reasons have not yet become involved.
• Actors that the program office was not previously aware of, but who themselves take the initiative to collaborate.

Examples of what project can experiment with:

• Development of methods and processes to mobilize new actors and organize society in times of crisis.
• Create models for increased participation in the development of solutions for a resilient society.
• Develop methodologies to match actors' capabilities and needs for increased resilience.
• Testing extreme weather methods to reduce vulnerability in society
• Test structural conditions, such as laws, regulations and standards, that affect the conditions for resilience in society.

These points are examples. We look forward to reading your applications.

After completion of project, the projects should have

• Contributed knowledge and learning that is important for the development of new initiatives and activities in the work towards the missions
• Contributed knowledge and learning to the program offices about collaboration, for example how new actors can be engaged or how new collaborations can be stimulated in future efforts and activities.
• Resulted in collaborations with actors from sectors that have so far been underrepresented in the programs
• Contributed to the actors' knowledge and understanding of each other in relation to the work towards the mission.

Contribute to a sustainable system transformation

Impact Innovation will contribute to global competitiveness through transition for sustainable development and through efforts we contribute to the global commitment to achieve the goals in Agenda 2030. Impact Innovation's financiers will work to ensure that the knowledge and needs of the entire population are taken into account, and that supported initiatives benefit both women and men. Statistics show that innovation projects where men and women have the same power to influence are more successful. In this call for proposals project must therefore integrate gender equality both in how the project group is composed and in the intended outcome of the project.

Equal funding of innovations

Making scientific publications and results available

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

Funding from the acceleration pot can be applied for by actors in the Impact Innovations program office together with actors new to the program, as described in section 2. It is also welcome to include actors from other program offices.

• The coordinating participant must be one of the project partners that are part of the program offices, according to section 11.
• At least one participant must be an actor who is not currently part of the actor constellation in the program office.
• It is possible to be coordinator for several project, with different purposes, as well as to participate as participant in several project.
• Proposal must be anchored in the program office's management. This ensures that the project is in line with the program office's work and priorities.

Funding is only granted to Swedish organisations. Swedish organisations also mean foreign organisations that have a branch or establishment in Sweden. The costs in the project must be attributable to activities of the branch or establishment. However, an organisation that is not Swedish can be participant that does not receive funding.

This call for proposals concerns funding of experiments resulting in knowledge and learning that support the development of the programme's interventions and activities. The projects must have the character of industrial research or experimental development in accordance with the definitions in Article 25 of the EU Commission Regulation (651/2014) on General Block Exemption (GBER). This applies to the focus and content of the projects regardless of whether the Regulation applies to the participation of individual project partners.

For brief descriptions of experimental development, see section 5. For a full definition, see funding bases and levels.

Within the framework of this call for proposals, we do not fund activities for which the programme agencies have previously received funding with support in Article 27 of the EU Commission Regulation (651/2014) on General Block Exemptions (GBER).

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, as well as 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 or costs for licenses 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?

Projects can apply for up to SEK 800,000 in funding from Vinnova. The total budget for the call for proposals is SEK 4 to 6 million. The length of the projects can vary, but is a maximum of ten months.

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 bases and levels.

Support for companies conducting research and development

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

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.
• Other bonus basis

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.

State aid to economic activities (businesses)

Minor Support for businesses

In this the call for proposals we can also provide de minimis support, also known as support of minor importance. We can finance up to 100 percent of a project party'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.

If you are applying for de-minimis, a certificate of previous support must be submitted in proposal. This is required in order for us to be able to grant this support. The form can be found at State aid to economic activities (companies)

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.

We will only assess applications that meet the following formal eligibility requirements:

Eligibility requirements for project parties

• All project partners must be legal entities. Natural persons or individual companies cannot participate as project partners.
• The coordinating participant must be one of the project partners that are part of the program offices, as described in section 2.
• At least one participant must be someone who is not currently part of the actor constellation in the program office.

Eligibility requirements for the project

• The project manager must be employed by the coordinating party in the project.
• The project must start no earlier than 2026-04-23 or no later than 2026-05-06 and end no later than 2027-03-10

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.

As previously mentioned, we also follow up and assess funding for increased gender equality.

Potential

• How well the project contributes to the call's objective and aim, i.e. resilience from a societal perspective and new actor constellations
• How well the project contributes insights that can strengthen the program towards its mission.
• How well the project contributes new knowledge for both new initiatives and activities within the framework of the program
• How well gender and sex perspectives have been integrated into the project proposal, and what significance these have for the project's results.

Actors

• How well the actor constellation complements the program with new actors, especially from sector(s) that have so far been underrepresented in the programs and that have been identified as important for achieving the mission's objective
• How well the composition, participation, competence and ability of the actor constellation contribute to project objectives and implementation.
• How well the project manager and other key people are assessed to be able to lead and implement the project.
• How well participation, power and influence, and financial contribution are distributed equally in the project team.
• How well the need for consulting services and licenses is justified. This only applies if a project party's budget contains more than 20 percent in this cost category.

Feasibility

• How well the project plan and budget are assessed to be able to realize a solution in accordance with the project proposal.
• How well the project plan shows how the results will be shared with and transferred to the program office.
• How good the conditions are for the project's results to be taken forward and used after the end of the project.

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.

The aim is to finance a diversified portfolio with a balance of actors, areas and focus areas. Vinnova may therefore apply a portfolio perspective in the assessment of applications.

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.

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 scientific publishing should 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:

• When providing information about the project and when publishing project results, it must be stated that the work was carried out within Impact Innovation-programmet “Program name” – an initiative by the Swedish Energy Agency, Formas and Vinnova.

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.

To apply for funding, you fill out a proposal in our e-service. In proposal, you answer questions about the project, participating project partners, and budget.

You also attach these attachments to proposal:

• Project description, on a maximum of 6 A4 pages with 12-point text, according to Vinnova's template and current format.
• CVs of key people according to template.

Certificate of support of minor importance (de minimis) for organisations that intend to apply for such support.

How long does proposaltake?

Keep in mind that it takes time to make a proposal. Filling out templates can take several days, as it is based on the analyses you will do.

In our e-service you can start filling in the details and then continue at a later time. You can also distribute permissions to others who you want to contribute to proposal. When proposal is complete, mark it complete.

You can unlock proposal and make changes at any time, right up until the last application date. If you unlock proposal, you must then clear it again for it to be registered when the call for proposals closes.

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

10/12-25 Change of start date for project

Under Vad applies for us to assess your proposal? - Eligibility requirements for the project:

New text: The project must start no earlier than 2026-04-23 or no later than 2026-05-06.

Previously it was 2025.