Qualification – Research Commercialisation from Publicly Funded Research 2025

The following actors are eligible to apply:  

• Approved Norwegian research organisations. See the list of approved research organisations.  
• Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs). 
• Start-up companies originating from approved research organisations, i.e. the applicant company has been established for the purpose of commercialising the said research results. 
• Sole proprietorships cannot apply for funding.  

Requirements relating to the Project Owner  

The organisation listed as the Project Owner in the application form must have approved the submission of the application.  

The Project Owner must be one of the following:  

• Research organisation 
  Approved Norwegian research organisations are eligible to apply. See the list of approved research organisations.   
• Technology Transfer Office  
  Research organisation(s) with intellectual property rights must be a partner in the project.  
• Start-up company 
  A start-up company must originate from approved research organisations, i.e. the company applying has been established for the purpose of commercialising the research results mentioned.   
  • Start-up companies must originate from approved research organisations where the research results originate, and the company must meet the criteria in Article 22 of the General Block Exemption Regulation.    
  • Start-up companies must attach a declaration of rights from the research organisation's management or their technology transfer office, confirming that the research originates from the research organisation(s) and that the company has the necessary rights to further develop the research results for commercial exploitation.  
  • Start-up companies must attach a declaration confirming the size of the company and that it has no outstanding claims for repayment of illegal state aid. Note that it is not necessary to tick section 2 about enterprises in difficulty in the declaration.  

For more information, see "Conditions for funding" below.  

Requirements relating to partners  

Qualification projects typically do not have a partner(s) unless the Project Owner shares ownership of the results on which the qualification project is based with others who meet the criteria under "Who can apply". The projects, on the other hand, often have subcontractors. See more about subcontractors under requirements for subcontractors.   

If the project has a partner(s), they must be registered in the application form with the role "executing and funding", and the Project Owner must enter into an agreement with the partner(s) that regulates rights and obligations in connection with any award and conclusion of the contract.  

When a Technology Transfer Office (TTO) is the Project Owner, the research organisation(s) that owns the intellectual property rights must be a partner.  

Requirements for subcontractors  

Suppliers to the project, i.e. consultancy, development or other services, are considered subcontractors.  

A subcontractor assists with the implementation of specific and limited tasks in the project and cannot hold or be given rights to project results.  

Subcontractors must not be registered in the application form, but assignments of a larger scope must be described in the application (budget specification and project description).  

Start-up companies and their subcontractors, if any, must be independent parties, in the sense that one cannot have a controlling influence over the other.  

On our website you will find information about collaboration agreements and the use of subcontractors.    

Please note that the role "R&D provider" must not be used in applications for qualification projects.  

It is possible to apply for up to 100 per cent of the budgeted project costs. Project costs are actual costs that are necessary to carry out the project.  

Typical activities include:  

• clarify areas of application and market potential 
• prepare the basis for "Freedom to operate", prepare and file patent applications 
• optimise, clarify and demonstrate technology concepts and results 
• establishing contact with potential partners, licensees, future industry partners, investors, customers and users to clarify important questions and further options

The following are examples of costs that cannot be included in the project costs:  

• purchase of licenses or rights to research results  
• operating costs such as maintenance of patents or other operational activities  
• costs related to the financing of the educational pathways for research fellows (doctoral and postdoctoral candidates). PhD candidates, on the other hand, can be part of the project group and carry out activities for the project. The support can be used to free up time from research fellows.  

You will find detailed and important information about what to enter in the project budget on the website and in the Guide for completing the application form (in Norwegian) that has been specifically prepared for commercialisation applications.   

Conditions for funding  

The allocation of grants depends on the Research Council being allocated funding for commercialisation through the national budget.  

Research organisations and Technology Transfer Offices  

Approved research organisations, the technology transfer offices that represent them and any partners that are to receive funding must fall under the definition of an organisation for research and knowledge transfer in the state aid rules. Any other partners are not eligible for funding from the Research Council in these projects.  

