Implementering XR Sweden innovationsplattform

Aim and objective of this call for proposals is to finance a national innovation platform for the emerging transformative technology area XR. This innovation platform will stimulate actors to promote national development and work for a national agenda within XR. See also Transformative technology areas - groundbreaking technology | Vinnova.

Innovation platform functions, aim and objective

The innovation platform, as a neutral actor, will create cooperation between actors in the national XR ecosystem. The innovation platform will be responsible for coordinating actors who jointly develop the XR ecosystem, both technically, commercially and institutionally, in order to individually or in collaboration accelerate development and create new business and customer value.

Vinnova expects that the innovation platform in collaboration with the ecosystem's actors:

• Promotes innovations that can create new markets.
• Promotes the development of new business models.
• Initiates and coordinates the development of a national agenda for XR, including plans for international collaboration
• Promote the national XR ecosystem within and outside Sweden.
• Establishes international contacts and creates collaborations.
• Coordinates initiatives for infrastructure needed in the XR ecosystem.
• Promotes conditions in the ecosystem for 'proof-of-concept', 'minimum-viable-products' and user tests, 'use cases'.
• Contributes to the coordination and development of regulations and frameworks for collaborations.

Vinnova believes that these activities will contribute to national resilience within XR, in terms of both competence and competitiveness, as well as the ability for business autonomy.

Resources, such as capital, talent and infrastructure, are attracted through the innovation platform's work with international and national marketing, to the national XR ecosystem. This will facilitate knowledge transfer, utilization and value creation between different actors.

A national innovation platform for XR technology needs to strive to initiate and conduct attractive activities with good relations to both new and already established activities and actors.

Call structure and execution

The call for proposals 'Implementation XR Sweden’' intends to enable a national innovation platform for innovations in the XR technology area. This is done by financing a first development stage – Stage 1 – over one year for the technology area. Vinnova can potentially finance a total of 3 stages, over a total of five years.

The funding from Vinnova is estimated at a maximum of five million per year, with a maximum of 50% funding per funded participant, for up to five years.

Efter Etapp 1 Vinnova expects that the funded project has initiated collaboration in the ecosystem, and achieved and anchored the hypotheses, milestones and development plans that proposal for Stage 1 describes.

An initial roadmap for the area, at the end of Stage 1, should include descriptions of:

• The national and global XR ecosystems and emerging network-like value chains.
• The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats and needs of the national XR ecosystem.
• How the ecosystem community should develop to drive shared resources for innovation.
• International connectivity and collaboration, EU and the Nordic countries.
• Capital attraction to the technology sector and entrepreneurs.

The innovation platform will develop a way to measure and follow up the development of the innovation ecosystem, which measures the performance of the innovation ecosystem. The following areas are central to the follow-up:

Development of the ecosystem community

• The number of active actors in the ecosystem.
• The degree of interaction between the actors in the ecosystem.
• Active participation in events organized by the innovation platform.
• Stakeholders' satisfaction with the innovation platform.
• Different types of actors; established supplier companies, startups, researchers, venture capitalists, policy actors, public actors, civil society, users and customers.

The development of the ecosystem's shared resources

• Shared resources and assets in the ecosystem.
• The use of shared resources/assets.
• Sharing of knowledge and data between the actors in the ecosystem.
• Development of common assets such as; standards, APIs, technology stacks, 'Software Development Kits’, library, user and test lab.

The development of entrepreneurial activity combined with business and innovation development carried out by the actors in the ecosystem

• Innovation collaborations between entrepreneurial actors
• Research and innovation projects, measured in both number and investment/financing volumes (both private and public), as well as in terms of the type of actor running the projects (universities, research institutes, startups, established SMEs, and large private actors).
  • New or significantly improved products and services launched on the market measured in both number and financial terms (growth capital attracted, turnover).
  • New business units in terms of startups, as well as new business areas within established companies.
  • Increased demand for innovation procurement and venture client programme (number, volume).
  • Participation in EU programme, funding levels, international collaborations, delegations with Swedish SMEs and startups.

How well the innovation platform performs relative to the above should be captured in parameters linked to a coordinated ecosystem development. These parameters need to measure the innovation platform's processes and results. Also important is what the actors in the ecosystem themselves express about the innovation platform.

