Innovative Startups 2025

This the call for proposals is aimed at knowledge-intensive, newly started limited companies with innovative business ideas that build on the founders' unique knowledge and experience. The companies should have potential to contribute to sustainable social development and create benefit both in Sweden and internationally.

Companies should innovatively develop and use knowledge that is difficult to produce or copy – for example, research results, technical solutions, creative processes or specialized expertise.

The companies should be in an early stage, still working on developing and testing their business model, and have the ambition to create growth.

It is possible to apply for up to SEK 500,000 for an innovation project that strengthens the company's competitiveness. The project may last a maximum of nine months and must start in November 2025.

The purpose of the call for proposals is to create better conditions for start-up knowledge-intensive companies to take the next step in their business development – especially when they face uncertainties or risks that need to be managed to reach the market.

Vinnova's support will help companies get closer to customer collaborations, customer revenues, investments and necessary partnerships. This may involve:

• Continued development and validation of the value proposition and knowledge of the market potential and competitive situation
• Development and validation of the business model and sales process
• Development and validation of product characteristics and production processes to meet market eligibility requirements on performance, cost and price levels
• Development and validation of strategies for protecting and managing ideas and intellectual property, and gaining a good understanding of similar solutions already available on the market.

The call for proposals is aimed at newly started knowledge-intensive limited liability companies that are in a phase with the following characteristics:

• Innovation.The deal should be based on an innovation. This means that it should have a novelty value in the market that the company is targeting, and be based on unique characteristics that give the deal unique customer benefits and sustainable competitive advantages.
• Value proposition.The value proposition should be clearly formulated and validated against at least some potential customers within the market segment that the company is targeting.
• Sustainability-driven business.The intended business should have potential to drive sustainability in society – ecologically, economically, socially and culturally. The business should contribute to people creating, producing and consuming in an ecologically, socially, economically and culturally more sustainable way.
• Team and skills.The founders should have control over the limited liability company and be the driving force in the development of the limited liability company. They should have identified the skills and networks needed, and have begun to form a team with clear roles and responsibilities.
• Awareness of the company's intangible assets.The company should have made an initial inventory indicating which unique intangible assets the company's business is based on. Intangible assets include, for example:

• Software
• Algorithms
• Agreement
• Methods
• Data
• Patent
• Brands
• Copyright

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 the following types of costs are eligible:

• Personnel costs: Salaries, social security contributions and other personnel 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 used under license from a third party.
  Consulting costs may not exceed 20 percent of the budget. In special cases, a higher percentage may be accepted, but you must justify this in proposal. The justification is included in our assessment.
• Other direct costs: For example, materials, supplies and travel necessary to carry out the project.
• Indirect costs: Costs that are not incurred as a direct result of, but can be related to, the project, such as rent and cleaning. Indirect costs may not exceed 30 percent of personnel 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.
• recorded correctly and separately from the company's other costs.
• have arisen within the project period according to standard depreciation rules.

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

Vinnova can grant a maximum of SEK 500,000 in funding to project in this call for proposals. We can finance up to 100 percent of the company's project costs based on two alternative support bases:

1. Companies that are younger than 5 years old and meet the formal eligibility requirements of the call (see section 6) can be granted funding in accordance with Article 22 of the EU Commission's General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER).
2. Companies that are between 5 and 10 years old, and that meet the formal eligibility requirements of the call (see section 6), can be granted support in accordance with the Regulation on de minimis support (EU 2023/2831). This type of support is also called de minimis support.

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

Therefore, applicant must attach a certificate of previously received support of minor importance when submitting proposal. You can find the form for this certificate under the heading "templates" here on the call page.

Further information about the grounds for support and the rules that govern Vinnova's funding of companies can be found at Rules for funding, State aid to economic activities.

In order for us to take a position on and assess a proposal, it must meet certain formal eligibility requirements before the call for proposals has closed. If the requirements are not met, proposalwill be rejected.

