Test and demo of advanced digitization in a real environment

Testing and demonstrating innovative solutions under realistic conditions is a way to identify important opportunities, challenges and obstacles before commercialization and industrial implementation.

This the call for proposals offers funding to actors who want to test and demonstrate advanced digitization solutions in real environments, to the benefit of Swedish industry. We count industrial production plants or corresponding realistic pilot plants as real environments. By digitization solution, we mean here mature concepts or technology solutions that are close to being able to be developed into products.

The call for proposals welcomes digitization solutions in all areas of application that may be relevant and important for Swedish industry.

Funding is not provided for building or expanding infrastructure.

The call for proposals is part of the program Advanced digitalisation, an effort from Vinnova in collaboration with industry that mobilizes actors from different parts of society towards common objective.

Applicant must be a project consortium consisting of at least two project parties, of which at least one must be a Swedish company in the form of a limited company.

The call's total budget is provisionally SEK 30 million. Funding will be granted with a maximum of 50 percent of the project's eligible costs and a maximum of SEK 5 million per project. The project duration may be a maximum of 18 months.

With this the call for proposals Vinnova wants to increase the conditions to more quickly introduce innovative solutions within advanced digitalisation that renew Swedish industry on the market. Testing and demonstrating solutions under realistic conditions makes it possible to identify important opportunities, risks, challenges and obstacles for future commercialization and industrial implementation.

The call for proposals therefore offers funding to test and demonstrate how new digitization solutions work in practice by using industrial production facilities or equivalent realistic pilot facilities. By real-world facilities, we mean engineered environments for system-level testing and validation under realistic industrial conditions, such as test arenas for autonomous vehicles or collaborative robots. By digitization solutions, we mean relatively mature concepts or technologies that are close to being able to be developed into products.

There are many advantages to testing and demonstrating solutions in real environments. They can be directly exposed to the conditions and limitations that apply within the industry or application area where they are to be used. The solutions can be studied in contexts where many industrial aspects are relevant, for example organization, operation and maintenance. Even the need for investment costs for new or modified test beds can be avoided, and the time to bring new solutions to market is shortened.

The call for proposals cannot finance the construction of new facilities or the further development and expansion of existing ones. This is to effectively use existing infrastructure. A long-term aim of the call for proposals is to identify and encourage industrial actors to eventually open up their facilities as a test bed for third-party use.

The call for proposals welcomes digitization solutions in all application areas that can be considered relevant and important for Swedish industry.

The call for proposals is part of the program Advanced digitalisation, an effort from Vinnova in collaboration with industry that mobilizes actors from different parts of society towards common objective.

The program wants to make Sweden more attractive in terms of research and innovation investments and stimulate the development of advanced digital technology. The program must be implemented with a long-term perspective and contribute to innovative, enabling technologies and the development of central competence areas that meet the needs of the industry.

Programmet Avancerad's digitalisation has the objective of:

• Contribute to the next generation of advanced, powerful and secure digital solutions - developed in Sweden.
• Strengthen Sweden's attractiveness in terms of research and innovation investments.
• Contribute to raising the competence and implementation ability of Swedish business in the area of advanced digitalisation.
• Ensure increased competitiveness for the industry operating in Sweden.
• Form a collaboration platform and act as a knowledge hub for other Swedish initiatives in the digitization area.
• Contribute to society's digital transformation, sustainable development and the work to achieve the Swedish environmental goals.

After completing the test and demonstration project, we expect the following results to be achieved:

• The project's parties have together developed a plan for continued industrial implementation of the current solution.
• The project has laid the foundation for future commercialization.
• The plant owner has gained an understanding of the conditions for increased use of his plant for testing and demonstration.

Focus on climate and gender equality in all our investments

Vinnova is tasked with promoting sustainable growth and community development. Genom Agenda 2030, the countries of the world have agreed on a global agreement and understanding of what characterizes sustainable development. Through our efforts, we contribute to the global commitment to reach the goals.

In Inom Agenda 2030, Vinnova has particularly singled out climate and gender equality as two central sustainability perspectives to which our funded investments should contribute positively. Project financed by Vinnova are therefore expected to take special account of the climate and gender equality aspects.

One aspect that Vinnova follows up on and assesses is whether both women and men equally share in the contribution, participate in and have influence over the project. See section 7 of this call's assessment criteria.

Another aspect involves analyzing and deciding whether there are gender aspects that are relevant to the project's problem area, solutions and utilization. In this the call for proposals that aspect is also assessed. This question is mandatory for all applicant and can be found under the heading " Project tasks" in the application form. In this call for proposals the question is the basis for assessment, see section 7.