Definition of research and knowledge dissemination organisation in the state aid rules: 

'research and knowledge dissemination organisation' or 'research organisation' means an entity (such as universities or research institutes, technology transfer agencies, innovation intermediaries, research-oriented physical or virtual collaborative entities), irrespective of its legal status (organised under public or private law) or way of financing, whose primary goal is to independently conduct fundamental research, industrial research or experimental development or to widely disseminate the results of such activities by way of teaching, publication or knowledge transfer. Where such entity also pursues economic activities, the financing, the costs and the revenues of those economic activities must be accounted for separately. Undertakings that can exert a decisive influence upon such an entity, for example in the quality of shareholders or members, may not enjoy a preferential access to the results generated by it; 

Funding to a research organisation or its Technology Transfer Office may only be used for their non-economic activity in the form of knowledge transfer activities, as described in Section 20 b) of the ESA Guidelines on State Aid for R&D&I.  

Applicants must ensure that no indirect support goes to collaborating enterprises, in the form of, for example, favourably priced rights to results. The cooperation agreement must ensure that rights to results are distributed in a manner that is in accordance with Section 29 of the ESA Guidelines on Aid for Research, Development and Innovation.  

What is non-financial knowledge transfer activity?  

In order to be considered part of the research organisation's non-economic activity, so that the support for the activity does not constitute state aid, the knowledge transfer activity must, in accordance with ESA's guidelines, either be carried out by the research organisation itself, or in collaboration with or on behalf of other such entities.  

The term knowledge transfer is defined as follows in ESA's guidelines on state aid for R&D&I:  

'knowledge transfer' means any process which has the aim of acquiring, collecting and sharing explicit and tacit knowledge, including skills and competence in both economic and non-economic activities such as research collaborations, consultancy, licensing, spin-off creation, publication and mobility of researchers and other personnel involved in those activities. Besides scientific and technological knowledge, it includes other kinds of knowledge such as knowledge on the use of standards and regulations embedding them and on conditions of real life operating environments and methods for organisational innovation, as well as management of knowledge related to identifying, acquiring, protecting, defending and exploiting intangible assets;  

In addition, all profits from knowledge transfer activities must be reinvested in the primary activities of the research organisation.  The activities do not lose their non-economic character by outsourcing them to third parties through open tenders. We assume that the necessary accounting separation between the research organisation's/TTO's economic and non-economic activity is in place. See more on our information page on state aid.   

Start-up companies  

Start-up companies must be aware that the aid is awarded as state aid on the basis of Article 22 of the EU Block Exemption Regulation (Commission Regulation 651/2014 of 17 June 2014).  

Allocation of funds is to be practised in accordance with the state aid rules. Conditions and concepts are to be interpreted in keeping with corresponding conditions and concepts in the state aid rules. If there is conflict between the text of the call and the state aid rules, the latter shall take precedence. For the same reason, the call may also be adjusted. 

The Research Council may not award aid to an undertaking that has not fulfilled the repayment requirement pursuant to a previous decision by the EFTA Surveillance Authority/the European Commission, which has been declared to be illegal and incompatible with the internal market. 

Article 22 of the General Block Exemption Regulation provides, inter alia, that the company 

• must be unlisted 
• was registered less than five years ago 
• has not taken over the activity of another undertaking, with the exceptions set out in Art. 22 (2) a) 
• has not distributed dividends 
• not formed through a merger, with the exceptions set out in Article 22 (2) (c) or Art. 22 (2) third paragraph. 

In addition to the requirements above, the Research Council stipulates the following additional requirements: 

• The company must have fewer than ten employees 
• The company may have a maximum annual turnover of NOK 2 million and/or annual balance sheet 

When assessing the size of the enterprise, you must take into account the number of employees and turnover/balance sheet also in companies that have an ownership interest of 25 per cent or more in the company, or in which the company itself has an ownership interest of 25 per cent or more.  

The call for proposals has been notified as an aid scheme to the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) with reference xx/2025/R&D&I.  

In addition, you must be aware of the following if you should receive funding from us:  

• The Research Council's prerequisites for awards can also be found in our general terms and conditions for R&D projects on the information page What the contract involves.  
• The Research Council requires full and immediate open access for scientific articles, see Plan S - open access to publications.  
• For all projects that handle data, the Project Owner must prepare a data management plan in connection with the revised application. Here you will find more information about requirements for data management plans in projects that receive funding from us.  
• For medical and health studies involving humans, the Research Council sets special requirements and guidelines for prospective registration of studies and publication of results.  

