SIP InfraSweden: Increased circularity for the transport infrastructure, call for proposals 2

In this the call for proposals project are funded that contribute to solutions to sustainably create a more circular transport infrastructure that is robust and reliable at the same time. The transport infrastructure means the infrastructure for land-based traffic such as pedestrian, bicycle and vehicle traffic as well as rail traffic. Ground structures within ports and airfields can also be covered by InfraSweden, but not the main infrastructure for shipping and aviation itself.

By promoting recycling, reuse and efficient resource management, a more circular and resource-efficient transport infrastructure system can be developed. The goal is to conserve the earth's resources and at the same time maintain good opportunities for transport and travel.

Granted project will be conducted within the framework of the strategic innovation program InfraSweden, which means access to the program's network as well as participation in seminars and conferences organized by InfraSweden. There is also the possibility of innovation coaching.

The call for proposals aims to support innovation projects that are scalable and that can be implemented and have an impact in the near future. The innovation projects can focus on different phases within construction projects, everything from planning, design, production, operation and maintenance to decommissioning. And they can include development of both business models and construction methodology and more. The basis of support is experimental development. It is also possible to apply for de minimis support.

The projects must be carried out in collaboration where business, authorities, research institutes and academia together identify and develop innovative technology and services. One of the parties in the project must be the needs owner.

Need owner refers to interested parties who have needs and benefits from the solution and who can take care of the results of the project, i.e. manage, use, disseminate the results. Public and private clients, owners or managers of transport infrastructure, vehicle manufacturers, system owners and construction contractors are examples of possible need owners.

The aim is to increase the possibility that the innovations that are developed reach all the way to implementation.

The call's budget is SEK 10 million for the period 2024-2026 with an offer for funding of up to 50 percent of an innovation project's eligible costs.

Within the framework of the call for proposals innovation projects with at least two parties, maximum funding of SEK 3 million and a maximum project duration of 18 months are granted.

The project coordinator must be a Swedish legal person and at least one participant must be a needs owner with an interest in testing the solution that the project intends to develop. Foreign organizations are approved as project partners, but if they are beneficiary, they must have a branch or place of business in Sweden, to which the project costs must be attributable.

Each participant must be a legal person with a unique organization number.

Submitted project proposals are assessed according to criteria that have to do with potential, actor composition and feasibility. See section 7 for more information.

The assessment and decision-making process is coordinated by Vinnova, who hires specially appointed experts to assessment the projects.

Transport infrastructure has a central role in society and is crucial for economic growth, trade and mobility. At the same time, the transport infrastructure sector faces challenges related to resource consumption, waste management and environmental and climate impact.

Transport infrastructure is resource-intensive in comparison to many other sectors of society. Not using materials at all or finding solutions with an extremely long lifespan are preferable solutions, but sometimes material reuse is the best possible solution. Today's linear material handling has a big impact on our climate.

Circularity, which aims to create a circular system to minimize resource use and waste, plays an important role in addressing these challenges and shaping a more sustainable transport infrastructure. Circular material flows are also identified as a key to achieving a climate-neutral construction sector.

Circularity in transport infrastructure means moving from a linear model, where resources are extracted, used and discarded, to a more circular model where resources are recycled, reused and shared to maximize their lifespan and value.

By applying circular principles, we can reduce the need for new production and reduce the amount of waste, while achieving a more efficient and sustainable transport infrastructure.

Owners of needs within transport infrastructure need to find innovative ways to be able to build and maintain transport infrastructure with as low a climate footprint as possible. A more circular infrastructure is part of the solution.

Transition to a circular economy in the building and construction sector is a prerequisite for being able to reach several of the sustainability goals in Agenda 2030 and the environmental quality goals, not least the goal of reduced climate impact.

At the same time, it is important to work with circularity from a systems perspective and consider possible goal conflicts with other environmental and sustainability goals. For example, increased material recycling is positive from a circularity perspective, but a recycled material is generally more polluted than the corresponding virgin material.

This leads to a goal conflict between increased recycling and a non-toxic environment. Other examples of goal conflicts are chemical recycling of plastic, which is usually more energy-intensive, and shared economy, which often means more transportation.

The strategic innovation program InfraSweden is tasked with supporting competitive innovations that contribute to the sustainable development of the transport infrastructure system.

