Impact Innovation: Collaboration for Sustainable water for all - a Water Wise Societies programme intervention 2024

The call for proposals is carried out within the framework of the program Water Wise Societies, part of Impact Innovation - an initiative of the Energy Agency, Formas and Vinnova.

The offer is aimed at actors from various sectors, industries and organizations who, in collaboration, want to bring about a system change for sustainable water management - for people, society, business and the environment.

We finance stakeholder groups that want to take on a social challenge that contributes to Water Wise Societies's mission "Sustainable water for all 2050" and its sub-goals. The challenge must be explored from a systemic perspective and be relevant in a Swedish context. It is you as applicant who defines your challenge and describes which actors need to cooperate.

The offer must result in proposals for continuation projects for future ventures. Funds have been reserved for such offers.

Impact Innovation is an actor-driven and long-term collection of forces that will contribute to global competitiveness through transformation for sustainable development.

Read more about Impact Innovation here
Read more about Water Wise Societies here

The offer is aimed at groups of actors in the system "from source to coast". It is relevant for, for example, municipalities, VA organisations, business and industry, regional actors, authorities, research organizations, institutes and the innovation system, civil society organizations and more.

Both new and existing groupings and networks can apply. At the time of application, the project group must contain at least three project parties, of which at least one needs owner.

Project can last for six months and receive up to SEK 500,000 in funding. Maximum aid intensity is 80 percent for a project.

This the offer within the Energy Agency, Formas and Vinnova's joint effort Impact Innovation is linked to the program Water Wise Societies.

The intention of the offer is to give stakeholder groups the opportunity to plan and start long-term work with a complex social challenge to contribute to one or more of Water Wise Societis's sub-goals being met. It can be about both geographical and thematic challenges.

Funds to finance continuation projects will be available after completion of project.

Contribute to the fulfillment of the mission "Sustainable water for all by 2050".

Water Wise Societies is one of five programme within Impact Innovation. The program's mission means that in 2050, water is available in the right quantities and qualities for people, the environment, business and society in general to flourish, despite a changing climate. Sweden is the world's leading business partner for innovative water-related solutions.

The subgoal of the program is:

• Water Resilient Communities 2035
  Communities are built and managed in harmony with water and are resilient to climate change and crises. Entire watersheds are considered to store water in the landscape, replenish groundwater levels, and prevent flooding. A sustainable perspective on water is applied in cities through multifunctional blue-green infrastructure. Policy and governance supports and guides system and behavioral changes that make water management more sustainable and enable the use of alternative water sources of appropriate quality.
• Prosperous Lakes and Watercourses 2035
  Lakes and waterways are prosperous, protected and future-proofed where sources of pollution are identified and minimized. Conditions exist for groundwater and surface water to achieve good status in accordance with the framework directive for water. The entire catchment area is observed to ensure protection of surface water and groundwater and that urban development and business are not restricted.
• Access to water 2035
  Everyone has access to sufficient water of the right quality and quantity to ensure thriving ecosystems, safe drinking water, food and energy production, and competitive business. Water budgets are established and enable fair distribution and fair prioritization of water resources. System changes from linear to circular, resource-efficient water and resource flows are a prerequisite for ensuring sustainable water for all.
• Wise use of water 2035
  All parts of society use water wisely, consuming only the quantity and quality of water they need. Resources in water are reused in safe circular systems. Wastewater and process water resources are reused to help reduce the climate footprint, secure food production and increase the resilience of society and industry. Citizens are conscious consumers of water services and understand the importance and value of water.

The mission and interim goals in Water Wise Societies are part of the major change that needs to be made in order for us to reach a sustainable society. The transition affects the whole society; our cities, our welfare, our value chains and consumption patterns. Individual efforts are not enough, but comprehensive changes are required at all different levels, of social and technical systems throughout society: so-called system innovation.

In order to make the transition happen, experience, expertise and cutting-edge skills are needed from all corners of society and with multiple perspectives. It's about breaking silos and letting actors who otherwise don't meet discuss problems and solutions. We believe that new collaborations and new ways of working are keys to innovation and sustainable solutions.

