The Swedish bio-based industry, which bases its production on raw materials from forestry, agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture, as well as residual streams in its downstream value chains, needs to develop more efficient and sustainable production processes in order for its products to be competitive. This call is aimed at actors in the bio-based sector who want to develop bio-based production processes in collaboration with at least two partners from the business sector.
There is significant potential to develop the Swedish bioeconomy in a way that can generate many benefits for society. One limiting factor for the development and growth of the bioeconomy is that many bio-based production processes are inefficient and associated with high costs, which inhibits investment in bio-based products. Processes need to become more resource-efficient and cost-effective for the bioeconomy to develop in a sustainable way and to strengthen competitiveness.
The purpose of this call is to develop new, or further develop already established, bio-based production processes so that the products can become more sustainable and competitive. The call is aimed at actors in the bio-based sector operating in Sweden who want to develop bio-based production processes in collaboration. Companies, public organisations, universities, colleges and research institutes can apply for funding. At least three parties must participate in an application, of which at least two must come from the business sector. The project must be co-financed by business partners with at least 50%.
This call is the first under Biosociety, a new research and innovation programme on the circular bioeconomy, which will help develop a more resource-efficient, resilient and competitive bioeconomy throughout the country. This means efficient and sustainable management of bio-based raw materials and residual streams, a high degree of circularity, higher added value in the bio-based industries and increased self-sufficiency in goods and services critical to the development of the bioeconomy. Achieving this requires collaboration between companies in the bioeconomy and other relevant actors, strengthened regional, national and international cooperation and a strengthened supply of competence. The programme includes cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary activities in a number of sectors, such as forestry, agriculture, food, the blue economy, the chemical industry, and textiles and fashion.
Bioeconomy is a concept that describes an alternative to an economy based on fossil raw materials. Based on biomass from forestry, agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture, as well as residual streams in its downstream value chains, the Swedish bioeconomy has the potential to contribute to employment and growth throughout the country, export opportunities, environmental and climate benefits, and strengthened security of supply and national defence. Research and innovation are important pieces of the puzzle for realising this potential and developing the bioeconomy in a sustainable and competitive way through collaboration.
One important challenge is to develop bio-based production processes in the manufacturing industry so that they can become more resource-efficient and cost-effective. High production costs of existing technology currently inhibit both producers and actors in later stages of the value chain from investing in bio-based alternatives. Industrial processes need to be able to ensure the right and stable product quality despite variations in the composition and quality of the bio-based raw material. The processes also need to utilise raw materials, energy, water and chemicals more efficiently. By developing bio-based production processes, Swedish companies can bring more sustainable and competitive products to the market while increasing the value added from these industries.
The aim of this call is to develop new, or further develop already established, bio-based production processes so that the products can become more sustainable and competitive.
The call covers both individual process steps and integrated processes, from raw material to finished product. Possible processes and technologies in projects include upgrading of biobased process streams, production of chemicals, polymers, materials and proteins, production of food, food ingredients or animal feed, and production of textiles, packaging or building materials. The projects are expected to provide a basis for decision-making for scaling up or implementation that reduces risk for actors along the value chain and creates the conditions for a range of more sustainable and competitive bio-based products on the market. A clear commitment from the business community is requested in the projects.
Projects should be based on an idea that has already been validated in laboratory or small pilot scale. During the project period, the product, process or technology should be verified at a scale that companies consider relevant for production-scale implementation decisions. Projects should therefore be designed to reach a target Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 
External link.corresponding to a minimum of TRL 4 and a maximum of TRL 7.
Projects receiving funding under this call should focus on products, processes or technologies that fulfil a market need and have the potential to develop its market maturity. The applicant must also describe how the process generates value when implemented. Such a description can, for example, be supported by a techno-economic assessment.
The projects should also be able to contribute to more sustainable production processes and to making environmental considerations a more integral part of business operations through, for example, more efficient use of water, energy and chemicals, a higher degree of circularity and a broad perspective on various environmental and societal benefits when choosing bio-based raw materials.
Research and innovation focusing on primary raw material supply (cultivation, management and harvesting of bioresources), development of technical solutions for energy purposes, and development of pharmaceuticals are not included in this call.
Applicants are encouraged to formulate their project so that it has international relevance. This may involve, for example, developing a product, service or business together with foreign partners, developing a product based on what is considered sustainable in foreign markets, or analysing opportunities for future cooperation under the EU framework programmes for research and innovation. However, the preparation of specific applications is not funded in the call.
The call is aimed at actors in the bio-based sector operating in Sweden who want to develop bio-based production processes in collaboration. Companies, public organisations, universities, colleges and research institutes can apply for funding under the call. The call is based on the needs of the biobased industry and projects that are funded must have strong involvement from such actors.
At least three project partners must participate in a project, of which at least two must come from the business community. Project partner means that the organisation has a share of the budget and a clear role in the implementation of the work. Read more under the heading Requirements for project team and project partners.
International project partners are welcome under certain conditions. Read more under the heading Restrictions for applicants.
Before applying
Funded projects will be part of Biosociety, a new research and innovation programme on circular bioeconomy. Projects are expected to contribute to the programme's work on external communication, dissemination of results, portfolio analysis and systematic learning.
At least three project partners must participate in a project, of which at least two must come from the business community. The project must be co-financed by the business community with at least 50%. Public funds are not accepted as co-financing.
To be considered a project partner, the organisation must be included as an active part in the project plan and the project budget must clearly show the costs that will be incurred by the partner in question; either through a grant from Formas, own or other funding, or a combination of these. For projects that receive funding in the call, the project partners must, individually and after notification of award, sign a written commitment to carry out the project in accordance with Formas' decision to award funding. A prerequisite for the first payment of funds is that a copy of all project partners' approval has been received in time and that any requested supplements have been received.
