The purpose of the Innovation Ideas call is to increase opportunities for primarily small and medium-sized enterprises and small and medium-sized municipalities to develop ideas that can lead to innovations. The call also enables continued work on previously developed ideas that need small-scale testing before implementation and/or scaling in day-to-day operations.
The call, as per the goals of Smart Built Environments, supports sustainable development of the built environment. Digitalization should be central to projects awarded grants. We encourage projects to utilize or address industrial processes when relevant. Applications can address processes, forms of collaboration, business models, and technology.
Projects applying for grants are to:
- Contribute to a sustainable built environment with a focus on digitalisation and industrial processes.
- If applicable, contribute to greater equity and equality in the built environment and clearly describe in the application how the project does this, see Smart Built Environment Equality Guide
External link. (in Swedish) - Develop scalable ideas/solutions that are applicable in different environments (including in planning and permitting processes in municipalities, by regional authorities, or in construction and infrastructure projects).
The project should address at least one of the four Smart Built Environment Thematic Areas External link.. Projects are to contribute to and address one or more of the short-term impacts for 2026 as described in Smart Built Environment Impact Logic 3.0 External link. (in Swedish).
The Smart Built Environment strategic innovation programme brings together stakeholders across the entire build environment sector to achieve the programme’s overall objectives and impacts for a more sustainable built environment, with digitalisation and industrial processes as enablers.
With digitalisation and industrialised construction advancing at a rapid pace, both within and outside the programme, the sector needs to ramp up the transition to new work approaches and methods. This call is designed to be accessible and supportive of small and medium-sized organisations, above all in that the programme offers coaching in the application phase. This is a perfect opportunity to start your innovation journey and contribute to sustainable development within the smart built environment.
The purpose of the call is to expand opportunities for SMEs and small and medium-sized municipalities to develop ideas that can lead to innovations. Additionally, the call can also enable continued work on previously developed ideas that need small-scale testing before implementation and/or scaling in day-to-day operations. The call, as per the goals of Smart Built Environment, supports sustainable development of the built environment. Digitalization should be central to projects awarded grants. We encourage projects to utilize or address industrial processes when relevant. Applications can address processes, forms of collaboration, business models, and technology.
Normally, projects in this call are expected to lead to an idea that can be developed towards a solution. The next step for the project can involve funding major initiatives through other relevant calls or through other capital investments. In exceptional cases, grants from this call could potentially lead directly to implementation.
Projects applying for grants are to:
- Contribute to a sustainable built environment, with a focus on digitalisation and industrial processes.
- Develop scalable ideas/solutions that are applicable in different environments (such as in planning and permitting processes in municipalities, at regional authorities, or in construction and infrastructure projects)
The project should address at least one of the four Smart Built Environment Thematic Areas External link.. Projects are to contribute to and address one or more of the short-term impacts for 2026 as described in Smart Built Environment Impact Logic 3.0 External link. (in Swedish).
The projects should, if applicable, contribute to greater equity and equality in the built environment and clearly describe in the application how the project does this. Smart Built Environment Equality Guide External link. (in Swedish)
SMEs (as per the EU definition) and small and medium-sized municipalities (group C as per the classification from the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions External link.) may apply for a grant. Larger organisations, higher education institutions and research institutes may apply, but the application should clearly indicate how SMEs or small and medium-sized municipalities will benefit from the results, as defined in the purpose of the call.
Only one project party is allowed per application, but it is permitted to collaborate with other actors. These can, for example, function as subcontractors, participate in reference groups, or similar.
Please note that sole proprietorships cannot be granted funding in this call. Companies that do not have a Swedish corporate identity number cannot be granted funding in the call.
For organisations conducting economic activities, such as municipal and private companies, Formas applies EU state aid rules. See the heading State aid rules for companies and other organisations engaged in economic activity.
Before you apply
All information about what your application should contain, how to apply, and the assessment process can be found here.
Applicants must be a Swedish organisation, meaning a legal entity with a corporate identity number.
