Impact Innovation: Collaboration for promotion and prevention efforts within SustainGov 2024

The offer is aimed at actors from various organizations who, in collaboration, want to bring about a system change in society's efforts for health and well-being with a focus on promotion and prevention efforts.

With the call for proposals SustainGov wants to contribute to public organizations promoting health and social welfare for all residents to an increased extent. However, working proactively places new eligibility requirements on planning, management, organization and collaboration. It often involves significant challenges to change operations, which needs to be analyzed and form the basis for change work.

The call for proposals finances feasibility studies, results of which can form the basis for future initiatives. Opportunities are offered here to identify, analyze and address underlying system problems. The projects are expected to lay the foundation for innovative and cross-border proposals for implementation at a later stage.

The call for proposals is aimed at public actors who together with at least one other participant. Project can last a maximum of 8 months and be financed with a maximum of SEK 500,000. Co-financing is required.

Possibilities for follow-on funding are planned.

The call for proposals is carried out within the program SustainGov, part of Impact Innovation – Sweden's innovation investment for the 2030s.

SustainGov's mission is a reformed public sector that holistically promotes and facilitates health and well-being for all residents regardless of geography and socioeconomic status. The program's ambition is to optimize individual health and well-being for all residents and ensure society's sustainable transformation.

The offer starts from a social sustainability perspective and is aimed at actors in various sectors and organizations who have the will and ability to challenge themselves and others to identify promotional or preventive measures that contribute to a permanent transition to more proactive measures.

Project ideas need to be built based on the ambition to identify, analyze and address underlying system problems. This is with aim of being able to come up with innovative action proposals that can strengthen the overall perspective in the work with social welfare. The goal is to improve the outcome for individuals and society when the ideas are tested or implemented in a next step.

The purpose of the call for proposals is to contribute to SustainGov's mission by enabling public organizations to an increased extent to promote and prevent health and well-being for all residents in collaboration with system actors and with respect for the individual's abilities, perspectives and conditions.

The goal is that granted project in their final reports must have a clear picture of how a transition to more promotion and prevention efforts can be realized, which system effects are expected to be achieved and a clearly formulated proposal to ensure the next step.

In this call for proposals feasibility studies are financed, results of which can form the basis for future efforts. Our hypothesis is that various forms of experimental activities such as test beds, system demonstrators or policy labs can form an important part of continued work. Funds are reserved for call for proposals for continuation projects.

The project ideas must have a focus on the promotion of well-being, social sustainability and sustainable resource utilization, alternatively prevention of individual ill-health or vulnerability.

Within the theme of promotion, for example, it can be about efforts that strengthen psychological well-being, increased participation in society and working life, as well as equal and equal living conditions. Within the theme of prevention, for example, it can be about public health interventions and prevention of ill health and vulnerability in various groups, everything from children and young people to adults and the elderly. It can touch on themes such as mental illness, criminality, exclusion from the labor market or society.

Targeting and scalability

Society's promotion and prevention efforts are usually explained on three levels;

• Universal - that which is offered to everyone
• Selective - targeting certain groups or areas
• Indicated - focus on individuals in need of support

In proposal it must be clearly stated which of these levels is in focus and any connections with other levels.

The importance of participation and support for policy development

Experiences from work with both promotion and prevention efforts show difficulties in achieving lasting change in businesses whose ambition is to shift efforts from reactive to proactive. Therefore, it is important that applicant actors actively involve parties who represent normative or governing functions that contribute to policy development. This could be, for example, political representatives, finance function and legal expertise.

Background that clarifies effects and suggestions for the next step

The projects that are financed shall together contribute to SustainGov's mission through increased understanding of success factors to successfully identify, implement and create permanence and reach for promotion or prevention efforts for social sustainability.

Granted project must report in their final reports:

• An analysis of how the transition to promotion or prevention efforts can be realized. Also what effects the effort is expected to contribute to for individuals and groups as well as for public administration's ability to handle complex needs
• A description and a clearly formulated proposal for the next step as well as the constellation of actors required to ensure implementation with a systems perspective

Background

The costs of mental illness in Sweden amount to approximately 200 billion per year, approximately 5 percent of GDP. The cost burdens approximately 50 percent of employers, and these appear to continue to increase over the next ten years.
The source of the information is OECD, SKR, Region Stockholm.

Preventive work is still a low priority in the social sector and in health care. This despite research progress, rapid technological development, digitalisation that offers more opportunities for services and support. There is today a good knowledge of working methods that work and many show a good cost efficiency. Despite this, only a few percent of the public health care budget is used to prevent illness from occurring.

The promoting perspective receives even less attention, but developing abilities and well-being is judged to be an absolutely decisive success factor for strategic issues for society's development. Both preventive and promotional efforts often contain typical system challenges where new constellations of actors and new working methods are crucial for success.

In July 2025, a new social services law is expected to enter into force. The purpose of the new law is for social services to become more preventive, equal and easily accessible than today: to lower the thresholds, reach residents early, before problems become large. For this adjustment, a broad collaboration between different parts of public administration is required. It can be about, for example, care, school, cultural and leisure activities and the area of community development, but also civil society and other types of organizations; trade unions, employers, universities and university colleges.

