Pre-projects for the Pilot Health Scheme
Download the call
Download templates
Important dates
15 Dec 2024
Expected funding decision
01 Jan 2025
Earliest permitted project start
01 Mar 2025
Latest permitted project start
20 Oct 2025
Latest permitted project completion date
Important dates
Purpose
The Pilot Health is a funding scheme designed to support ambitious and complex innovation processes. This support aims to enable public sector agencies and companies to collaboratively establish innovation processes that address the needs of patients, citizens, or public health services. By fostering effective collaboration among public and private sector, and involving users, the scheme seeks to develop innovative solutions that entities alone cannot achieve. These solutions will enhance sustainability in health and care services, while targeting both national and international markets.
The deadline to submit a pre-project proposal is 16 October 2024. All applications will be processed after the deadline.
About the call for proposals
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.
|
Name |
Location |
|
Telephone |
|
Tine Thorbjørnsen |
The Research Council of Norway |
41611585 |
|
|
Simona Grasso |
The Research Council of Norway |
46378332 |
|
|
Elise Klæbo Vonstad |
KSF region central |
41688134 |
|
|
Marit S. Bratlie |
Central Norway Regional Health Authority |
90727296 |
|
|
Francis Odeh |
KSF Region North |
95155539 |
|
|
Sture Pettersen |
Northern Norway Regional Health Authority |
91703299 |
|
|
Cille Haglans Sevild |
KSF Region West |
51508014 |
|
|
Lena Forgaard |
Western Norway Regional Health Authority |
48124019 |
|
|
Elisabeth Holen-Rabbersvik |
KSF Region South |
93248992 |
|
|
Christian Skattum |
Oslo University Hospital |
40000920 |
The call is available in both Norwegian and English. The text of the Norwegian call for proposals is legally binding.
Who is eligible to apply?
The following companies can apply for pre-project funding:
- organisations in the public sector that are registered with an organisation number in Norway. See definition of public sector.
- companies that are registered in the Norwegian Register of Business Enterprises and have economic activity in Norway. Sole proprietorships are not eligible to apply.
Who can participate in the project?
Requirements for cooperation
The project consortium must consist of at least the following:
- a company that is registered in the Norwegian Register of Business Enterprises and has economic activity in Norway or an association of companies represented by, for example, a business cluster or an organisation representing relevant industries, and
- a public entity that represents the health and care services in Norway (including municipalities)
We want relevant societal actors or user' s organisations to be involved as partners.
You must list other relevant and potential partners in the project description, for which you will find a template at the end of the call.
The Project Owner may purchase goods or services from subcontractors.
Requirements relating to the project manager
There are no formal requirements for the Project Manager's qualifications, but the Project Manager must be employed by the Project Owner or by one of the partners.
What can you seek funding for?
You can apply for funding to cover the actual costs necessary to carry out the pre-project. The Project Owner must obtain information on costs from the partners in the project. These costs must be entered in the cost plan under the cost type to which they belong.
Funding for pre-projects can cover the following costs:
- payroll and indirect costs of the Project Owner and registered partners
- other operating costs, including costs for consultancy and similar services used exclusively for the project
You can find detailed and important information about what the budget should contain on the website.
Calculation of support
You can apply for support for 100 per cent of the budgeted project costs. You can apply for NOK 100,000–250,000 per pre-project.
Prerequisites for the award of funding
Projects must start between 01.01.2025 and 01.03.2025, and you can apply for funding from the Research Council for 2025. The latest permitted project completion date is 20.10.2025.
The project will have a simplified contract with the Research Council. We will disburse the support in arrears after an approved final report, and you will only be reimbursed for actual costs that have been entered in the organisations' accounts. All reporting must be done electronically.
Enterprises (enterprises with economic activity) will receive the aid as "de minimis aid". This means that the company can receive a maximum of EUR 200,000 over a three-year period. Prior to any payment of de minimis aid, we will ask for a written confirmation and an overview of all other de minimis aid that the company has received during the last three financial years. For enterprises that are part of a group, the maximum limit generally applies to the group as such. See also the EU de minimis aid regulation (Commission Regulation (EU) No 1407/2013). Read more about de minimis aid.
Relevant thematic areas for this call
Health
Practical information
Requirements for this application type
The application must be created and submitted via My RCN Web. The application and all attachments must be written in Norwegian or English. This is an ongoing call and an application can therefore only be submitted once (this is in contrast to calls with fixed application deadlines where the application can be submitted several times up to the deadline). However, it is possible to create a new application – e.g. as a copy of the one you have submitted – and in this way submit a new version before the deadline.
- The application and all attachments must be written in Norwegian or English.
- The application form must be filled entirely and the budgets must be set up correctly.
- All attachments must be on the correct template and in PDF format. You can download all the templates at the bottom of the page.
Mandatory attachments
- Project description of max 3 pages
- CV for project manager of max 4 pages
- companies must attach a self-declaration form for de minimis aid
Applications that do not meet the requirements above will be rejected. All attachments to the application must be submitted with the application. We do not accept attachments submitted after the application deadline unless we have requested additional documentation.
We will not consider documents and websites linked to in the application, or attachments other than those specified above. Be careful to upload the correct attachment type, as there are no technical restrictions on what kind of templates it is possible to upload in the application form.
Assessment criteria
Applications will be assessed considering the purpose of the call and on the basis of the following questions:
- To what extent is the project aligned with the purpose of the Pilot Health scheme and the priorities set out in the call?
- To what extent is or will the project be based on the actual needs of patients, citizens, the services and/or society?
- To what extent is the project planning to have actual user involvement and user participation in all phases of the project?
- To what extent will the project be planned and implemented as an effective collaboration between actors from the public and private sector, and include partners from different services of the healthcare and welfare sector?
- To what extent does the project seem realistic and feasible, scientifically, organisationally and in relation to planned use of resources?
We will strive for a balanced portfolio of projects with a distribution of topics and service levels when the applications are otherwise assessed equally.
Målsetning | Pilot-H forprosjekt
Forankring | Pilot-H forprosjekt
Samarbeid og inkludering av aktører | Pilot-H forprosjekt
Brukerinvolvering | Pilot-H forprosjekt
Gjennomføring | Pilot-H forprosjekt
Administrative procedures
All applications will be assessed after 16 October. The applications will be assessed by external referees with support from the reference group for Pilot Health.
We expect to publish which applications will be awarded on or about 15 December 2024.