The applicant’s organisation must be able to receive and administer the funds that Formas pays out to an awarded project. Formas distinguishes between administrating organisations that can receive funds in all Formas calls and administrating organisations that are approved to receive funds in an individual call. Swedish universities or other government research institutes are examples of organisations that can be approved as an administrating organisation for all of our call types. Most other public and private organisations need to be approved as administrating organisations for individual projects. More information is available below under How to apply and on Formas’ website Who can become an administrating organisation? External link.
All projects applying for grants must have a responsible project leader. The project must be conducted by the individuals (key project members) stated in the application. It is not allowed to submit the same application multiple times with different applicants. Applications with the same content will be rejected.
Applicants are required co-fund their projects with at least 50% of project costs (see the section Costs eligible for funding). Private companies and other organisations engaged in economic activity that want to apply for a grant from Formas are subject to state aid regulations External link.. See the heading State aid rules for companies and other organisations engaged in economic activity.
Formas strives for equitable and inclusive societal development that ensures gender equality. As such, applicants should design their projects to allow the results to benefit a diverse range of people and that gender balance be considered when putting together their project teams. Consideration should also be given to how influence is distributed among the members.
Applicants interested in receiving coaching for Smart Built Environments should register with the programme office. Registration is open until 11 March. Use the online form External link. (in Swedish) to apply for coaching. The coaching process is an opportunity for applicants to have their idea assessed by experienced coaches and receive advice that can improve their application to the Innovation Ideas call. Taking advantage of the coaching offer is an opportunity, but not a requirement, when submitting an application in the Innovation Ideas call.
When applying for project funding, you can apply for a grant to cover both direct and indirect costs. Direct costs are costs that would not have arisen if the project had not been conducted, including staff expenses, equipment and travel. Indirect costs are costs that are not the immediate result of the project but that are still related to it, such as for administration, IT and renting of premises. Indirect costs are also called overhead costs or general expenses.
The grant must be clearly linked to the project you wish to fund and must be used to fund activities that are not part of regular activities.
More information about costs eligible for funding by Formas: Project costs that qualify for funding. External link.
For a cost to be eligible for support, it must be actual, auditable, and reasonable. Project costs must be correctly accounted for and separated from the organisation's other costs. An organisation may not claim someone else's costs as their own.
For more detailed information on the requirements, limitations, and exceptions that apply, see Costs funded by Formas with supporting provisions External link. (in Swedish)
The call’s total budget is approximately SEK 5 million. In this call, you can apply for a maximum of SEK 500,000 in funding. The applicant must cover at least 50% of the project’s costs.
Projects can begin on 1 July 2025 at the earliest and on 31 August 2025 at the latest. The project duration can be a maximum of 12 months. The budget in your application is to specify how you plan to use the funds for each financial year and show the expected actual costs. For administrative reasons, Formas may schedule payments differently from the application’s planned allocation of the budget.
Applications applying for an amount or a project duration outside the above ranges will be rejected.
State aid rules apply when Formas provides grants to organisations engaged in economic activity. The rules are intended to protect competition in the EU’s internal market.
In this call, Formas will apply Article 25 of the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER) (EU Regulation No. 651/2014). Regardless of the size of the organisation, in this call Formas requires co-funding of at least 50% of project costs.
Before making a decision, Formas performs credit checks on organisations engaged in economic activities that may be eligible for funding.
You can read more about the state aid rules that apply to Formas grants at:
We recommend that you write your application in Swedish, since the review panel that will assess your application is Swedish-speaking. You may write your application in English, but it will not be translated into Swedish prior to assessment. Abstracts should be provided in both Swedish and English.
Once submitted to Formas, Swedish law considers your application (including appendices) a public document. This means that anyone can request and read your application. Information can only be kept confidential if it is covered by confidentiality according to the Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act (2009:400).
Applicants should specify which information they want to be kept confidential. Before disclosing applications, Formas always conducts a confidentiality assessment but may only redact information as legislated for in the Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act (2009:400).
Formas is very limited in its ability to assign confidentiality to personal data. For this reason, the application should only contain personal data for those participating in the application.
If the project is awarded a grant, the popular science description and project abstracts in Swedish and English will be published in open-access project databases without a confidentiality assessment. For this reason, the contents of these fields should not include sensitive information. These texts are also intended for use by Smart Built Environment’s programme office in external communication about the project.
