Future Mobility – innovationssamarbeten mellan Sverige och USA

Future Mobility promotes research and innovation collaborations between actors in Sweden and the USA within sustainable mobility. With this the offer, we want to support research and innovation activities that contribute to sustainable mobility and closer cooperation between Swedish and American actors.

Sustainable mobility is defined as all activities that enable the movement of people and goods that are efficient, healthy and climate-neutral, and accessible to all.

The call for proposals has two purposes:

• Contribute to knowledge development and innovation in sustainable mobility.
• Contribute to strengthened innovation cooperation between Sweden and the USA.

This is achieved by funding selected bilateral research and innovation projects within sustainable mobility that are carried out in cooperation between at least one actor in Sweden and one in the USA. The projects must represent new collaborations with good development potential. If there is previous collaboration, the project for which funds are sought must constitute a substantial further development of the collaboration.

These can search:

• Research organizations
• Business
• Public and non-profit organizations.

The project coordinator must be based in Sweden.

Funding and duration
The maximum amount that can be applied for per project is one million kroner. Total budget for 2023 and 2024 is eight million kroner. The project may have a maximum duration of 18 months. In 2023, there are three opportunities to apply.

The call for proposals is included as part of the Future Mobility platform, which promotes cooperation between Sweden and the USA in sustainable mobility. Future Mobility includes resources on site in the USA and Sweden that can help in the development of new collaborations, for example in the search for relevant project partners.

Potential applicant are welcome to contact the management of Future Mobility to present and discuss their ideas for collaborative projects.

More information about Future Mobility

Aim with the offer

With this the offer, we want to support research and innovation activities that contribute to sustainable mobility and closer cooperation between actors in Sweden and the USA.

Sustainable mobility is about enabling the movement of people and goods in ways that are efficient, healthy and climate neutral and accessible to all.

The call for proposals has two purposes:

• Contribute to knowledge development and innovation in sustainable mobility.
• Contribute to strengthened innovation cooperation between Sweden and the USA.

This is achieved by funding selected bilateral research and innovation projects within sustainable mobility that are carried out in collaboration between at least one actor in Sweden and one in the USA.

New collaborations with development potential

The projects must represent new collaborations with good development potential. If there is a collaboration from before, the project for which you are seeking funding must constitute a significant further development of the collaboration.

Mutual benefit in Sweden and the USA as well as balanced efforts of resources are important prerequisites for sustainable collaborations. The development potential also refers to how the collaboration is expected to develop after the end of the project.

By establishing collaborations between Sweden and the USA, both innovation systems are strengthened. Knowledge transfer is stimulated and new perspectives are obtained on the intended mobility solutions. In addition, resulting innovations are shaped to meet a broad market.

Future Mobility - collaboration between Sweden and the USA

The call for proposals is included as part of the Future Mobility platform, which promotes cooperation between Sweden and the USA in sustainable mobility. Future Mobility includes resources on site in the USA and Sweden that can help in the development of new collaborations, for example in the search for relevant project partners.

Future Mobility's representatives in the USA are based in Silicon Valley in California, which is a unique innovation environment that offers many opportunities. Potential applicant are welcome to contact the management of Future Mobility to present and discuss their ideas for collaborative projects.

Gender equality in the project

One aspect that Vinnova follows up and assesses is whether both women and men share in the grant in an equal way, participate in and have influence over the project. Another aspect involves analyzing and deciding whether there are gender or gender aspects that are relevant in connection with the project's problem area, solutions and utilization. This question is mandatory for all applicant and can be found under the heading " project tasks".

Read more about what our work for equal innovation means for those of you who seek funding from us

In this call for proposals these aspects as well as equality and social justice are the basis for the assessment of proposal. See assessment criteria under section 7.

Make available results

Results from research and innovation that are made freely available increase the opportunity for more people to contribute to solutions to societal challenges. The call for proposals should contribute to more results being made freely available to everyone and any scientific publication should be done with open access.

The call for proposals is aimed at research organisations, companies, public and non-profit organizations in Sweden and the USA. The project must include at least one actor in Sweden and one actor in the USA, of which the project coordinator must have a place of business in Sweden

Activities for which funding can be applied for

Funding is offered for smaller innovation, test or demonstration projects within sustainable mobility where bilateral cooperation is the focus. In order to strengthen and broaden the bilateral cooperation, stays in the USA and Sweden can be valuable. Funds can be applied for activities both in Sweden and the USA. However, the project coordinator must have a place of business in Sweden.

