Pre-project for Health Pilot

The following enterprises can apply for pre-project funding:

• public sector bodies that are registered with a business register number in Norway. See the definition of a public sector body.
• companies that have been issued a business register number under the Norwegian Register of Business Enterprises and carry out economic activity in Norway. Sole proprietorships are not eligible to apply.
• approved research organisations See the list of approved Norwegian research organisations.
• patient organisations, user organisations, cluster organisations, industry organisations and TTOs that have a Norwegian business register number

Please note that only Norwegian public sector bodies that represent the health services (including municipalities) and companies with a Norwegian business register number may apply for a main project. Research organisations, user organisations, clusters, TTOs etc. are not eligible to apply for a main project.

Requirements for collaboration

The project constellation must comprise the following at minimum:

• a business that is registered under the Norwegian Register of Business Enterprises and carries out economic activity in Norway or an amalgamation of businesses represented by e.g. an industry cluster or a special interest organisation, and
• a public enterprise representing the health and care services in Norway (including municipalities)

If the Project Owner is a patient organisation, user organisation or research organisation, we require the participation of at least one relevant business/amalgamation of businesses and at least one public enterprise representing the health and care services, as described above.

We would like relevant public and societal actors or user organisations to be involved as partners.

Other actual or potential partners must be listed in the project description using the designated template which is available for download at the end of the call.

Requirements relating to project managers

There are no formal requirements of the project manager’s qualifications, but he or she must be employed by the Project Owner or one of the partners.

You can apply for funding to cover the actual costs necessary to carry out the pre-project. The Project Owner is to obtain information about costs from each project partner. These costs are to be entered in the cost plan under the relevant category.

Pre-project funds can be used to cover the following costs:

• The Project Owner’s and registered partners’ payroll and indirect costs
• other operating expenses, including for advisory services and similar services that exclusively apply to the project

You will find detailed and important information about what to enter in the project budget on our website.

Calculation of funding

You can apply for funding of up to 100 per cent of the budgeted project costs. You can apply for NOK 100,000–250,000 per pre-project.  

Conditions for funding

Projects must commence between 8 November 2022 and 1 March 2022 and you can apply for funding from the Research Council for 2023. The latest permitted completion date for the project is 31 August 2023.

The project group  will sign a simplified contract with the Research Council. We disburse the funding in arrears after the final report has been approved, and only actual expenses entered in the organisation’s accounts will be covered. All reporting takes place electronically.

Undertakings (companies that engage in economic activities) will receive the funding as de minimis aid. This means that an undertaking may receive maximum EUR 200,000 in de minimis aid over a period of three years. Before the disbursement of de minimis aid, we will request written confirmation and an overview of all other de minimis aid the undertaking has received during the three last fiscal years. For undertakings that are part of a group of companies, the maximum limit generally applies to the group as a whole. For more information on de minimis aid, see the Commission Regulation (EU) No 1407/2013. Read more about de minimis aid.

The call is open to all projects that aim to meet clear needs in the specialist health services and/or municipal health and care services that are either related to the patients/citizens or the services themselves. The needs must be based on a specific clarification of needs and a broad range of stakeholders should be involved in this process. We are looking for projects that aim to develop innovations that target identified needs while also contributing to sustainability in the health services and society at large, as well as value creation.

By sustainability in the health services we mean that the health services should be able to offer safe, equitable and adapted high-quality services to all citizens also in future, without increasing the overall burden on the services or society.

By innovation we mean new or significantly improved solutions, services, processes, forms of organisation or marketing models that are implemented to achieve value creation and benefits to society. For the projects to contribute to value creation in Norwegian business and industry, the solutions that are developed should have a market both in Norway and abroad.

Through dialogue with the actors prior to the call, we have come up with some examples of challenges that Health Pilot projects may wish to target:

• Digital and decentralised health follow-up: Innovations for digital and decentralised diagnostics, treatment (including clinical trials) and rehabilitation, as well as new solutions for digital interaction between patients and the health service, including self-service solutions.
• Cooperation between services: Innovations for cooperation between different parts of the health, care and welfare services that meet the needs of patients, citizens and next of kin in a safe and equitable manner.
• Health literacy and self-management: Innovations that increase citizens’, patients’ and next of kin’s knowledge and competence regarding their own health, prevention and management of disease, with the spotlight on mental health.
• Health data: Innovations for secure and efficient collection, storage and sharing of health data that will be used to offer better and more efficient diagnostics, treatment and rehabilitation, and contribute to safe high-quality services.
• A robust health sector: Innovations that help to ensure that the health sector is able to meet current and future challenges including improved preparedness and creating conditions that are more conducive to handling crises such as epidemics and refugee flows etc. This can include innovations that can increase self-sufficiency in relation to medication, vaccines, diagnostics and medical equipment.  

Other challenges based on specific needs may also be relevant to Health Pilot projects.

Contact persons

Applications must be created and submitted via My RCN Web. The application and all attachments must be written in Norwegian or English. This call has an open-ended deadline. A unique grant application may therefore only be submitted once (whereas calls with a fixed deadline may be submitted and resubmitted multiple times up to the submission deadline). It is nonetheless possible to create a new application, e.g., by submitting a copy of the one you have already submitted and thus submit a new version by the deadline.

• The application form must be completed in full and the budgets must be formulated correctly.
• All appendices must be in the correct template and in PDF format. You can download all templates at the bottom of the page.

Mandatory attachments

• project description (maximum 3 pages)
• project manager’s CV (maximum 4 pages)
• self-declaration form for de minimis aid

Applications that do not meet the requirements listed above will be rejected. All attachments must be submitted together with the application. We will not accept attachments submitted after the deadline for applications unless we have requested further information.

We will not assess documents and websites linked to in the application, or other attachments than those specified above. There is no technical validation of the content of the attachments you upload, so please make sure that you upload the correct file for the selected type of attachment.

We will assess the applications 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 will the project be planned and implemented as an effective collaboration between public and private sector actors and include partners from several levels of the health, care and/or welfare services?
• To what extent is the project planning to have actual user involvement and user participation in all phases of the project?
• To what extent does the project seem realistic and feasible, scientifically, organisationally and in relation to planned use of resources?

We will prioritise projects with female project managers when the applications are otherwise considered to be on a par.

All applications will be assessed together after 8 November. The applications will undergo administrative review by the Research Council supported by the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS) represented by the organisation’s strategic research agency (KSF), the regional health authorities, Siva and Innovation Norway.

We expect to publish which applications have been awarded funding around 15 December 2022.