Pre-projects for the Pilot Health Scheme

Through the Pilot Health scheme, we will fund innovation processes that can contribute to sustainability in the health and care services as well as to value creation in Norwegian business and industry, as described in Report No. 18 to the Storting (2018–2019) on the health industry – working together on value creation and better services. The innovation processes must be based on the needs of patients, citizens or the public health services. 

Public and private entities will collaborate effectively to develop solutions that can reach patients and citizens more swiftly. The Pilot Health scheme emphasizes that the needs of the health services and the health industry should be equally represented in the project. 

This is a call for proposals for pre-projects that will prepare the ground for applications for main projects. The deadline for calls for proposals for main projects will be autumn 2025 (subject to the necessary allocation from the Government). 

It is mandatory to carry out a pre-project with funding from the Research Council in order to apply for a main project. 

What characterises a Pilot Health project? 

A Pilot Health project will: 

• be based on recognised and specific needs in the specialist health service and/or the municipal health and care service that are either anchored in patients/residents or in the service itself be an ambitious innovation process with a high probability of future implementation and scaling of solutions nationally and internationally 
• have cooperation between several stakeholders across the public, private and possibly voluntary sectors that safeguard the users' perspective in a good way. It may be useful that several service levels are represented in the project and there are services to test the technology/services that will be developed. 

A Pilot Health project must: 

• contain R&D activities that contribute to the development of innovative technologies, processes, products or services that respond to identified and clarified needs. 
• include R&D activities that help ensure that these solutions can be implemented, commercialised and scaled-up after or in parallel with the R&D project 
• be able to present clear quantifiable benefits in both the public and private sector 

To achieve the goal of the Pilot Health, it is important that you in the pre-projects 

• ensure broad user's involvement and mapping of the needs in the early phases of project development, so that the developed solutions are in line with the needs of patients, citizens, services and society 
• ensure the establishment and good anchoring of collaboration between relevant project participants from the public sector, the business sector, research organisations, user's organisations, non-governmental organization (NGO) or other relevant actors 
• ensure that a survey has been carried out of the prerequisites for the public agency(s) to implement the innovation, including the need for e.g. organisational and system-technical changes 
• make a plan for how a procurement should be set up 

What do you want to achieve in the pre-project? 

The pre-project must provide answers that can be used as a basis for an application for a main project. During the pre-project, you will have to find out 

• which needs and challenges the main project will address, preferably based on early user involvement and mapping of needs 
• the goals and ambitions of the main project – how the project will contribute to solving the challenges and meeting the needs 
• who will participate in the main project with a description of roles and responsibilities for all participants, including users and other stakeholders 
• how the value creation potential and potential benefits from the project can be substantiated, how the project can contribute to the goal of the Pilot Health scheme 
• how the main project can be carried out and what resources and budget are needed 
• what you need to do and who you need to involve in the main project to ensure that the developed innovations can be implemented and procured 
• how a main project can utilise existing research and innovation infrastructures (e.g. catapult centres or national research infrastructures) 

Priorities for this call 

The call is open to all projects that aim to meet clear needs in the specialist health service and/or the municipal health and care service that are either anchored in patients/residents or in the service itself. The needs must be based on a concrete clarification of needs with broad stakeholder involvement. We are looking for projects that aim to develop innovations that meet the needs while at the same time being able to contribute to sustainability and value creation in the health service and society. 

By sustainability in the health service, we mean ensuring that future health services will continue provide safe, equitable and and high-quality care to all citizens without increasing the overall burden on either the services or society.By innovations we mean new or significantly improved solutions, services, processes, organisational forms or marketing models that are used to achieve value creation and societal benefit. To contribute to value creation in Norwegian business and industry, the solutions developed in the project should have a market both in Norway and abroad. 

In this call, Pilot Health projects addressing the following topics will be prioritized: 

• Innovations that provide reduced personnel needs without compromising quality or productivity, cf. the Health Personnel Commission 
• Innovations that uses existinginfrastructuree ensuring the ability to scale-up quickly 
• Interaction, task sharing and communication between service levels 
• Recruiting healthcare personnel, creating attractive and resilient workplaces 
• Innovative AI solutions for sustainability in healthcare 
• Self-service solutions to master individual's health, prevent illness and increase health literacy 
• Projects that facilitate production processes in Norway 
• Other challenges anchored in specific needs may also be relevant to Pilot Health projects 

Please contact us if you have any questions 

The contact persons below are members of the reference group for the Pilot Health scheme. The members represent the specialist and primary health services throughout the country. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions about whether your project is suitable for the purpose of the call or if you need help getting in touch with the right professional environment/service level in the health service. 

The call is available in both Norwegian and English. The text of the Norwegian call for proposals is legally binding.