Impact Innovation: Implementation project for a reformed public sector

The call for proposals is carried out within the framework of the SustainGov program, which is part of Impact Innovation – an initiative of the Swedish Energy Agency, Formas and Vinnova.

SustainGov creates the conditions for a reformed public sector that holistically promotes and facilitates health and well-being for all residents regardless of geography and socioeconomic status, and ensures society's sustainable transformation within the planet's boundaries.

This offer provides support for implementation projects where actors collaborate to develop, test and further develop new ways of organizing, financing, governing and working within the public sector, as well as in collaborations between the public sector and other societal actors.

We are looking for project that contribute to systemic change within one or more of the program's four focus areas:

1. System-wide collaboration for complex care needs – Changed working methods between healthcare and social care actors where the individual's health and long-term well-being are at the center.
2. An inclusive society for all – Shared responsibility from the public sector in aim of creating systemic change where the sector meets the needs of vulnerable target groups through co-creation and inclusion.
3. Future-proofing food security for health and well-being – A new role for the public sector that strengthens resilience in the food system and ensures a sustainable and nutritious food supply for all.
4. The social contract of the future: a renewed relationship between residents and the public sector – The public sector creates stronger ties to residents, business and civil society to contribute to new common solutions.

The grant can amount to a maximum of SEK 4,000,000 per project and a maximum of 70 percent of the project's total eligible costs.

The project that are financed must have a project duration of 12–24 months, with the project start no later than December 1, 2025.

This offer is one of three parallel calls for proposals that aim to finance different types of activities within the framework of SustainGov:

• Preparatory project
• Implementation project (this call for proposals)
• Alliances of Change

SustainGov is a mission-driven programme within Impact Innovation that is a joint effort of the Swedish Energy Agency, Formas and Vinnova. SustainGov's mission is to achieve a reformed public sector by 2035 that holistically promotes and facilitates health and well-being for all residents regardless of geography and socioeconomic status, and ensures society's sustainability transition within the limits of the planet.

A reformed public sector with a systems approach

To achieve the program's mission, the public sector needs to fundamentally change. SustainGov advocates for a shift from today's reactive, organization-bound, and process-driven ways of working to more proactive, personalized, and impact-focused solutions.

The move involves many interacting changes in working methods, responsibilities and approaches within the public sector. The following starting points are central to SustainGov:

• Move from managing problems as they arise (symptoms) to preventing and anticipating them (causes), enabling a more sustainable and efficient use of shared resources.
• Move from an organization-oriented approach (inside-out perspective) to designing solutions that are based on the individual's needs and life situation, where the individual and other actors are given the opportunity to collaborate and take responsibility for common solutions across organizational boundaries (outside-in perspective).
• Recognizing residents as active co-creators of solutions. By involving those who have first-hand experience of the challenges to be addressed, the public sector can develop more sustainable, relevant and effective interventions.
• Shift focus from being process-driven and only measuring short-term results with simple indicators to assessing long-term effects that contribute to societal development. Act based on a systems view and public accountability to ensure that no one falls through the cracks in the system.
• Ensure active involvement of, and shared responsibility between, multiple levels of government within the public sector to achieve increased systemic effects.
• Create new ways to engage equally and co-create solutions where the public sector, business, the nonprofit sector and individuals come together around common system challenges in aim to achieve the mission.
• Increase system capacity to develop, scale up, distribute and utilize new solutions.
• Act with strategic responsibility and active support from both political leadership and organizations to enable the desired transfers.

With these starting points, SustainGov intends to contribute to long-term shifts in how the public sector works, collaborates and creates value for society and its inhabitants. Fundamentally, it is about a reformed public sector with a systems perspective.

Program focus areas

SustainGov has chosen to focus its efforts on four focus areas:

1. System-wide collaboration for complex care needs.
2. An inclusive society for all.
3. Future-proof food supply for health and well-being.
4. The social contract of the future: a renewed relationship between residents and the public sector.

Focus area 1: System-wide collaboration in complex care needs

Swedish healthcare and social care are facing major challenges in meeting complex and future needs. Many municipalities assess that the current financing model is not sufficient to cope with elderly care and the healthcare ambition levels require annual efficiency improvements equivalent to several billion kronor to be maintained until 2040. At the same time, expectations from residents remain high, with eligibility requirements for the development of and access to new treatments and technologies.