Contribute to a sustainable system transition

Vinnova is tasked with promoting sustainable growth and system transformation. To implement sustainable system transformation, we have chosen to base ourselves on the UN's global sustainability goals, defined in the 2030 Agenda. There, Vinnova prioritizes two perspectives: gender equality and climate change. All initiatives and project we finance are assessed based on how they contribute to these perspectives.

We therefore always follow up and assess the following:

• If women and men participate in the project on an equal footing, receive contributions and have influence and power over the project.
• How well the project analyzes and takes a position on whether there are sex or gender aspects that are relevant to the project's problem formulation, solutions and effects.
• How well the project contributes to climate change with a focus on both costs and benefits regarding the transformative technology area.

Gender-equal innovation – what it means for those seeking funding from us

Agenda 2030 as a driver for innovation

Vinnova can only finance legal entities that are Swedish organizations or foreign organizations with a branch or establishment in Sweden. Other foreign organizations can participate, but are not funded by Vinnova. Funding from foreign organizations can be counted as co-financing.

In this call for proposals Vinnova is funding activities that aim to scale up a national innovation platform for collaboration and innovation in the XR area. The types of project activities that can be funding in this the call for proposals should be of a nature to achieve the objectives of Stage 1 as described in section 2 above.

The implementation project will aim to implement a national innovation platform for XR that will be able to coordinate several collaborating regional or industry-specific nodes, which could start in the years 2025 - 2026.

Approved activities within the framework of this the call for proposals Stage 1 are:

• Coordination and collaboration between existing relevant activities, including with areas related to XR.
• Sharing of knowledge and experience, as well as education and training.
• Global monitoring.
• Collaboration with our Nordic neighbors and initiatives at the EU level, for example in standardization.
• Communication and marketing of the innovation platform and the national ecosystem.
• Networking and matchmaking: facilitation of talent, infrastructure, funding, customers and suppliers, international actors and collaborations.
• Create opportunities for hubs in addition to incubators near research environments where researchers and startups can collaborate and support each other in structured ways.
• Create focus and supporting activities for gender, gender equality and sustainability within innovation for each technology area.

Examples of what is not funded in this call for proposals:

• Individual demo project or testbed.
• Individual research center or graduate school.
• Individual trade organization.
• Project proposals that do not address the XR technology area.
• Commercial innovation advisory services and innovation support services.

What costs can we finance?

We can finance personnel and administrative costs including general overheads. The following activities can be financed within the framework of this call for proposals:

• Activation of the innovation platform to facilitate collaboration, information exchange and the provision or channeling of specialized and customized support services for businesses.
• Marketing the innovation platform to increase participation of new companies or organizations and to increase visibility.
• Management of the innovation platform's equipment, organization of training programs, seminars and conferences to stimulate knowledge exchange, networking and cross-border cooperation.

For more detailed information on which activities and costs are eligible, see Guide eligible costs.

What eligibility requirements apply to costs we finance?

For a cost to be eligible, it must be necessary for the activities of the project. Project costs must also be properly accounted for and reported separately from the organization's other costs. An organization may not claim someone else's costs as its own.

For more detailed information on which eligibility requirements, limitations and exceptions apply, see our guide to eligible costs.

The state aid rules also govern how much of the costs we can finance. This is determined individually for each organization. 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?

Funding for the project can amount to a maximum of SEK 5,000,000 for Stage 1.

In this the call for proposals we provide support to innovation clusters in the form of operating aid in accordance with Article 27 of the EU Commission's General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER).

Innovation clusters can be simply described as structures or organized groups where several actors come together to stimulate innovative activities in various ways. This can include promoting the shared use of equipment, knowledge exchange, networking and information dissemination.

Operating support refers to support for the operation of the innovation cluster. Operating support can be given to one or more organizations that run the cluster together. We can grant operating support for a maximum of ten years.

Vinnova can finance a maximum of 50% of the eligible costs per beneficiary. We grant funding in accordance with Article 27 of the EU Commission's General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER).

To be granted support, the cluster's premises and activities must be open to multiple users and the fees must correspond to market prices. For more information about these term and a full definition of the concept of innovation cluster, see Funding grounds and levels of support for funding.

All actors (including universities, university colleges and actors that do not engage in economic activities) can apply for a maximum of 50% funding for eligible costs in this the call for proposals, in accordance with Article 27 of the GBER.