With this call for proposals InfraSweden, with Vinnova as financier, wants to support project that contribute to developing innovations to increase circularity within the transport infrastructure. The focus of the call is scalable innovations that can be implemented in the near future, no more than 5 years after the end of the project.

The projects applied for must be carried out in collaboration between different types of actors in order to provide the conditions for real innovation, that is to say that the new solution is implemented and used. For this to be possible, the projects must consist of different actors, both those who need the innovation and will implement it and those who develop it. These actors can be found within academia, research institutes, business, municipality and authorities.

The project's scalability and possibility of implementation must be described in proposal. The project applications may deal with circular solutions for a robust and reliable transport infrastructure. Solutions sought can address all conceivable measures such as planning methodology, technology development and changed operation and maintenance.

Development of business models and forms of procurement that promote circularity are also covered by the call for proposals.

Examples of areas connected to transport infrastructure that can be developed within the framework of this call for proposals are:

• Circular and resource-efficient constructions and construction technology. Methods to prevent or minimize waste.
• Recycling and reuse of building and construction materials.
• Conversion to domestic building materials and fuel to minimize the need for imports and long transportation.
• Efficient use of existing resources and infrastructure through optimized and sustainable maintenance.
• Development of procurement and contracts to enable circularity. Legislation, standards and technical regulations for steering towards increased circularity.

The call for proposals will contribute to achieving InfraSweden's long-term objective of a sustainable transport infrastructure system in Sweden. The call for proposals must also contribute to the program's other long-term objective, i.e. increased Swedish competitiveness and a climate-neutral transport infrastructure system from a life cycle perspective.

Genom Agenda 2030, the countries of the world have agreed on a global agreement and understanding of what characterizes sustainable development. In Inom Agenda 2030, Vinnova has specifically identified climate and gender equality as two central sustainability perspectives to which investments funded by Vinnova must contribute positively.

Read more about Vinnova's work to contribute to the goals of Agenda 2030

Project financed by Vinnova are thus expected to take special account of climate and gender equality aspects.

An equality aspect that Vinnova follows up and assesses is whether both women and men share in the grant in an equal way, participate in and have influence over the project. See section 7 under the actor criterion.

Another gender equality aspect involves analyzing and deciding whether there are sex or gender aspects that are relevant in connection with the project's problem area, solutions and utilization. This question is mandatory for all applicant and can be found under the heading " Project tasks".

Read more about Vinnova's work for equal innovation

The offer addresses project parties such as:

• has the ability and capacity to quickly and resource-efficiently develop and test innovative solutions within the call's priorities. Such as products, services, processes, working methods and business and procurement models.
• have a clear plan for testing their solution.

In order for an organization to participate as participant it must be a legal entity, participate in the design and implementation of the project and be involved in sharing risks and results.

At least one participant must be a needs owner, i.e. an actor who benefits from the solution and who can take care of the outcome of the project. To manage, use or distribute.

The coordinator must be a Swedish organization. International parties are welcome to participate in the proposed project.

However, Funding is only granted to Swedish organizations, which also includes foreign organizations that have a branch or place of business in Sweden. In that case, the costs in the project must be attributable to the branch's or establishment's activities.

Activities for which funding can be applied for

Project seeking funding must be about an innovation, i.e. an imagined solution that is new or significantly better than what is already on the market.

The innovation projects must be about solutions, in line with InfraSweden's goals, which are scalable and can be implemented in the near future, no more than 5 years after the end of the project.

Innovation projects can also be about developing procurement forms or business models that provide incentives for development and implementation in line with the objectives of the call.

The possibility of succeeding in moving forward with project results and ultimately implementing a new solution and achieving impact is affected by the constellation of actors. The project work must be carried out through cooperation between different actors. The solution's need owner must be a party to the project. How the project collaboration will take place and the interest of the various parties in, and commitment and roles in, the project must be described in proposal.

proposal must show how collective competence is ensured to support the implementation of the entire project. All competencies do not have to be in the project consortium, but must be linked to the project through, for example, a reference group.

It must also be made clear how gender equality is taken into account in the composition of the project group, in the selection of project manager and in the implementation of the project, its content and its objective and effects.