Formas does not currently have any restrictions on that you as applicant use AI as support when preparing your application. However, it is important that you are aware that the responsibility for fulfilling the commitments you make in the application lies with you as the applicant. You as applicant are responsible for that all information in your application and project description is correct and that the project is performed as described. You certify this when you register your application. You as applicant must also follow the principles on good research practice, which means that plagiarism, falsification or fabrication of the content of the application must not occur.
At Formas, we strive to fund projects that maximise positive and minimise negative impacts on the environment and climate. As such, we encourage applicants to design their projects to enable primarily online collaboration and that any necessary travel occurs in as climate smart way as possible. We also suggest that your project planning includes measures that minimise energy use and other resource consumption, emissions and waste. However, this will not be part of the assessment of your application.
How to apply
Formas has updated its application process and associated system support for this call. Please read the instructions carefully, even if you have previously applied for a Smart Built Environment grant.
Grant applications are completed in our application system, Prisma.
Administrating organisation
An administrating organisation is the organisation that receives the grant money from Formas when a grant is awarded. The organisation listed as the administrating organisation must be the same organisation (corporate identity number) as the coordinating organisation under company information/budget in Prisma.
Companies and municipalities must be approved as administrating organisations by Formas for each funding call. A decision to approve administrating organisations is taken when grants are awarded in the call. Prior to decisions, Formas conducts credit checks on all companies and organisations engaged in economic activity that might be relevant to the awarding of a grant.
Organisation account
It is important that the applicant organisation has an account with Formas in Prisma before the project leader starts to apply for this call’s grant. Organisations that already have an account in Prisma must contact Research Officer Emily Dock Åkerman External link. to request to be added to the list of possible administrating organisations for this call. This applies even if the organisation has been approved in an earlier round of Smart Built Environment calls.
If your organisation does not have an account in Prisma, an appropriate representative should apply for the organisation account on the Prisma website.
Apply well ahead of the deadline but no later than 14 March 2025.
Apply for an organisation account in Prisma External link.
Tick the box for Formas and fill in the “Reason for applying” box, write that you are applying for an organisation account because you want to apply under the Smart Built Environment call, the type of your organisation, and the corporate identity number. If you do not know whether the organisation has an account, contact Research Officer Emily Dock Åkerman External link. before applying for a new account.
Your application must be initiated through your organisation account. The organisation account supervisor automatically becomes the project leader. The supervisor can change this by inviting another person to become the project leader. If another person is to be assigned as project leader, they need to have a personal account in Prisma. If the organisation account supervisor is to be the project leader, then a personal account does not need to be linked to the application.
For more information, visit the Prisma support page External link.
Project sites
To register an application, the project site within the organisation must be specified. The organisation must have at least one project site in its organisational structure. The term “project site” refers to the section/department/unit within the organisation that is applying. Project site information is required when submitting the application.
The organisation account supervisor must define a structure with two levels of units and subunits (project sites). This is done in the drop-down menus for Administrating organisation and Project sites. Available project sites are defined in the organisation structure by the organisation account supervisor.
If the organisation lacks sections, define a subsection with the same name as the organisation. Information on how this is done can be found in Prisma’s user manual.
Describe what your organisation looks like (create a structure) External link.
The call is under the organisation account tab in Prisma. Click there and then proceed to the link “Calls for organisations”. Use Prisma’s user manual for instructions on how to find the call in Prisma.
All limits for maximum number of characters include spaces. One recommendation is to use the font Arial with font size 12 for the information entered in all text boxes.
The application is to include a clear description of the project using the following sections:
Basic information
- Number of months applied for.
- Earliest project start is 1 July 2025; Latest project start is 31 August 2025.
- Estimated project duration: The project duration is calculated automatically in Prisma based on the start date and the number of months fill in.
- Project title in Swedish and English (max. 200 characters including spaces)
- Thematic area: Identify the primary thematic area or areas within Smart Built Environment that the project will contribute to. At least one thematic area must be specified:
- Innovations and new areas of applications;
- Knowledge and competence;
- Information infrastructure;
- Value chains and business models
Read more about these themes at Smart Built Environment Thematic Areas External link.