In order for us to take a position on and assess your proposal, it must meet the formal eligibility requirements 1 - 9 below. If one or more of these eligibility requirements are not met, proposal will be rejected without assessment.

Eligibility requirements on organizational form of project partners

1. All project partners must be legal entities. Natural persons or individual companies cannot participate as project partners.
2. The coordinating party must be a Swedish legal entity and conduct activities in Sweden.

Eligibility requirements for project

3. The project manager must be employed by the coordinating party in the project.
4. The project may not begin before proposal is submitted.
5. Costs for consulting services from outside parties may constitute a maximum of 20 percent of a project party's budget.

Eligibility requirements on proposal

6. Proposal must be written in Swedish or English.
7. Proposal must follow the instructions given in section 9.
8. Proposal must contain all requested attachments.
9. For mandatory templates, attached by Vinnova, headings and other formats in each template must be followed.

What do we assess?

Decisions on funding for Stage 1 are made on the basis of an overall assessment of potential, actors and feasibility based on how proposal sufficiently credibly and clearly describes:

Potential

• External knowledge and knowledge of transformative technology, innovation ecosystems and the XR area.
• That the developed the innovation platform will be able to add unique value to the ecosystem.
• That the developed the innovation platform will be a complement to and coordinating partner with currently existing actors, activities and plans.
• That and how the developed the innovation platform coordinates leading and new Swedish actors.
• That the developed the innovation platform has the ability to contribute to internationalisation
• The innovation platform's potential to contribute to gender equality in the XR ecosystem.
• potential of the innovation platform to contribute positively to sustainable social development in the long term.
• potential of the innovation platform to contribute to the climate transition in the long term, with a focus on both negative effects and positive environmental and climate benefits for the technology area.

Actors

• The team's access to relevant networks and external expertise nationally and internationally.
• The team's own competencies to run an innovation platform to coordinate different actors and strengthen ecosystem development within XR.
• The team's access to relevant expertise to create trust and coordinate different actors
• That proposal is sufficiently and credibly anchored with relevant parties to be able to achieve the set objective.
• How well the platform team is composed in terms of gender distribution. As well as how well power and influence are distributed between women and men in the platform team.
• How the platform team has access to relevant expertise in sustainability.

Feasibility

• That proposal has relevant and realistic objective.
• That methods and activities to create national support are well thought out and credible.
• That methods and activities for the innovation platform contribute to long-term benefit, attractiveness and funding.
• That methods and activities for international collaborations are well thought out and credible.
• That methods and principles for implementing the innovation platform within the set time and budget with expected results, are well thought out and credible.
• That the development of structures and routines for the organization itself is well thought out.
• That activities regarding resources, time and results are credible.
• That the approach to developing the innovation platform is integrated into the plan for the innovation platform.
• That gender equality is integrated into the development plan for the innovation platform.
• That climate aspects are integrated into the development plan for the innovation platform.
• That the risk analysis and risk management plan are credible.

How do we assess?

Applications that meet all formal eligibility requirements according to section 6 are assessed by an assessment group appointed by Vinnova consisting of technical and organizational experts.

All evaluator are appointed and appointed by Vinnova.

Based on an overall recommendation from the evaluators, Vinnova then makes the formal decision to reject or grant funding. The assessment of the applications is made in competition between the applications received.

We also assess the 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:

• Organizations seeking funding for personnel costs must be registered as employers with the Swedish Tax Agency.
• 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.
• If requested, SMEs must be able to demonstrate that they have the financial means to implement the platform development according to their budget in proposal. They cannot use public funding or their own funds intended for other project to cover project costs in this call for proposals.

Once we have assessed all applications, we will send you a decision either granting or rejecting your proposal. In the decision, we state how much funding each party in the project will be granted. 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, participant's approval, in which you approve your participation and commit to carrying out the project.
• That you should report, in Vinnova's portal, 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. This agreement needs to be confirmed to Vinnova that it has been signed by all parties involved before Vinnova can initiate payment of funds to the project. It may take time to get a project agreement in place, so please initiate this before the project starts.
• How the results will be used, and how scientific publication will take place.

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

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

Can 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 proposal will be registered as. We will then send an email confirmation to the person responsible for the user account, as well as 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 external 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 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