Vinnova does not finance business development, customer processing, marketing or other ordinary business-related activities. Applications that only include one or a couple of meetings to investigate whether there are opportunities to create a collaboration have little chance of getting funding.

Funding is provided in accordance with Section 9 of Vinnova's regulation 2015:208 on state support for research and development and innovation and Article 25 of the Commission's EU regulation no. 651/2014 GBER. The project's activities must consist of Feasibility study, Industrial research, Experimental development, or Support for start-up companies.

Parties that conduct non-economic activities are not granted state aid in accordance with regulation 2009:1101 with instruction for the Agency for innovation system.

Eligible costs

Our funding takes place through funding. Funding for organizations that carry out economic activities is covered by rules on state support. The rules govern, among other things, which types of costs and what proportion of them may be covered by funding.

The following costs are eligible:

• Personnel costs.
• Costs of equipment, land and buildings to the extent and
  during the time they are used for the project.
• Costs for consultants and licenses and more.
• Other direct costs.
• Indirect costs.

Read more about government support on our website
See general terms and conditions for funding and eligible costs

Funding can be provided with a maximum of SEK 1 million. How much funding a participant can be granted depends, among other things, on the size of the organization.

The document table of support levels for government support clarifies what applies to various large organizations that carry out economic activities. Each participant is responsible for ensuring that funding received does not exceed the aid intensity permitted according to the rules for state support.

Read more about government support on our website
See general terms and conditions for funding and eligible costs

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

• At least one actor in Sweden and one in the USA must be included.
• Coordinator must be a legal person with a Swedish organization number.
• Proposal must be written in English or Swedish and submitted via Vinnova's e-services.
• Applications must be received no later than 1:59 p.m. on the last application day via Vinnovas Intressentportal.

What do we assess?

The project proposal must be in line with the call's aim. The applications will be assessed based on the main criteria potential, implementation and actors.

The scale 1-5 is used for grading:

1. Insufficient
2. Weak
3. Good
4. Very good
5. Excellent

Potential

The project's potential to contribute to:

• strengthened innovation cooperation between Sweden and the USA.
• knowledge development and innovation within sustainable mobility.
• increased equality and social justice.
• long-term sustainable innovation collaborations.

Strengthened innovation collaboration means that the project should represent a new collaboration with good development potential. If there is previous collaboration, the project must constitute a significant further development of the collaboration.

Mutual benefit in Sweden and the USA as well as balanced efforts of resources are important preconditions for long-term sustainable collaborations.

The concept of equality includes gender equality as an important aspect. Furthermore, social justice (equity) is an aspect that is receiving increasing attention.

Actors

• The project constellation's prerequisites for realizing the potential. Is there relevant competence, are the networks well connected, is the involvement in the project mutual and balanced?
• How is the project team composed with respect to gender distribution, including the distribution of power and influence between women and men?
  
  

Feasibility

• Is the project plan elaborated with realistic and clear objective and activities.
• Does the project have efficient and environmentally adapted forms of cooperation?
• Is the budget realistic and what is the added value of funds from Vinnova?
  
  

How do we judge?

Applications received are first reviewed with regard to the formal conditions. Only applications that meet the formal conditions proceed to assessment.

Formally approved applications are assessed by experts in internationalisation and sustainable mobility.

The evaluators recommend to Vinnova which applications should receive funding. Vinnova makes a decision and notifies applicant.

Then you apply

To apply for funding you fill in a web-based form in Vinnova's e-service for applications.

There you also upload the following attachments:

• Project description
  Documents may contain a maximum of five pages. It must clearly explain why the project is needed and how it is intended to be carried out. Read the assessment criteria beforehand.
• Resume
  Must contain a maximum of two pages per key person in the project.
• Credit report (UC)
  Applies to the American companies participating in the project.

You can find templates for the attachments on our website

Keep in mind that it takes time to make a proposal. You can start filling in information, save and continue at a later time.

When proposal is ready, you mark it as done. You can fully unlock proposal and make changes at any time, right up until the last application date.

Please mark proposal well in advance before the call for proposals closes.

When the call for proposals has closed and proposal has been registered with Vinnova, a confirmation will be sent out by e-mail to you who are responsible for the user account, project manager and company signatory or head of department. It may take a few hours before you receive the email.

If you have not received a confirmation by e-mail within 24 hours after the call for proposals has closed, please contact us.

When the application period has expired, proposal can only be completed upon request from us.