Our work to contribute to the goals of Agenda 2030

Equal innovation - what it means for you who seek funding from us

The call for proposals is aimed at consortia with at least two participating project parties, which may include companies, universities, university college, research institutes and other relevant actors.

The projects must be driven by the industry's needs. Therefore, at least one Swedish company in the form of a limited liability company must be part of the consortium.

Project parties seeking funding must be Swedish legal entities. In this respect, a foreign organization that has a branch or place of business in Sweden is equated with a Swedish legal person. The costs in the project must be attributable to the branch's or establishment's activities.

The owner of the relevant existing facility for testing and demonstration in the project can either be a participant or a subcontractor to the project. The facility owner cannot assume both roles at the same time.

Activities for which funding can be applied for

The call for proposals offers funding to test and demonstrate new digitization solutions in existing production facilities or equivalent real-world pilot facilities.

Test and demonstration in what can be considered a laboratory environment, individual pilot environment or fully simulated environment cannot be funded in this call for proposals.

The activities for which funding can be applied for must be included within the term Experimental development, see section on our decisions.

Examples of relevant activities:

• Carry out tests on a larger scale in a real environment with users, customers and requirements setters for further development of the solution.
• Verification and evaluation that technologies and concepts have potential to be developed into a commercial product or service.

Funding is not provided for the construction of new facilities or expansion of existing ones. However, modification and some adaptation of the facility to enable testing and demonstration can be financed.

Eligible costs

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

If the facility owner is a participant, his costs for the use of his facility are only eligible for support if these costs are actual, auditable and incurred during the project.

If the facility owner instead acts as a subcontractor to a participant an agreed fee, corresponding to a market rate, can be applied for the service of using the facility. The procuring project party's cost for the service then becomes an eligible cost in the project.

You will find information on eligible costs in the document "Instructions for Vinnova's term on eligible costs 2023". In section 2, the general prerequisites for a cost to be eligible for support are described, and in section 4, a detailed description of each type of cost is given. You can find the document under the heading Eligible costs on the website Vinnova's general terms and conditions for funding

Vinnova's funding in this call for proposals can amount to a maximum of SEK 5 million per project. The grant can amount to a maximum of 50 percent of the project's total eligible costs.

The call's total grant budget is provisionally SEK 30 million.

Note that the highest grant share per project is not the same as the highest grant share per participant, so-called aid intensity. Vinnova's funding is granted per party. Each participant is responsible for ensuring that funding received does not exceed the aid intensity permitted according to the rules for state aid. The amount of funding that can be granted per party depends, in the case of companies, on the type of activity and the size of the company, among other things.

Funding to parties that carry out economic activities is granted according to § 9 of the regulation 2015:208 on state aid for research and development and innovation. This means support for research and development projects. This is described in article 25 of the EU Commission's Block Exemption Regulation number 651/2014, known as GBER.

Both regulation 2015:208 and GBER are described in more detail on the webpage on State aid to economic activities. There are also links to the regulations themselves.

The nature of the projects is expected to meet the description for Experimental Development, which has the following term of maximum aid intensity to an individual beneficiary based on organization type:

• Small companies are companies with 1-49 employees and a turnover of a maximum of EUR 10 million. They can have a maximum of 45 percent of their costs covered by funding.
• Medium-sized companies are companies with 50-249 employees and a maximum turnover of EUR 50 million. Their funding can amount to a maximum of 35 percent of the costs.
• Large companies have more than 250 employees and a turnover of more than EUR 50 million. For them, a maximum of 25 percent in fundingapplies.

In addition to this, all types of companies can receive an additional 15 percentage points in aid intensity if the project meets the requirements for bonus. More information about this bonus can be found in the document "Support levels, definitions and more for funding according to Vinnova" on the website about State aid to economic activities. Se Kapitel 1, Article 2 of the GBER for definitions of the activities included in the respective basis for support:

• Item 86 for Experimental Development.

Non- state aid is granted to parties that do not carry out economic activities, for example universities and university colleges, research institutes and public activities. Their maximum aid intensity is 100 percent. Regulation 2009:1101 with instruction for the Agency for innovation systemapplies here.

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

• The project must have at least two project parties, of which at least one party must be a Swedish company.
• All project parties must be legal entities.
• Proposal must be written in Swedish or English.
• The project must not have started before proposal is submitted.
• Proposal must follow all instructions and contain all attachments according to section 9. Please note that a mandatory attachment is a declaration of intent from the facility owner.

What do we assess?