- Have you received coaching support External link. for your project idea?
- Popular science description in Swedish (max. 4,500 characters including spaces). If the application is successful, the popular science description will be published in open-access project databases without a confidentiality assessment. As such, the contents of this field should not include sensitive information.
- Popular science description in English (max. 4,500 characters including spaces).
- Abstract in Swedish and English (max. 2,000 characters including spaces for each language version). The abstracts of successful applications will be published in open-access project databases without a confidentiality assessment. As such, the contents of these fields should not include sensitive information.
Project description
Maximum 10 pages. A template for the project descriptio
, 59.1 kB.n can be downloaded. The project description is uploaded as a file (max. size of 4 MB). Do not include a budget in the project description.
Read the background and the call’s purpose and focus carefully. Also take note of the assessment criteria under “How does the assessment process work?” before completing the description. Address all the criteria in your application.
Budget and other information
The project’s budget and other information about the organisation are provided in Prisma. The following information must be stated in the project budget. In Prisma, write out the sum you are applying for in full, i.e., write SEK 1 million as: SEK 1,000,000.
Information om organisationen
- Name of the organisation
- Corporate identity number
- Address, postal code, city, country
- Annual turnover (the total sales or turnover of the higher education institution, research institute, company, or organisation during the previous fiscal year). Stated in digits, for example: 3,500,000.
- Balance sheet total (refers to the sum of the asset side or alternatively the sum of liabilities and equity in a company’s or organisation’s balance sheet. Stated in digits, for example 5,500,000)
- Number of employees
- Contact person
- Email address to contact person
- Name of workplace, address, postal code, city, country where the majority of the work will be conducted.
Costs
- Staff expenses: Eligible staff expenses for companies and other organisations conducting economic activity may be estimated based on the actual cost. For staff expenses to be eligible for support, the grant recipient must be registered as an employer with the Swedish Tax Agency
- Equipment, buildings and land costs are eligible to the extent and for the duration of their use in the project.
- Costs for consultants, licenses, etc., which are purchased or hired from external sources on market terms and costs for consulting services and similar services used exclusively for project activities.
- Other direct costs, such as costs for materials, inputs, and similar products, which arise as a direct result of a project. Other direct costs also include travel, conferences, and publication in open access journals and databases. Formas only awards funding for certain author fees. Read more under the section Costs for publishing External link..
- Indirect costs:
- Universities and higher education institutions may calculate its indirect costs according to the applicable full cost pricing method. They only need to keep costs corresponding to the grant separated from other transactions in their accounts.
- The following organisations may, when participating in the project with non-economic activities, add actual indirect costs up to an amount corresponding to a maximum of 45% of their eligible personnel costs:
- research organisations that are
- limited liability companies or trading partnerships where the State directly or indirectly exercises a legally decisive influence, or
- foundations in which the government appoints one or more board members.
- research organisations that are
- government agencies (other than universities and higher education institutions) that, according to their instructions, are to conduct their own research.
The requirement for a maximum of 45% applies provided that the organisation receives funding through a government decision to conduct independent research. If the organisation also conducts economic activities, such as commissioned research, these activities must be kept in separate accounts. If the organisation participates in the project with economic activities, the requirement in 3) below applies. 3)
- Other project parties may claim actual indirect costs but not exceeding an amount equivalent to 30% of their eligible personnel cost
Formas does not grant funds for overhead on costs written off for equipment or for premises.
Funding
There are four types of funding an applicant can specify:
- Applied for grant from Formas: State the amount applied for from Formas under this call. The amount cannot exceed total costs. If the amount applied for is less than total costs, the remaining amount will be automatically calculated and listed under “Self-funding”.
- Other aid (state): Not used in this call.
- Other aid (private): Not used in this call.
- Self-funding: In this case, self-funding is the project’s co-funding. Self-funding is to total at least 50 per cent of the total project budget. Contact Formas if you are unsure about what counts as co-funding.
Explanation of staff expenses in budget (maximum 500 characters including spaces)
Specify the average hourly cost for budgeted staff expenses. Staff expenses refers to salaries including social insurance contributions. Other costs that require explanation can be specified here.