Establish long-term stakeholder groups

Our hypothesis is that stakeholder groups form an important basis for the continued work at Water Wise Societies.

The intention of the effort is that the actor groups that are financed should be able to be further developed through future program efforts.

• It can be about investments where the formation or development of long-term stakeholder groups is at the center. Such stakeholder groups address complex challenges over time and contribute to the creation or introduction of new solutions as needs and opportunities are identified.
• It can also be a continuation project where actors in broad cooperation want to develop one or more specific solutions that can contribute to system change.

Both new and existing groupings and structures can contribute. However, existing initiatives need to consider whether new actors should be included in order to contribute to the selected societal challenge.

The challenges addressed must be relevant in a Swedish context. The projects must differ from already existing investments in the area, also internationally.

During the project period, the program office will guide the stakeholder groups in relation to Water Wise Societies's mission and long-term objective. Project will be support in exploring selected challenge and identifying possible solutions at system level. Guidance will also be offered regarding potential continuation projects. Funded actors will gather for dialogue and joint workshops.

Documentation on continuation projects

The projects that are financed must jointly contribute to the transition towards Water Wise Societies's intermediate goals. Therefore, funded project must produce the following documents to be reported in the final report:

1. An analysis of the complex challenge that you have chosen to work with, as well as how this contributes to the transition towards the mission and interim goals for Water Wise Societies.
2. A description of the desired future situation and a hypothesis about which system changes are needed to get there. It includes:
   - a system analysis of opportunities and obstacles for the challenge
   - future images for selected challenge
   - a mapping of actors that are relevant to the challenge
3. A formulated proposal for next steps. What kind of follow-up project is needed?
   - What activities need to be carried out to address the identified challenge
   - What solutions need to be developed?
   - Which stakeholder groups need to be formed or developed?

The project documents will form the basis for future investments within Water Wise Societies.

You can define continuation projects yourself. For example, it could be:

• Test beds
• Policy Lab
• System Demonstrators
• Customer network
• Geographic clusters
• Center of Competence
• Research, development and innovation projects to bring about new solutions through a systems approach
• Innovation competitions
• Mobility project

What does project need to consider?

The importance of a systems perspective

Clear problems with a clear solution are not the focus of the call for proposals. They must deal with challenges that may be difficult to grasp, that are changing over time, incompletely described or visibly self-contradictory. It is therefore important to have a system perspective, that is to look at the whole and not just the parts and downpipes but its interconnections. The system perspective is a prerequisite for social impact.

Within this call for proposals we have chosen to start from a system model that consists of five dimensions of change that, as a rule, need to be explored for system innovation to be possible.

The five dimensions are:

• new technical solutions
• functioning business or value models
• supporting infrastructure and production systems
• enabling policy and regulations
• permissive culture and values

We want project to identify a challenge that either requires profound change within specific system dimensions or gradual movements within several dimensions.

We know from previous investments that collaboration projects that have a clear system perspective early on have an easier time scaling up developed solutions at a later stage and thus contribute to system change.

The importance of foresight

To be able to make the courageous decisions required for system change, we need tools that can help us understand what lies ahead - we need to get better at understanding the future. With the help of foresight, the projects in this call for proposals can make better strategic decisions and be prepared for different possible events in the future, and how to deal with them. Based on the challenges that the projects identify as most important for the change we are facing, the projects must select areas where they create future images or future scenarios. These can, for example, concern changed behaviour, new business models or new services and technologies.

The importance of active participation, user involvement and policy development

To be able to influence the entirety of a system, actors who have different perspectives and who work in different sectors, industries and parts of the value chain need to be involved. The actors need to participate actively with both powers and responsibilities. Not only the creators and enablers are needed, but also users must be involved early. This is to be sure that the right solutions are developed, but also to create sustainable financing models over time and management structures for the solutions. In this way, they can be scaled up, spread and utilized for maximum effect in the system.

In addition, active work is required to remove any obstacles to the introduction of the solutions with the help of policy development to, for example, adapt laws and regulations. This means that it is important to involve, for example, system administrators and developers, problem owners, suppliers and users already in the formulation of the challenge. By user is meant customers or users.