One of the biggest problems is the lack of coordination and coordination, both within the health and medical services and between regions and municipalities, but also with state authorities and other actors. This leads to duplicated efforts, delays or, in the worst case, no care, quality deficiencies and insecurity for patients. Relatives often have to shoulder the responsibility for holding the efforts together, and for those without active relatives, access to high-quality care is made more difficult. The fragmentation of the health and social care system contributes to inequality, inefficient use of resources and increased costs.

Groups with large and complex care needs, such as the elderly with multiple illnesses, people with comorbidities and children with chronic diseases, are particularly affected. A small proportion of patients account for the majority of healthcare costs, but their needs are often handled by different actors without efficient collaboration. Fragmented care chains, strong financial management and different regulations make it difficult to find comprehensive solutions and contribute to individuals “falling through the cracks in the system”.

The public sector is expected to perform significantly more with fewer resources in the future, which requires new ways of working and better capacity for interaction between principals and other actors. Although preventive and coordinated efforts can reduce costs and improve results, incentives and joint governance to realize these are often lacking. Organizational and governance models focus largely on the organization or business itself in terms of both assignments, compensation and follow-up, which makes joint working methods difficult.

The problem, however, is not that there is a lack of collaboration forums between, for example, the region and municipality, but that these too rarely lead to concrete and lasting results for patients and residents. At the same time, in many cases there is a lack of working methods to support patients and residents' opportunities to contribute to their own health and well-being.

The challenge is to create a more person-centred and coordinated care system, where the actors work together to meet the needs of groups with the greatest need. If we fail to do this, it will be more difficult to ensure sufficient resources and capacity in welfare, and residents risk receiving lower quality care services, which can increase ill health and in turn undermine trust in welfare.

Focus area 2: An inclusive society for all

Sweden has a long tradition of striving for equality and social justice, but despite this, there are large groups in society that are at risk of being left out. Vulnerable groups, such as people with disabilities, people with low education, foreign-born people, young people at risk of exclusion or crime, and the elderly in involuntary loneliness, often face major obstacles to fully participating in society.

These barriers can be both structural and psychosocial. They can involve lack of access to education or other social services, difficulties in establishing themselves in the labour market, but also social norms and discrimination that make it difficult for people to feel part of society. At the same time, these groups often tend to be seen as passive recipients of support rather than active co-creators of solutions in their own lives, based on their own experiences and resources.

The challenges vary depending on the geographical and socio-economic context. In metropolitan areas, for example, residential segregation can affect opportunities for social cohesion, while some municipalities and rural areas may have difficulties in maintaining a wide range of welfare services. Differences in access to social services and opportunities for participation can thus affect social cohesion and lead to increased social disparities.

The public sector has failed to address recurring systematic causes of exclusion, such as lack of integration, discrimination or stigmatization. The tendency to focus on short-term solutions that do not address the underlying societal problems means that the effects of the interventions are too rarely sustainable in the long term.

The target group is individuals who face particular challenges in society and are at risk of social exclusion. This includes, for example, people with weaker socio-economic status, foreign-born people who face barriers to integration, or people with disabilities who may have limited access to support and fewer opportunities to participate fully in society.

Many in these groups are affected by factors such as interrupted schooling, unemployment, health problems or lack of social networks, which can make it difficult for them to participate fully in society. Organized crime and discrimination pose additional risks. At the same time, shortcomings in support- and social systems can make it more difficult to get the right help in a timely manner. By strengthening these groups and creating better conditions for inclusion, interventions can contribute to a more equal and cohesive society.

Focus area 3: Future-proofing food supply for health and well-being

The food supply in Sweden faces major challenges that affect both individuals and society. With a low degree of self-sufficiency and a strong dependence on imported inputs, our food system is vulnerable, especially in times of crisis or disruption in global supply chains. In addition, unhealthy eating habits have an impact on public health, leading to an increasing incidence of diseases such as obesity, diabetes or cardiovascular diseases. This affects both health of the individual and the burden of care that must be managed by the public health and medical services.