Prisma automatically calculates the aid intensity and co-funding level. The calculated aid intensity is preliminary and may be adjusted before Formas’ award decision.
Budget specification (max. 2,000 characters including spaces)
In your own words, explain the budget and the overhead costs included in the application. Formas does not grant funds for overhead on costs written off for equipment or for premises.
Also specify any consultancy costs and the scope of the consultant’s participation. You are encouraged to clearly describe all costs related to the project activities.
Classifications
Formas uses the project’s classifications in analyses and supporting documentation on an overall level. These classifications are made when you state the subject area, research topic (SCB code), at least one sustainable development goal that the project can contribute to, and keywords.
- Subject area
Select the project’s subject area and add a subheading.
- Research topic (SCB code)
Select at least one research topic and two sublevels that combine to form the entire code.
- Sustainable development goals
Select at least one and up to three sustainable development goals (SDGs) the project can help to achieve and in order of relevance. More about the meaning of the goals (In Swedish). External link.
- Keywords
Enter one to three keywords describing the project.
Administrating organisation – the organisation receiving the grant
- Select the administrating organisation from the dropdown list. If you cannot find the organisation that will be the applicant, see the “Organisation account” heading under “How to apply”.
- Select the project site from the dropdown list. If you cannot find the correct project site, see “Project site” under “How to apply”.
CV
The project leader’s CV must be attached. Attaching CVs for two participants in the project is optional. Maximum two A4 pages per CV.
The organisation account supervisor registers the application
After the application is completed, it must be registered, submitted and signed by the organisation account supervisor. There are two ways for the organisation account supervisor to sign the application:
- If the organisation account supervisor is the same person as the project leader, that person registers the application and signing occurs automatically.
- If someone other than the project leader is the organisation account supervisor, then that person finalises the application. Next, the administrating organisation (the organisation account supervisor or user whose role is application manager) registers and submits the application. The application is then signed automatically.
At any time during the application process, the project leader can access the Verify and Register tab. This tab will list any missing required information or other reasons that might prevent the application from being registered.
For more information, visit the Prisma user manual page: Organisation account - Prisma support External link.
NOTE: After the application period expires, the application can only be supplemented in special cases on request by Formas.
After submitting your application
First, Formas verifies that the application meets the procedural requirements set out in the call. If the application does not meet these requirements, it is rejected.
The following requirements will be verified in this call:
- The application is complete and contains all required information.
- No more than SEK 500,000 is applied for in any single project.
- The project has not applied for more than 12 months of funding.
- The applicant co-funds at least 50 per cent of the project costs.
- The applicant is a Swedish organisation, meaning a legal entity with a corporate identity number (not a sole proprietorship).
- The project description is written using the template provided on the call’s website.
- Multiple applications with the same content have not been submitted.
All applications are assessed by an external review panel based on the contents of the application. As such, it is important to write the application as clearly as possible and include all important and relevant information.
Summary of the assessment process:
- Applications that meet the procedural requirements are assessed by external independent reviewers using assessment criteria. The applications are then ranked and a funding recommendation is made.
- Formas decides which projects are awarded funding.
- Applicants and the Smart Built Environment’s office are informed of the decisions, and these are published on the websites of Formas and Smart Built Environment.
The project should address at least one of the programme’s four thematic areas External link.. Projects are to contribute to and address one or more of the short-term impacts for 2026 described in Smart Built Environment Impact Logic 3.0 External link. (in Swedish).
Applications are assessed based on the following criteria:
Relevance
- The project can significantly contribute to the purpose and focus of the call.
- The project addresses at least one thematic area and one or more of the programme’s short-term impacts for 2026 described in Smart Built Environment Impact Logic 3.0 External link.
- The application clearly states the business or organisational value of the expected results for the applicant organisation or other defined end-user/user.
Potential
- The project is innovative or significantly better than available solutions in the current market
- The project’s problem formulation and purpose are clear, logical and well defined. It is clear how the project is intended to solve the problem.
- After implementation on a smaller scale, the idea can be scaled up for a larger market or greater impact, domestically and/or internationally.
- The results of the project have potential to contribute to greater equality.