Applicant can advantageously review how the project idea relates to InfraSweden's nine innovation aspects. These often need to be developed in parallel for the innovation to come all the way to application.

See more information about the innovation model and important innovation aspects as well as concrete tips regarding proposal

Applicant can also contact the program office or the program's innovation manager to get tips and advice about their proposal.

Eligible costs

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

Se Vinnovas general terms and conditions for funding and "Instructions for eligible costs"

Each participant is responsible for ensuring that funding received does not exceed the aid intensity permitted according to the rules for state aid.

Funding will be granted with support of Section 9 of Regulation 2015:208 on state aid for research and development and innovation. That is, as support for research and development projects according to Article 25 of the Commission's EU Regulation No. 651/2014 (GBER).

In order to be granted funding with support of Article 25, the project activities must fall within Experimental development according to the "Table of support levels for state aid" which is reported in the rules on state aid.

Read more about state aid and permitted support levels in the document "Support levels, definitions etc. according to Vinnova's support scheme"

In order to be eligible to apply as asmall or medium-sized company, the company size must be proven via a certificate attached to proposal (Model Declaration). If certificates are not attached, the company will be classified as a large company.

Funding may also be granted with support of § 2 p. 2 regulation 2023/2831 on state aid for research and development and innovation, that is, as support of minor importance according to EU regulation no. 1407/2013 (a so-called de minimis - support). This can be particularly interesting for smaller companies. Before such support can be granted, a certificate of minor support must be submitted to Vinnova. This is done in connection with proposal.

Funding to parties that do not carry out economic activities is granted with support of Section 4 "Ordinance (2015:208) on support for research and development and innovation". In these cases, the grant does not constitute state aid.

Vinnova's funding in this call for proposals can amount to a maximum of SEK 3 million per project. The grant can amount to a maximum of 50 percent of the project's total eligible costs.

The call's total grant budget is provisionally SEK 10 million for the period 2024-2026.

The project duration must be limited to a maximum of 18 months.

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

Research and development – Article 25

Maximum aid intensity

Experimental Development

• Small business: 45%
• Medium-sized company: 35%
• Large company: 25%

Experimental development
If the project includes actual collaboration or dissemination of results, or meets other bonus criteria

• Small business: 60%
• Medium-sized company: 50%
• Large company: 40%

By actual cooperation is meant a certain level of cooperation between small and large companies, between companies in two different European countries or between research organizations and companies.

Dissemination of results means extensive dissemination through, for example, conferences or open databases.

For full information on these bonus bases, see Support bases and support levels for funding

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

• Small companies are companies with 1-49 employees and a turnover of a maximum of EUR 10 million.
• Medium-sized companies are companies with 50-249 employees and a maximum turnover of EUR 50 million.
• Large companies have more than 250 employees and a turnover of more than EUR 50 million.

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.

Not state aid

In this the call for proposals we also provide support to organizations that do not conduct economic activities. This generally includes 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.

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

An organization that offers any kind of service or product on a market is considered to be conducting economic activities and cannot be granted this form of support. 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 financial activities, contact call manager. However, the organization itself is responsible for assessing whether it carries out economic activities.

Read more about state aid and permitted support levels in the document "Support levels, definitions etc. according to Vinnova's support scheme"

See also "Vinnova's general terms and conditions" for funding and "Instructions for eligible costs"

Requirements for assessment of proposal

Only applications that meet the following formal eligibility requirements will be assessed:

• The innovation project must have at least two project parties.
• The coordinating party must be a Swedish organization and all project parties must be legal entities.
• The attachments in proposal must be designed strictly according to section 9. Proposal must be written in Swedish or English.
• Applications must be received no later than 1:59 p.m. on the last application day via Vinnova's e-services

Other prerequisites

In addition to the formal requirements according to section 5, the following prerequisites also apply:

• At least one participant must be a requirement owner for the project's results.
• The project duration must be limited to a maximum of 18 months.
• According to proposal the project must start no earlier than 12 November 2024 and no later than 19 November 2024.
• Status secured, applied for, planned for co-financing in the project must be stated in proposal. Including each project party's own funding.
• Project parties must be specified in Vinnova's e-services, where the budget is shown for all project parties. It is not enough to indicate project parties in the project description.
• The project must not have started before proposal is submitted.