• The project must be based on research results from approved research organisations.  
• The research results on which the project is based cannot be openly available. This is to ensure the possibility of commercialization and rights protection.  
• The project must be based on research results that represent significant improvements in relation to existing knowledge or state-of-the-art and have the potential to form the basis for new products, processes or services.  
• The qualification project must be at an early stage with a need for preliminary studies of possible applications.  
• The project must have defined clear goals for what is to be achieved during the project period and what is expected to be clarified when the project is completed.  
• The project must be at TRL level 2-7 (Technology readiness level – the scale used in the EU).  

Termination of project contract  

The conditions for entering into the contract can be found in the General Terms and Conditions. Examples of significant reasons that can lead to termination of the contract are that:  

• conditions in the call for proposals and the agreed conditions for the funding are violated  
• project progress is not according to the agreed plan  
• key project staff are no longer part of the project  
• the project no longer has access to critical and necessary resources or equipment  
• results or new information have emerged that significantly weaken the commercial potential of the project  

Reporting and disbursement of support  

All projects that are awarded funding must submit a final report and a simplified report no later than one month after the end of the project period.  

For start-ups, there is a requirement for annual financial reporting.  

The support is paid in arrears and only real costs directly related to the project that are entered in the institution's or company's accounts are covered. All reporting must be done electronically.  

The call is "ongoing" with no application deadline. Please note that you can only submit the application once. If you want to change the application after it has been submitted, you can create a new application – e.g. as a copy of the application that has already been submitted. The earliest permitted project start is the day after the application has been submitted.  

A complete application consists of an application form and mandatory attachments that are submitted via My RCN Web.  

• The application and all attachments must be written in English.  
• All attachments must be in PDF format.  

For more information, see Guide for completing the application form (in Norwegian) and Frequently asked questions about Commercialisation Projects.   

If you have previously applied for a commercialisation project and have been rejected, it must be clearly stated at the beginning of the project description what has changed since the previous application.  

If you resubmit a previously rejected application without significant changes to the project and the project application, we will use the original scientific assessment as a basis for further application processing.  

Mandatory attachments  

• Project description of a maximum of 5 pages. Upload as attachment type "Project description".  
• CV for the project manager and key participants in the project team. Uploaded as attachment type "CV"
• Declaration of Rights for Start-up Companies. Uploaded as attachment type "Other". If you are not going to hand in this form, you must upload a blank document under "Other".  
• Self-declaration form for start-up companies. Uploaded as attachment type "Other". If you are not going to hand in this form, you must upload a blank document under "Other".  

Use the default template for all required attachments. These can be downloaded at the bottom of the page. 

Optional attachments  

• Letters of intent from any customers, industry partners, or other business partners.  

Applications that do not meet the requirements above may be rejected.  

All attachments to the application must be submitted with the application.  

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.  

Applications will be assessed in light of the purpose of the call and the following criteria:

The Research Council's conditions for allocations can be found in our General Terms and Conditions for R&D Projects. Projects that receive funding must have a place on the road to a low-emission society. Among applications with equal assessment, priority will be given to projects that contribute to a minimum of 40 per cent gender balance among project managers.

Applications will be assessed by a minimum of two Research Council case officers in accordance with the criteria "Research and innovation", "Impacts and impacts" and "Implementation". The case officers have expertise in the commercialisation of research results and knowledge of relevant technology or application areas. If the overall average mark for these three criteria is 5.0 or higher on a scale with 7 as the highest mark, the application will also be assessed on the basis of the criterion "Relevance to the call".  

The result of the assessment of the above-mentioned criteria is summarised in an average mark as an overall expression of an overall assessment of the application.

The administration then presents the applications with the grading for a decision. It is the Chief Executive who makes the final decision regarding funding.  

The Research Council attaches importance to ensuring that the best projects are prioritised and that the assessments made are well-founded. The assessments as such are of benefit to applicants as they provide valuable feedback, regardless of whether the project receives funding or not.  

Please note that if a rejected application is resubmitted, without significant changes to the project and the project application, the original scientific assessment will be used as a basis for further application processing.  

Expected response to the application  

Applications are assessed and approved on a continuous basis. An answer to the application will be given as soon as possible (normally five to six weeks), but no later than three months after submission of the application.