Implementation
- Planned activities and methods are realistic and appropriate for achieving expected results during the project.
- The timeframe and budget are realistic and appropriate in relation to the purpose and objectives of the project.
- There is a clearly written and appropriate plan for how the project results will be disseminated, utilised and (if relevant) made accessible.
- Ethical considerations are described clearly, and the applicant’s plan for managing them is appropriate.
- Gender equality aspects are well integrated into the implementation of the project. See Smart Built Environment Equality Guide External link. (in Swedish).
Project organisation
- The project’s organisation and the overall expertise of the project group are appropriate for the implementation, including for utilisation of the project’s results. The roles of the project participants are clearly described.
- The project is conducted in collaboration with relevant stakeholders.
- There is gender balance in the project group (key individuals). This applies to project groups of more than 3 people.
Formas' reviewers are currently not allowed to use AI tools to support the review of applications. There are several reasons for this. On the one hand, there is a great risk that information that is uploaded will be disseminated further. There are also risks related to secrecy and handling of personal data. Uploading an application or information from an application to any kind of AI tool means an unauthorized dissemination of information. This applies not only to AI tools but also to many other services and tools for storing and sharing data.
Formas expects to make grant award decisions on 25 June 2025. We publish our decisions the following day at the latest on the Formas website, and you will receive an email when you can view the decision in Prisma. Grant award decisions cannot be appealed.
Projects have an availability period of three months after the end of the project duration. The availability period is a defined period after the project has formally concluded, during which unspent granted funds may continue to be used. Incurred costs can continue to be assigned to the project until the availability period has ended and the financial report is to be completed. In certain situations related to the project leader and the administrating organisation, the availability period may be extended due to special circumstances approved by Formas, such as illness or parental leave.
All awarded projects must submit a report to Formas containing financial and project results within three months of the end of the availability period. All reports are submitted in Prisma.
How to report expenses and results - Formas External link.
Formas may make requirements on the reporting of the content and results of projects to enable dissemination and utilisation. This will be noted in the award decision. Formas may also require you to participate in conferences and similar events to enable synergies and create platforms for learning and knowledge sharing.
Terms and Conditions for Grants
Since this call is within the framework of the Smart Built Environment strategic innovation programme, special terms, conditions and instructions governing reporting, follow-up, communication and other aspects related to the programme may apply. Refer to http://www.smartbuilt.se/verktyg External link. for more information (in Swedish).
The project leader and/or the Project Party are to utilise project results as planned. This can be done through publication, commercialisation, licensing etc. If scholarly publication is used, this should be done using open access and according to instructions from Formas.
You are also to have a data management plan for the data produced in the project. If you receive funding from us, you need to develop a plan for data management. The plan should not be sent into us, but you should be able to present the plan upon request. By signing our grant terms and conditions, you certify that a data management plan will be in place before the research begins and that it will be maintained.
Formas shares information about awarded grants with SweCRIS, a national database of grant-funded research that was instituted by request of the Government (www.swecris.se).
Revision history
Any post-publication revisions to the call text are listed below.
Definitions
Project leader | The natural person, or in some cases the legal entity, that submits the application to Formas and leads planning and implementation of the project. |
Administrating organisation for an individual project (see section “How to apply”) | The organisation that can apply for funds in individual calls from Formas and be granted funds for an individual project. |
Project sites | A project site can be a department, a section or a unit within the applicant organisation. |
Small and medium-sized enterprises as per User guide to the SME definitions |
A small enterprise employs between 10 and 49 people and has annual turnover or annual balance sheet total of at most EUR 10 million per year. A medium-sized enterprise has between 50 and 249 employees and has an annual turnover of at most EUR 50 million or an annual balance sheet total of at most EUR 43 million. For micro enterprises, which have less than 10 employees, the same rules apply as for small enterprises.
Note that Formas does not award grants to enterprises that are sole proprietorships and any applications from sole proprietorships will be rejected.
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Contact information
Formas call officer
For administrative questions and questions about Prisma
For questions regarding the call’s background, purpose and desired impacts
Kristina Gabrielii, programchef, Smart Built Environment
070-259 56 57
kristina.gabrielii@iqs.se