The importance of having internationalisation as a starting point

In order to contribute to Water Wise Societies's interim goals, the projects need to have an international perspective. Solutions or contexts can exist internationally, or your future new solutions can create international interest or competitiveness and connect with international actors. The projects therefore need to work with an international perspective and an active monitoring of the world around them.

The importance of sustainable system change

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

The call for proposals is aimed at groups of actors in the system "from source to coast".

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

• Owners of needs - actors who need new solutions to societal challenges.
• Users and recipients - those affected by the solutions, for example customers and users. They are important demanders who must be involved in the project for, for example, needs identification.
• Enablers - for example, organizations that set rules and standards. If the project's success depends on understanding and interest from these types of actors, they need to be involved in your project.
• Solution owner - the actor responsible for solutions being introduced and disseminated so that they benefit as many people as possible.
• Foreign actors: project must have an international perspective and sometimes foreign actors are needed as project partners. You are welcome to participate in project on the following term:
  - A foreign actor cannot be coordinator.
  - In order for foreign actors to be granted funding, it is required that they have a Swedish organization number and that the costs for participation in the project are worked out in a Swedish branch or place of business.

The call for proposals is therefore relevant to a wide group of actors in the system "from source to coast": for example municipalities, VA organisations, business and industry, regional actors, authorities, organizations within research, institutes and the innovation system, civil society organizations and more.

Those of you who apply together do so as project partners, where one of you acts as coordinator.

A participant is actively involved in the project and shares risks and results. It is important that project partners and key people participate with active involvement.

There are other ways for organizations to participate in a collaborative project, such as being a subcontractor or reference group member.

Important activities in funded project are to deepen the understanding of selected societal challenges and to seek cooperation with more actors. Exactly which activities are needed may vary depending on the challenge being addressed and whether the organizations behind the project belong to a new or existing grouping.

Examples of activities that can be financed:

• Explore, map and analyze selected societal challenge in five system dimensions.
• Carry out foresight activity - developing scenarios or future images for your challenge.
• Identify and mobilize actors who need to be involved in order to realize the desired future.
• Develop proposals for solutions and activities (continuation projects) to work on further.

To produce the proposals, activities such as:may be needed

• Design a process and meeting place to develop a shared vision, transfer skills, promote learning and identify possible solutions.
• Plan how new solutions can be tested, evaluated and scaled up.

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

How much funding can the project get?

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 total budget for the call for proposals is SEK 7 million.

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 support to both organizations that conduct economic activities and organizations that do not conduct economic activities.

How do you determine whether an organization carries out economic activities?

An organization that offers some kind of service or product on a market is considered to be conducting 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 takes - that is, 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 carries out economic activities, contact call manager. However, the organization itself is responsible for assessing whether it carries out economic activities.

Not state aid

In this the call for proposals we provide support to organizations that do not conduct economic activities. This generally includes public activities, universities and university colleges, research institutes and other organizations that do not offer a service or product on a market.

We can finance up to 100 percent of such organizations' 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

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 support of minor importance, also called de minimis support. 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 has received support of less importance in other project from other funders, it affects how big the support can be in this the call for proposals.

To be granted this support, you need to submit a certificate of de-minimum support when you submit proposal.

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

What costs can we finance?

Our funding may only go to certain types of costs. 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 license costs: Consulting services, knowledge and patents purchased or used under license from an external actor.
• Other direct costs: For example materials, stock items 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, for example regular premises and cleaning.

For more detailed information on which costs we can finance, see Instructions for term on eligible costs 2024.

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 term on eligible costs 2024.

In order for us to take a position on and assess your proposal it must meet certain basic requirements - so-called formal eligibility requirements. If these eligibility requirements are not met, our evaluator will not handle your proposal.

The formal requirements are:

• The project group must contain at least three project parties, of which at least one needs owner.
• All project parties must be legal entities. We do not grant funding to individual companies.
• The coordinating party must have a Swedish organization number and conduct activities in Sweden.
• Beneficiary must have a Swedish organization number and that the costs for participation in the project are worked out in a branch or place of business in Sweden.
• All project parties must be creditworthy, see section 9.
• The project parties seeking funding for personnel costs must be registered as employers with the Swedish Tax Agency before we grant funding.
• The project manager must be employed by one of the project parties.
• The project may not start before proposal is submitted.
• Proposal is written in Swedish or English.
• Proposal must follow the instructions given in section 9.