What is assessed?

The project must be in line with what InfraSweden wants to achieve through this call for proposals. See Section 1 for more information.

Proposal will be assessed according to the following criteria:

Potential

• potential of the project results to contribute to creating a more circular transport infrastructure and reach the goal of a climate-neutral construction sector.
• The scalability of the solution both nationally and internationally.
• Potential for implementation in the near future after project completion, maximum 5 years.

Actors

• Composition, competence, ability and commitment of the constellation of actors in relation to project goals, execution and implementation.
• Business partners' share of co-financing.
• Stakeholders' degree of commitment and participation in the project.
• The composition of the team with regard to gender distribution, as well as the distribution of power and influence between men and women.

Feasibility

• Reliability of the project plan and project budget.
• Reliability in strategy to realize the potential and utilization of results.
• How well equality aspects have been integrated into the project plan.

How does the assessment process work?

The applications are assessed in competition. The assessment is based on the electronic proposal submitted via Vinnova's e-services. See section 9.

Briefly, the decision process looks like this:

• Proposal are submitted via Vinnova's e-services.
• Project reports are sent to the program office for InfraSweden via programkontoret@infrasweden.nu
• Only those applications that meet the formal requirements will be assessed based on the assessment criteria. See Sections 6 and 7 for more information.
• The applications are assessed by specially appointed evaluator, both external experts and Vinnova's expert programme manager, who submit their overall recommendation to Vinnova at an assessment meeting.
• If necessary, Vinnova conducts telephone interviews with representatives of project parties. Notice can be given at relatively short notice, approximately one week before the decision date.
• Vinnova makes decisions about project funding taking into account the assessors' recommendations.
• Vinnova notifies the decision to applicant and informs the management of InfraSweden about the outcome.

Vinnova's decision

How much each party in the project is granted in funding is shown in the decision. Funding will be granted according to what is stated in section 4. The basis for support appears in the decision and also governs which costs are eligible for support.

Vinnova's decision to grant or reject a proposal cannot be appealed.

Term for granted funding

For granted funding, Vinnova's general terms and conditions apply for funding. The terms contain, among other things, rules about project agreements, conditions for payment, follow-up, reporting and utilization of results.

See current term

Scientific publication must take place with open access in accordance with Vinnova's instructions.

As the call for proposals takes place within the framework of strategic innovation programs, the following special conditions also apply:

• The project must be represented by at least one participant at the conferences and other activities organized within InfraSweden. Usually two half days per year.
• In information about the project and in every publication of project results, it must be stated that the work was carried out within the strategic innovation program InfraSweden, a joint effort by Vinnova, Formas and the Energy Agency.
• A brief description of the project and its objective, with an image that can be a photo or illustration that fits the project, must be submitted to InfraSweden via e-mail: programkontoret@infrasweden.nuat the latest at the start of the project
  Publication takes place at www.infrasweden.nu
• Project reports that are public must be sent to InfraSweden during the course of the project but no later than at the end of the project via email: programkontoret@infrasweden.nu
• At the same time as the project's final report to Vinnova, a summary of the project results must also be sent to InfraSweden via e-mail: programkontoret@infrasweden.nu
  The summary must be able to be distributed and published freely and must not contain confidential or otherwise sensitive information.
• When the project is finished, the project must submit a final report to Vinnova based on Vinnova's instructions and to InfraSweden according to the program's final report template provided by InfraSweden's program office.

Supplementary special conditions can be decided for individual project.

If you do not comply with Vinnova's term, you may be liable for repayment. This also applies if you have been granted funding incorrectly or with too high an amount.

When your proposal has been registered, we email a confirmation to the person responsible for the user account as well as to the project manager and the signatory. This may take a few hours after the call for proposals closes. If you have not received a confirmation within 24 hours after the call for proposals closes, please contact us.

When the call for proposals is closed, you cannot change or fill in any new information. Then you can only supplement your proposal if we ask for it.

Who can read your proposal?

Applications submitted to us become public documents. But we do not disclose information about the business, inventions or research results if it can be assumed that someone will suffer financial damage if the information is shown.

This means that we must hand over the documents if someone requests them. But we keep confidential the information that we judge could mean financial damage if it is disclosed.

This is how we handle public documents and confidentiality