The lack of a systems approach makes it difficult to work towards a sustainable food supply. Public responsibility for food supply is often fragmented, with responsibility for planning, implementation and supervision divided between different sectors and levels within the public sector. Lack of coordination between these actors leads to inefficient solutions and makes it more difficult to manage the complex conflicts of interest that exist between the environment, food production and public health. This also makes it more difficult to implement long-term solutions, which means that short-term problems receive more focus than long-term societal challenges.

A clear example of systemic problems is that farmers often find the administrative regulations supported by many authorities burdensome, which can lead to stress, affect their quality of life and, in the long term, impair the capacity to deliver high-quality domestic raw materials. At the same time, agriculture has an important role to play in climate change adaptation, society's resilience to crises and wars, and access to sustainable, healthy and locally produced food.

To create a future-proof food supply for health and well-being, the public sector needs to work in new ways together with other actors. A new way of working that not only prioritizes the production of and access to food but also promotes health and sustainability. This means that healthy food must be both accessible and affordable for everyone, regardless of socio-economic background, while production must reduce its environmental impact and become more resilient to future crises.

Focus area 4: The social contract of the future – renewed relationship between residents and the public sector

SustainGov's fourth focus area differs from the other three. It is of a more generic nature and has relevance to many different policy areas. Here, the focus is on rethinking established approaches, norms and structures that hold back the development of the public sector.

SustainGov's mission stems from a need to renew and future-proof the so-called social contract between citizens and the public sector. The conditions for maintaining today's public services are not sustainable in the long term, whether in terms of available resources or the expectations that citizens have.

There is a growing perception among certain groups in society that parts of the public sector are abdicating their responsibilities and that the needs of residents are not being met. This leads to reduced trust in public institutions. Many residents also feel invisible and experience a gap between expectations and the actual outcome of public services. At the same time, business and civil society experience that they are not included as equal actors in social development, even though they often have solutions and ideas.

To meet this challenge, a shared vision of responsibility and mission is required, where the public sector joins hands with citizens, business and civil society. This requires a change in how the public sector is governed and led to create more needs-oriented and inclusive systems. By working together and learning from each other, we accelerate the paradigm shift towards new ways of working in the public sector that are better positioned to achieve the SustainGov mission than today's systems.

A key aspect is to redefine the view of one's own role; traditionally, public organizations have shown too much interest in themselves and their own operations. By allowing the user to take a greater place in the interpretation of what constitutes a well-functioning activities, pressure is created for change. This means redefining the role of the public sector – not only as a democratic actor, community builder and service provider but also as an active co-creator of solutions together with residents, business and civil society. By promoting interaction and trust between all societal actors, we can build a more efficient and sustainable public sector where the needs and values of residents are at the center.

Today, it is the public organization and its service production, or parts of it, that are controlled and monitored, rather than the effects that the public sector's deliveries have on residents, patients, users or companies. To better meet the needs of society, public resources and governance must be focused on functions that create real benefit, rather than maintaining organizational structures that do the right thing based on their missions but at the same time have limited effect on the individual and/or societal level. Governance and organizational models within the public sector therefore need to be developed to focus more on long-term consequences and effects, while providing better conditions for broad interaction across organizational boundaries.

This also requires increased understanding and acceptance that actors other than the public sector themselves can contribute to more effective and value-creating interventions. Today, there is a widespread perception that preventive and promotional interventions are important, but in practice, short-term solutions and emergency interventions are often prioritized. To change this, multi-year budgets and operational plans could be a possible way to try. Impact measurements, socio-economic calculations and outcome contracts are other examples of such tools that fall within this focus area. There is also a need to address the investment paradox, where many valuable ideas are never implemented because the actors who bear the cost cannot benefit from the benefits.

SustainGov can also be seen as an effort to strengthen democracy. This requires a shared view of responsibility and mission, where the public sector more clearly links arms with residents, business and civil society. Sweden lags behind many countries when it comes to increasing citizen engagement and influence in democratic and political processes. The initiatives that are implemented often lack political anchoring and representative participation. They are implemented as isolated efforts and therefore do not affect the system at large. Here, efforts are needed at several levels that enable actual participation supported by new processes, tools (not least digital), and ways of organizing to strengthen participation and participatory democracy.

More information about SustainGov
For further information about SustainGov and the efforts the program is implementing to achieve systemic changes in the public sector, see SustainGov's website.