What do we assess?

Your proposal will be assessed based on the criteria potential, actors and feasibility. The assessment also examines the application's description of how it will contribute to Water Wise Societies's interim goals, see section 2.

The assessment criteria for the Collaboration for "Sustainable water for all" are:

Potential

• To what extent applicant clearly defined a complex societal challenge that is relevant to Water Wise Societies's sub-goals.
• To what extent the formulation of the challenge is underpinned by a systems approach and requires a movement within several system dimensions.
• To what extent the project is judged to be able to contribute positively to Water Wise Societies's interim goals and global competitiveness through conversion for sustainable development.
• To what extent the project and its intended results differ or position themselves against already existing contexts and larger investments in the area, also internationally.
• To what extent the project's challenge and possible solutions are defined taking into account an equality perspective and thus can contribute to increased gender equality.

Actors

• To what extent the project parties have credibility and the ability to create an expedient and cross-border actor group with good anchoring.
• To what extent the project is based on active cooperation between different types of actors (see section 2) and includes the organizations that need to be involved for the project to be successful.
• To what extent the project manager and other key personnel have the competence and ability to carry out the project.
  - This includes the extent to which the project group has, or has access to, relevant competence in system analysis.
• How well the team's key personnel are composed in terms of gender distribution, as well as how well power and influence are distributed between women and men.

Feasibility

• To what extent the project is based on a credible project plan and budget where the activities are linked to project goals and desired results and long-term effects.
• Commitment and degree of collaboration between participating actors as well as involvement of need owners, customers, users or other relevant demanders.
• To what extent there are activities in the project plan that confirm an international outlook.
• The extent to which management of potential goal conflicts is integrated into the project plan.
• How well aspects related to gender equality are 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 appointed experts appointed by Vinnova as well as programme manager from Formas, the Swedish Energy Agency and Vinnova. The evaluators have experience in business, public activities, academia and civil society as well as knowledge linked to a wide range of areas and industries.

Since applications can relate to different types of project consideration will be given to the different conditions that apply to each project. This includes classification of basis for support based on the project's planned activities.

Schematically, the decision process looks like this:

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 a competitive situation, the overall portfolio perspective will be taken into account.
5. Decisions are sent to those who applied for funding and information about granted project at www.vinnova.se and the Water Wise Societies website.

When we have assessed all applications, we will send a decision in which we either grant or reject your proposal. In decisions on granting, 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 include this:

• That you must sign a special document in which you agree to carry out the project.
• That you must report your costs and results to us regularly during the project.
• That you parties in the project must agree on what applies to the project in a project agreement.
• How the results will be used, and how any 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 that are organized within the framework of Water Wise Societies's so-called "transformation arena". There must be 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 cooperate and be available for dialogue with the program office as well as with the other projects within the framework of the conversion arena above. 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 for funding you fill in a proposal in our e-service. Proposal contains questions about the project, other 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.

Please note: If attachments in addition to these, or excess page numbers, are sent in, these will not be read or assessed.

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

Check that all grant parties are creditworthy

• We do not grant funding to organizations that are insolvent or undergoing liquidation or corporate restructuring. We also do not grant funding to organizations that have unpaid debts or payment notices at the Swedish Enforcement Agency.
• Project parties that are limited liability companies must have half or more than half of the share capital intact. We do not grant funding to limited companies where half of the capital has been used up.
• Project parties that are not public organizations must be given a credit rating of A or B in the credit report we make. We do not grant funding to organizations that receive the lowest credit rating of C.

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. Therefore, start in good time. You can start filling in information and continue at a later time. When proposal is ready, you mark it as done.

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.

Please mark proposal well in advance before the call for proposals closes at 14:00 on September 4.

2024-05-28

Changed date of closure, can be found in section 9:
Please mark proposal well in advance before the call for proposals closes at 14:00 on September 4.

2024-08-22

In section 5, there is a reference to the Instructions for term on eligible costs in 2024 which differ from the previous version. It is found on this page Vinnova's general terms and conditions for funding