Efforts of a promotional and preventive nature often include more social actors such as associations, relatives, local companies that operate in a number of different contexts in people's living environments. Applicant organizations are expected to work actively with broad actor involvement in analysis and development of proposals.

Contribute to a sustainable system transition

Impact Innovation will contribute to global competitiveness through transformation for sustainable development. Through our efforts, we contribute to the global commitment to reach the goals in Agenda 2030. In order to achieve sustainable system change, it is important that project in the design of new solutions handle goal conflicts and minimize the risk of unintended negative effects.

One aspect that Impact Innovation follows up and assesses is whether both women and men equally share in the contribution, participate in and have influence over the project, see section 7 and criterion for Actors.

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

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

Make available scientific publications and results

When results from research and innovation are made freely available, more people can contribute to solving societal challenges. This the call for proposals will contribute to making results available to everyone. Therefore, all scientific publication must be open access.

The project must be conducted jointly by at least two organisations. Coordinating participant must be municipality, region or state public authority. In addition, other relevant actors from civil society, universities, university colleges or companies can participate as project partners or in the role of other stakeholders, for example in a reference group or the like.

We have identified that the following types of actors can be decisive for a successful implementation:

• Owners of needs – municipalities, regions, state authorities.
• Users or recipients - those affected by the solutions, for example users, clients, patients or customers.
• Perspective providers - for example non-profit organizations with good knowledge of current challenges and how prevention efforts can be further developed in a different context.
• Enablers – normative or governing organizations and functions, for example administrative managers, lawyers, economists, controllers, management strategists who have the conditions to interpret, adapt or change normative conditions

What costs can we finance?

Our funding is covered by rules on state aid. The rules govern what kinds of costs we can finance. These are called eligible costs.

In this the call for proposals these types of costs are eligible:

• Personnel costs: Wages, 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 an external actor
• Other direct costs: For example materials, supplies and travel necessary to carry out the project
• Indirect costs (overhead): Costs that did not arise as an immediate consequence 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

For more detailed information on 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 of the project. Project costs must also be properly accounted for and reported separately from the organization's other costs. An organization may also not take up someone else's costs as its own.

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

The rules on state aid also govern what proportion of the costs we can finance. This is determined individually for each organization. We therefore distinguish how much funding the project can receive, and how much each participating participant can receive.

How much funding can the project receive?

Project in this the call for proposals can apply for a maximum of SEK 500,000 in funding with up to 80 percent aid intensity. The project duration is a maximum of eight months.

How much funding can a participant receive?

How much funding each participating participant can receive mainly depends on:

• which activities the party will carry out in the project
• party size and activities

In this the call for proposals we provide funding based on the following support bases:

Not state aid

In this the call for proposals we provide support to organizations that do not conduct economic activities. This means that they do not offer a service or product in a market. This usually includes public organizations, as well as research organizations such as universities, university colleges and research institutes.

We can finance up to 100 percent of such organization's costs.

State aid

In this the call for proposals organizations that carry out economic activities can receive support for feasibility studies.

Feasibility studies

Feasibility studies can be simply described as an evaluation and analysis of:

• strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and risks in an upcoming research and development project
• what resources are required to implement the project
• how likely it is that the project will succeed.

More information and a full definition of feasibility studies concepts.

Maximum aid intensity

The maximum level of support depends on the relevant basis for support, the size of the organization and the type of activity.

Feasibility studies for R&D project:

• Aid intensity for small business: 70 percent
• Aid intensity for medium-sized companies: 60 percent
• Aid intensity for large companies: 50 percent

We grant funding in accordance with Article 25 of the European Commission's General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER).

De minimis support ( support of minor importance)

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

An organization can receive a maximum of 300,000 euros over a three-year period in this form of support, regardless of funder and project. This means that if the same organization received support of less importance in other project from other funders before, it affects how big the support can be in this the call for proposals.

Submit a certificate of de-minimum support when you submit proposal. It is required for us to be able to grant this support.

Certificate of de minimis support

We grant funding in accordance with the EU Commission Regulation (2023/2831) on support of minor importance.

In order for us to take a position on and assess your proposal it must meet certain formal eligibility requirements. If the requirements are not met, proposal is rejected immediately.

Eligibility requirements for project parties

• The coordinating party must be a Swedish municipality, region or state public authority.
• The project consists of at least consists of at least two project parties.
• All project parties must be legal entities. We do not grant funding to individual companies.
• Participant who receives funding must have a Swedish organization number and the costs for participation in the project must be worked out at a Swedish operating location.

Eligibility requirements for project

• The project manager must be employed by one of the project parties.
• The project may not start before proposal is submitted.

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

What do we assess?

Potential

• How well proposal describes the potential for change in line with SustainGov's mission with a focus on the area of prevention and promotion work for social sustainability.
• How well proposal describes current system problems and how innovative the project idea is.
• The application's description of the potential to contribute to strengthening a holistic perspective within social welfare with the establishment and development of sustainable collaborations with necessary actors.
• How well the project is judged to contribute to increased gender equality.