Companies that are part of a group (for example subsidiaries) may apply, but then the entire group must meet the requirements regarding profit, stock exchange listing and economic size, see eligibility requirements 2 and 3 below.

Eligibility requirements at the company

1. Swedish limited company: Applicant company (coordinating participant) must be a Swedish limited company and conduct activities in Sweden.
2. Not listed or distributing profits: Applicant company, or its group if it is a subsidiary, must not be listed or have distributed profits.
3. Net turnover and balance sheet total: Applicant companies must not have a net turnover or balance sheet total exceeding SEK 10 million.
4. Limited liability company: Applicant company may have a maximum of 10 employees.
5. Registration with the Swedish Tax Agency: Applicant companies must be registered for F-tax, VAT and employer contributions. Please note that the Swedish Tax Agency's processing time is usually between 2 and 6 weeks. Your registration must be completely complete before you submit your proposal to this call for proposals.
6. Age of the company: Applicant company must be no more than 10 years old, calculated from the date of registration with the Swedish Companies Registration Office.
7. Independent business start-up: Applicant companies must not have taken over another company's activities, purchased another company or been formed through a merger.
8. The project manager's connection to the company: The project manager must be an employee or board member of the applicant company.

Eligibility requirements on proposal

1. Language requirements for proposal: Proposal must be written in Swedish or English.
2. Participant: Applicant company should be the only project party.
3. Limitation on number of applications: Applicant companies may submit a maximum of one proposal per call for proposals.
4. Certificate of Minor support: Companies that are the elderly than 5 years must attach the form "Certificate of Minor support " together with proposal.

Applications that meet the call's formal eligibility requirements (see section 6) are assessed by three specially appointed experts. All applications compete with each other and those that are deemed to best meet the call's assessment criteria are granted funding.

Applications are reviewed and assessed based on how clearly they describe and justify:

Potential

• In what way is the solution innovative and contributes to solving a problem or satisfying a need in society, better than alternative solutions.
• How the solution can create significant benefits and sustainable growth in Sweden.
• How the business idea and solution have potential in the international market.
• How the company's unique and protectable knowledge assets give the company a competitive advantage.

Team

• That the company has the necessary knowledge, skills, experience and entrepreneurial ability to implement the project.
• That the founders have control over the limited liability company and are themselves the driving force in the limited liability company's development.
• That the project team has access to relevant networks and external experts who are motivated to contribute to the project.
• That the project team is composed according to the needs of the project and has a strategy for equal distribution of power and influence between women and men.

Feasibility

• That the budget, plan and approach for the project are relevant and realistic to achieve the project's objective.
• That the company has a credible plan for commercialization and funding after the end of the project.
• That the need for funding from Vinnova is well-motivated in relation to the company's current financial situation.

We also assess 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 this applies:

• Organizations must not be insolvent, undergoing liquidation or corporate restructuring, nor must they have unpaid debts with the Swedish Enforcement Authority.
• Limited liability companies must not have used up half or more of their share capital.

Selection and portfolio strategy

Vinnova grants funding in competition, based on an overall assessment of the quality of the projects in relation to the call's aim and assessment criteria. Only applications that are deemed to be of sufficiently high quality may be considered for funding. To create a balanced portfolio of project Vinnova may also take into account factors such as industry, technology area and the focus of the projects.

Once we have assessed all applications, we will notify you of our decision via email. Our decision cannot be appealed.

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 your costs and achieved results to us regularly during the project period.

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

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 do not follow our term, you may be required to repay the amount. This also applies if you have been granted funding incorrectly or for an amount that is too high.

When the call for proposals closes, your proposalwill be registered. We will then send an email confirmation to the person responsible for the user account, as well as the project manager and the signatory. When the call for proposals closes, you cannot change anything in proposal. You can only supplement it if we ask you to.

Who can read your proposal?

Your proposal will be read by Vinnova employees and the specially appointed evaluator who participate 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 confidential information that we believe could cause financial harm to the individual if disclosed. This could include information about business and operational conditions, inventions or research results.

How we handle public documents and confidentiality