Proposal must be in line with the call's objective and aim stated in section 2 and will be assessed according to the criteria below.

Potential

• How well is the project's potential to contribute to the program Advanced digitalisationjustified, primarily the goal of contributing to raising the competence and implementation ability of Swedish business in the area of advanced digitalisation.
• How well is it justified that testing and demonstration in a real environment has potential to shorten the time for the solution to reach the market.
• The project's commercial potential to, through collaboration, promote advanced digitalisation that renews Swedish industry.
• The project's potential to contribute positively to the global goals in Agenda 2030, especially climate and gender equality. Please note that assessment of gender equality is based on the applicant's answer to the mandatory question under " Project tasks".

Actors

• The competence, credibility and ability of the project parties to implement the project.
• The consortium's anchoring in Swedish industry and ability to meet the industry's needs.
• How well the project team is composed with regard to gender distribution, as well as the distribution of power and influence between women and men.

Feasibility

• The realism of the project plan in relation to set objective, methods, activities and budget.
• The participation and relevance of the specified project parties in the project's various work packages and activities.
• How well is the facility owner's commitment and opportunity to make their infrastructure available.
• How well the project structure contributes to the utilization and commercialization of the results.
• How well risks are described and managed in the implementation of the project.
• How well aspects relating to gender equality have been integrated into the project plan

How do we judge?

The applications will be assessed in competition and the assessment is based on the electronic proposal submitted via Vinnova's e-services.

Schematically, the decision process looks like this:

1. Proposal are submitted via Vinnova's e-services.
2. The applications that meet the formal requirements will be assessed based on the criteria stated above by Vinnova's appointed evaluator. The assessment results in a recommendation for grant or refusal.
3. Vinnova makes decisions about which project are to be financed and decisions are communicated to applicant. Vinnova strives to achieve a certain spread of the areas of application and size of the granted projects and reserves the right to apply a portfolio approach to granted project.

About our decisions

After a decision, Vinnova sends a message via e-mail to the coordinator for each proposal with notification of approval or rejection. How much each party in the project is granted in funding is shown in the decision.

As described in section 5, funding is expected to be primarily granted with support from Experimental Development, but may also be granted with support from Industrial researchif necessary.

For companies that conduct economic activities it is with support of Section 9 of Regulation 2015:208 on state aid to research, development and innovation, as well as with support of Article 25 of the GBER. You will find these regulations on the page: State aid to economic activities

Non- state aid is granted to parties that do not conduct economic activities in accordance with Ordinance 2009:1101 with instructions for the Agency for innovation system. You will find Ordinance 2009:1101 on this page

The basis for support appears in the decision and also governs which costs are eligible for support.

Our decision to grant or reject a proposal cannot be appealed.

Term for granted funding

For granted funding our general terms and conditions for fundingapply. The terms contain, among other things, rules about project agreements, conditions for payment, follow-up, reporting and utilization of results. Scientific publication must take place with open access in accordance with Vinnova's instructions.

In addition to our general terms and conditions the following special conditions apply in this call for proposals:

• Coordinator or other representative for the project must participate in relevant events within the program Advanced digitalisationupon invitation from the program manager. In this way to contribute to the spread of knowledge within Swedish industry in accordance with the program's aim.
• With information about the project and with every publication of project results, it must be stated that the work was carried out with support from Vinnova within the program Advanced digitalisation. In English, the name is rendered with Sweden's Innovation Agency. Publication means, for example, publication, regardless of medium, and oral presentations.

In the event that the project team is not equal, the following instruction applies:

• If the gender distribution in the project team is not within 40/60 in terms of women and men, a plan must be attached in connection with the start report. The plan must explain how the project could achieve a better gender distribution during the project period, for example through well-thought-out recruitment and the like.

Supplementary special conditions and instructions can be decided for individual project.

If you do not follow our term you may be liable for a refund. This also applies if you have been granted funding incorrectly or with an amount that is too high.

See current term and help to understand and meet the terms

When your proposal has been registered, we send a confirmation to the person responsible for the user account as well as to the project manager and the signatory.

If you submit a proposal on the same day as the call for proposals closes, it may take a few hours before you receive a confirmation. If you have not received a confirmation within 24 hours after the call for proposals closes, please contact us.

When the call for proposals is closed, you cannot change anything in proposal. Then you can only supplement if we ask for it.

Who can read your proposal?

Applications submitted to us become public documents. This means that we must disclose them if they are requested.

However, we keep confidential information that we believe could mean financial damage if disclosed, for example information about the business, inventions or research results.

Read more about documents and privacy