Actors

• How well composed the project team is in terms of, for example, mandate, availability and responsibility to be able to work for change in the direction of the project.
• How well the actors reflect the systems perspective that the project works with.
• How well composed the project team is in terms of gender distribution. As well as how well power and influence is distributed between women and men in the project team.

Feasibility

• The realism, credibility and expediency of the project plan and budget.
• How well relevant actors in the system are involved in the implementation.
• How well equality aspects have been integrated into the project plan.

How do we judge?

All applications that meet the formal requirements are assessed in competition with each other. The applications that best meet the assessment criteria are granted funding. The evaluators consist of a group of experts appointed by Vinnova as well as programme manager from Formas, the Swedish Energy Agency and Vinnova.

Schematically, the decision-making process looks as follows:

1. Only applications that, after review, meet the formal requirements set out in section 6 will be assessed.
2. The assessments are made using the criteria stated in section 7.
3. Based on the assessors' recommendation, decisions are made about which project are to be granted funding and which are to be rejected.
4. In addition to an individual assessment of each project, Impact Innovation strives in this the call for proposals to achieve a spread of the application area of the granted projects.
5. Decisions are sent to those who have applied funding and information about granted project is then published on www.vinnova.se and SustainGov.

We also assess financial status

Before we decide on funding, we also make an overall assessment of the organizational and financial status of those who receive funding. We use information we receive 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, undergo liquidation or corporate restructuring. They must also not have unpaid debts with the Swedish Enforcement Agency.
• Joint stock companies must not have used up half or more of their share capital.

When we have assessed all applications, we will send a decision in which we either grant or reject your proposal. In the decision, we state how much funding each party in the project is granted. Our decision cannot be appealed.

What if you are granted funding?

If we grant your proposal, you must follow our general terms and conditions for funding. The terms and conditions include this:

• That you must sign a special document in which you approve your participation and undertake to carry 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 several 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 please start 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

You also need to follow the special conditions that apply to this the call for proposals:

• At least one representative for the project must attend the work meetings, conferences and other activities organized within the framework of SustainGov. This applies to a maximum of two physical and four digital occasions during the project period. Results, learning, experiences from the project must be shared at one of these meetings. The cost of participation is eligible for support.
• The project must collaborate and be available for dialogue with the program office for SustainGov as well as with the other projects granted within the call for proposals. The cost of participation is eligible for support.

We can also decide to add supplementary special conditions for individual project. In that case, they appear in the decision.

Can you have to pay back funding?

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.

To apply funding, you fill in a proposal in our e-service. Proposal contains questions about the project, participating project parties and budget.

You also attach these attachments to proposal:

• Project plan: use the prescribed template, maximum 8 pages
• CV attachment for key persons: use the prescribed template, maximum 1 page per CV

Notethat if appendices in addition to these are submitted, or if the number of pages is exceeded, the extra material will not be read or assessed.

The templates can be accessed via the call's website.

Added information 2024-10-17

At the same time as proposal is sent to Vinnova, a public project summary of a maximum of 2 A4 pages must also be sent to the program office for SustainGov via e-mail to: margareta.sandin@miun.se The content of these pages that are sent to the program office must be able to be distributed and published freely and must not contain confidential or otherwise sensitive information.

The following headings are desired:

• Title: Enter the project's title and any abbreviation in Swedish and English.
• The project's parties: State which organizations are involved in the project, who is the coordinator including contact person and email address, and project manager if it is another person.
• Budget: Total project cost, amount requested by Vinnova, cost per participant.
• Time for implementation: 2025-XX-YY to 2025-XX-YY
• Project idea: Describe the project idea, aim and objective as well as problems, challenges and opportunities.
• System approach: Describe the project's system approach and potential to address system problems and contribute news value.

Start proposal in good time

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

In our e-service, you can start filling in information and then continue at a later time. You can also distribute authorizations to others whom you want to contribute to proposal. When proposal is ready, you mark it as ready.

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

Revised 2024-10-17

In section 9, after the line: "The templates are accessed via the call's website." but before the next heading "Start proposal in good time" new text has been added:

Added information 2024-10-17

At the same time as proposal is sent to Vinnova, a public project summary of a maximum of 2 A4 pages must also be sent to the program office for SustainGov via e-mail to: margareta.sandin@miun.se The content of these pages that are sent to the program office must be able to be distributed and published freely and must not contain confidential or otherwise sensitive information.

The following headings are desired:

• Title: Enter the project's title and any abbreviation in Swedish and English.
• The project's parties: State which organizations are involved in the project, who is the coordinator including contact person and email address, and project manager if it is another person.
• Budget: Total project cost, amount requested by Vinnova, cost per participant.
• Time for implementation:2025-XX-YY to 2025-XX-YY.
• Project idea: Describe the project idea, aim and objective as well as problems, challenges and opportunities.
• System approach: Describe the project's system approach and potential to address system problems and contribute news value.