More information about Impact innovation
Impact Innovation is Sweden's major innovation initiative to tackle the challenges of our time and the future. In collaborations between actors in the private, public and non-profit organizations, Impact Innovation meets real technical and societal needs with groundbreaking solutions. On the way to a sustainable and competitive Sweden, attractive to live in for everyone. Together we show what is possible, and are ahead internationally.

Impact Innovation works with new methods, approaches and tools to meet societal needs with groundbreaking solutions. More information about mission-oriented working methods and concepts such as systems innovation can be found at Impact Campus.

Implementation projects within SustainGov

Implementation projects within SustainGov are expected to develop, test and further develop new ways of organising, financing, governing and working with a systems approach and collaboration within the public sector, as well as between the public sector and other sectors. The aim is to better meet the needs of the end target group and increase the public sector's capacity to deal with complex societal challenges.

Together, the funded projects will contribute to a number of shifts that are about changing the practice and culture of the actors involved, with aim of contributing to the reform of the public sector.

The following movements are considered central to achieving SustainGov's mission:

• from reactive to proactive – shifting focus from only dealing with problems when they arise to anticipating and preventing them, enabling more sustainable and efficient use of resources,
• from organization-oriented to individualized interaction – creating joint solutions that are based on the needs of individuals, rather than being tied to fixed organizational structures,
• from process and indicator-driven to impact-focused – shift focus from being process-driven and only measuring short-term results with simple indicators to assessing long-term effects that really contribute to social development, including by using impact indicators to follow up on actual improvements in the target group's health and well-being,
• from seeing the individual as a passive recipient to an active co-creator – recognizing individuals as active co-creators in the development of solutions to achieve more sustainable and relevant results.

In addition, an implementation project is expected to demonstrate:

• a clear connection to the needs of a designated target group and the systemic problems within one or more of SustainGov's four focus areas,
• a clear commitment from involved parties to contribute to a reform of the role of the public sector and its capacity to change attitudes, behaviors, practices, governance, frameworks and organization,
• a goal to develop business-related solutions and components that can be scaled up beyond the individual project, into the company's own core business.

Part of a larger effort

The offer for theimplementation projectis part of a larger effort from SustainGov, which includes several parallel calls for proposals where there is also the opportunity to seek support for preparatory projects and change alliances:

Preparatory project: aims to identify, analyze and address underlying system issues. The projects are expected to lay the foundation for innovative and cross-border proposals for testing and development at a later stage. Maximum funding is SEK 500,000 for six months.

Implementation project: aims to develop, test and further develop new ways of organizing, financing, governing and working within the public sector, as well as between the public sector and other sectors. Maximum funding is SEK 4,000,000 for 12 to 24 months.

Alliances for Change: intend to implement and scale up new solutions to transform governance, working methods, organization and culture in practice at all levels with the intention of long-term reform of the role of the public sector. These are SustainGov's national flagship for a reformed public sector. Maximum funding is SEK 10,000,000 over three years.

These three different project types with focus areas are planned to be annual calls for proposals.

SustainGov is actively working with its project portfolio to enable learning between project, program offices and other system actors, both within each focus area and around the system issues being addressed.

Project within SustainGov are expected to contribute to this learning process by actively participating in common forums for the exchange of experiences and sharing results, insights and methods that can be applied more broadly within the public sector. In these forums, a wide range of actors with widely varying backgrounds will be involved. Each project and its actors need to contribute together with others to the overall picture of how a reformed public sector can be realized.

Contribute to a sustainable system transformation

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 this:

• 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 and thus to a sustainable system transition within the planet's boundaries.

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

Agenda 2030 as a driver for innovation

Making scientific publications and results available

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

The project must be conducted jointly by at least three project parties, of which at least two are need owners within the public sector and represent at least two different levels of administration (local, regional or national).

The coordinating participant must be an actor in the public sector, such as municipality, an association of municipalities, a region or a state public authority. We would like to see the approved projects together involve a wide range of public actors from across the country, which includes, for example, both resource-rich and resource-poor municipalities and regions.

In addition, other relevant actors from civil society, universities, university colleges or companies should participate as project partners or in the role of other stakeholders, for example in a reference group or similar.

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

• Needs owners – municipalities, municipality- and municipal associations, regions, state agencies. We would like to see universities and publicly owned companies participate as project partners but do not categorize them as needs owners in this context.
• Enablers in the public sector – normative or governing organizations and functions, such as administrative managers, lawyers, economists, controllers, management strategists who can interpret, adapt or change normative conditions.
• Users or recipients – those affected by the solutions, such as users, clients, patients or customers.
• Perspective providers – for example, universities and institutes with expert knowledge, business and non-profit organizations that contribute new ways of thinking and with good knowledge of current challenges and how initiatives can be further developed in other contexts.
• Borderline – actors with a systems perspective and expertise in systems analysis, methodology, etc., who contribute to active action and implementation and enable system movement.

What activities do we want to finance?

This offer funds implementation projects. These project will develop, test, and further develop new ways of organizing, financing, governing, and working within the public sector.

Some examples of activities that can be included in an implementation project:

• Development and testing of new methods, processes and models in a confined environment, for example through various forms of experimental activities such as testbeds, system demonstrators and policy labs.
• Exploratory activities to create new knowledge and new skills that can strengthen the public sector's ability to collaboratively address complex societal challenges.
• Preparation of documentation to describe the conditions required to introduce or test solutions on a larger scale.

Joint learning and exchange of experiences

Granted project shall contribute to joint learning and exchange of experience with other granted project, for example at the kick-off and final conferences, by responding to surveys and through SustainGov's learning platform.

Special process and method support, which focuses on the systems perspective and conditions for scaling up and reusing system innovation, is planned from SustainGov, which the project will co-create with.

Each project needs to allocate at least 100 hours per year to participate in the activities listed above. The costs of such participation are eligible for support.

What costs can we finance?

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 these 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 licensed from a third party. Costs for consulting services from third parties may not exceed 20 percent of a project party's budget.
  A higher percentage than 20 percent may be approved in case of special needs. You must then justify the need for consulting services in proposal. This justification will be taken into account in the assessment.
• Other direct costs: For example, materials, supplies and travel necessary to carry out the project.
• Indirect costs (overhead): Costs that are not incurred as an immediate consequence of but can be related to the project, such as regular premises and cleaning.
  Indirect costs may constitute a maximum of 30 percent of personnel costs. Universities, university colleges, and certain research organizations and government agencies have higher maximum limits depending on the type of activities.

For more detailed information about 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 in the project
• recorded correctly and separately from the organization's other costs.

An organization may also not claim someone else's costs as its own.

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

All project partners who will receive support or contribute their own funding must be listed in Vinnova's e-service and a budget must be specified for all project partners.

How much funding can the project receive?

The grant can amount to a maximum of SEK 4,000,000, and a maximum of 70 percent of the project's total eligible costs.

We expect to fund between 3 and 7 project per focus area. The project funded will have a project duration of 12 to 24 months with project start no later than December 1, 2025.

How much funding can a participant receive?

How much funding each participant can receive depends mainly on:

• what activities the party will carry out in the project,
• party size and activities.

In this the call for proposals we provide support to both organizations that engage in economic activities and organizations that do not engage in economic activities.

How do you determine whether an organization is engaged in economic activities?

An organization that offers some kind of service or product on a market is considered to be engaged in economic activities. It does not matter how the organization is financed, whether it is public or private, or whether it has a profit motive. It also does not matter what legal form the business has, for example whether it is a limited liability company, a trading company, an economic association, a non-profit association or a foundation.

If you are unsure whether an organization in your project is conducting economic activities, contact call manager. However, the organization is responsible for assessing whether it is conducting economic activities.

Not state aid

In the offer we provide support to organizations that do not conduct economic activities. This means that they do not offer a service or product on 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 organizations' costs.

State aid

In this the call for proposals organizations that conduct economic activities can receive support according to the basis for support called Industrial research.

Industrial research aims to acquire new knowledge and skills to develop new products, processes or services, or to significantly improve existing products, processes or services. This involves the creation of components that form parts of complex systems, and may include the construction of prototypes or pilot operations.

For a complete definition, see funding bases and levels of support.

The size of the organization and type of activity determines how large a proportion of the costs we can finance, i.e. the maximum level of support.

Maximum support levels for Industrial research, provided that the requirements for collaboration and dissemination of results are met:

• Small business: 80%
• Medium-sized company: 75%
• Large company: 60%

To be eligible as an SME, the company size must be proven via a certificate, a so-called model declaration (see section 10) which must be attached proposal. If a certificate is not attached, the company will be classified as a large company.

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

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

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

All project partners applying for de minimis support need to submit a correctly completed certificate to Vinnova in connection with proposal. Use the form Certificate of de minimis support.

We grant funding in accordance with the EU Commission Regulation (2023/2831) on de minimis support.

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 will be rejected immediately.

Eligibility requirements on organizational form of project partners

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

Eligibility requirements for the project

• The coordinating party must be a public sector stakeholder. By stakeholder is meant Swedish municipalities, municipality- and municipal associations, regions, state authorities. In this context, higher education institutions and publicly owned companies are not included.
• The project must have at least three project partners, of which at least two are need owners within the public sector at at least two different administrative levels (local, regional or national level).
• The project manager must be employed by one of the project parties.
• The requested grant from Vinnova should amount to a maximum of 70% of the project's total eligible costs according to the budget in proposal.
• The project may not begin before proposal is submitted.

Applicant do not need to have received previous funding for preparatory projects within SustainGov to be able to apply for implementation projects.

Eligibility requirements on proposal

• Proposal must be written in Swedish or English.
• Proposal must follow the instructions given in section 10.
• Proposal must contain all requested attachments.

What do we assess?

Applications that meet all formal eligibility requirements will be assessed based on the criteria of potential, actors and feasibility.

Potential

• How great the project's potential is to contribute to SustainGov's mission and to systemic change within one or more of the program's four focus areas described in section 2.
• How well proposal describes current system problems and how innovative the project idea is.
• How well the project is anchored with relevant decision-makers for the possibility of scaling up the results after project completion.
• How well the project contributes to increased gender equality through the integration of relevant sex or gender aspects.
• How well the project contributes to climate change and thus to a sustainable system transition within the planet's boundaries.

Actors

• To what extent do the project partners represent a broad range of actors with the resources and capacity to implement the project.
• To what extent the project manager and other key individuals have the skills and shared ability to implement the project.
• How well-composed the project team is in terms of, for example, mandate, authority and responsibility to be able to work towards change in the direction of the project.
• How well the project team is composed in terms of gender distribution, and how well power and influence are distributed between women and men in the project team.
• To what extent does the project team have access to relevant expertise in sustainability in a broad sense (social, economic and ecological).
• How well the need for consulting services has been justified if consulting costs constitute more than 20 percent of a project party's budget.

Feasibility

• The realism, credibility and appropriateness of the project plan and budget.
• How well relevant actors, including target groups, are involved in the implementation.
• How well gender equality aspects have been integrated into the project plan.
• How well social, economic and ecological sustainability has been integrated into the project plan.

How do we assess?

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.

Schematically, the decision-making process looks as follows:

• Only applications that, after review, meet the formal requirements set out in Section 7 will be assessed.
• The assessments are made using the criteria set out in Section 8.
• In addition to assessing the quality of each application, in this the call for proposals we aim to achieve a spread of the approved projects between SustainGov's four focus areas.
• Based on the assessors' recommendations, decisions are made about which project should be granted funding and which should be rejected.
• Decisions are sent to those who have applied funding and information about approved project is then published on Vinnova's website and SustainGov's website.

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 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 project 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 Vinnova's general terms and conditions for funding. The terms and conditions 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 report 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. It can take time to get a project agreement in place, so it is a good idea to get this in place 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:

• The project will allocate at least 100 hours per year to participation in joint forums for learning and exchange of experiences within SustainGov.
• The project must be represented by at least one participant at the conferences organized within the program, approximately one to two times per year. The costs for such participation are eligible for support.
• In connection with the final reporting of the project, a summary of the project results shall be sent to the SustainGov program office according to a template that will be available on the Impact Innovations website. This summary shall be freely distributed and published on the SustainGov website and on the websites of the Swedish Energy Agency, Forma, Vinnova and Impact Innovations. The summary may not contain confidential or otherwise sensitive information.
• When providing information about the project and when publishing project results, it must be stated that the work was carried out within Impact Innovation-programmet SustainGov – an initiative funded by the Swedish Energy Agency, Formas and Vinnova, as well as the program's partners.

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 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