The main applicant, i.e. the coordinating party, must be a Swedish organisation. This means that it must be a legal entity linked to a Swedish organisation number.
The coordinating party must be able to receive and manage the funds that Formas pays out to an approved project. The organisation that will receive and manage the funds that Formas pays out if the project is approved is called the administrating organisation.
Formas distinguishes between administrating organisations that can receive funding in all Formas calls, and administrating organisations that can be approved to receive funding for an individual project. Universities, higher education institutions, government agencies with research assignments and most research institutes are approved as administrating organisations in all Formas calls. Most other public and private organisations need to obtain individual approval as administrating organisations.
For more information on administrating organisations, see the section on The application process.
The following restrictions apply to both main applicants and participating project partners.
Companies and other organisations engaged in economic activities that wish to apply for funding from Formas are subject to EU state aid rules. Read more under the heading Rules for state aid to enterprises and other economic activities.
Formas cannot grant funds to project partners with the business form of a sole proprietorship.
Researchers at foreign universities, colleges and research institutes can participate this call as consultants but not as project partners. The participation of foreign research organisations in the project must be limited, well defined and well justified in the project application. Foreign companies and other organisations engaged in economic activities are not eligible for funding under this call, but may participate in the project "in-kind" where appropriate.
Due to the war in Ukraine, it will not be possible to receive funding for projects involving co-operation with state or federal research institutions in Russia and Belarus.
There is no limit to the number of applications an organisation can submit. Individuals may participate in multiple applications, but it is not permitted for any individual to have a total funding from Formas that exceeds 100% of his/her salary. This restriction also applies in combination with project grants from other funding bodies.
It is not allowed to submit the same application with different main applicants to this call.
State aid rules apply when Formas provides grants to companies and other organisations engaged in economic activities. The rules exist to protect competition in the EU's internal market.
State aid rules govern both the types of costs and the proportion of costs that we can fund. This is determined for each organisation individually. We therefore distinguish between how much funding the project can receive, and how much each participating project partner can receive.
The amount of funding each participating project partner can receive depends mainly on:
- the activity and size of the party
- the activities that the party will carry out in the project.
Rules for organisations carrying out non-economic activities
For organisations engaged in non-economic activities, it is possible to apply for funding in the call and receive full cost coverage in the project. Universities, colleges, municipalities, regions, public authorities are usually considered as organisations engaged in non-economic activities.
State aid rules for companies and other organisations engaged exclusively in economic activities
Formas will apply state aid rules when granting funds to companies and other organisations engaged in economic activities. Each project partner is responsible for ensuring that the grant received does not exceed the aid level permitted under the rules.
In this call, Formas will apply Article 25 of the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER, EU Regulation No 651/2014). When the support is based on GBER, the level of support depends on the type of project and the size of the activity. In this call, Formas assesses that the projects will fall within the category of industrial research and experimental development. The size of the business is assessed based on the EU definition of small and medium-sized enterprises. Read more about how the size of the business is defined and what industrial research and experimental development means here: Funding levels under the Formas funding scheme External link. (in Swedish)
The maximum aid intensity per project partner carrying out economic activities in a project categorised as industrial research is
- Small enterprise: 80%.
- Medium-sized enterprises: 75%.
- Large enterprise: 65%
The maximum aid intensity per project partner carrying out economic activities in a project categorised as experimental development is
- Small enterprise: 60%.
- Medium-sized enterprise: 50%.
- Large enterprise: 40%.
All maximum funding levels above are based on the assumption that granted projects involve actual co-operation or dissemination of results.
Formas may decide on a different maximum aid intensity than the one applied for.
Project partners that receive state aid when carrying out projects, in the event that the project application is granted funding from Formas, need to be aware that the requirements for transparency reporting of granted state aid have been tightened in 2023. This means that state aid over EUR 100,000 to a project partner in a project (or if it concerns primary agricultural production or the fisheries and aquaculture sector, EUR 10,000), must be publicly reported within the EU. Formas is responsible for this transparency reporting. The applicant is deemed to be aware of this transparency reporting requirement and is deemed to have authorised such public reporting above the applicable thresholds.
Prior to making decisions, Formas conducts credit checks of companies and other organisations engaged in economic activities that may be eligible for funding.
Rules for organisations carrying out partly economic activities
Organisations carrying out both economic and non-economic activities, such as research institutes, municipal companies and civil society organisations, can apply for funding under this call and receive a grant with non-governmental support, provided that they intend to participate in their non-economic activities. An organisation that carries out both economic and non-economic activities shall be considered as an enterprise only for the purposes of the economic activities.
If an applicant organisation carries out both economic and non-economic activities, it must keep these activities clearly separated through separate accounting. It is crucial that the costs and funding of the organisation's different activities are kept separate, and that the organisation as a recipient may not use results from activities conducted within the framework of the non-economic activities, with funding from Formas, in its economic activities. In summary, in order for Formas to grant the organisation support in the form of funding within the framework of your non-economic activities, the applicant organisation must certify that its non-economic activities are kept clearly separate from any economic activities, and that the project for which funding is sought will be carried out within your non-economic part of the business.
For applicants who conduct both economic and non-economic activities, and who in the call intend to participate in their non-economic part of the activity, Formas requires that a certificate of separate accounting be signed by an authorised representative of the organisation and attached to the application. Formas may also request a certificate of separate accounting or subordinate economic activity for projects during the processing of the application when Formas considers that there is a need for it. Read more under the heading What the application must contain.
Read more here about the state aid rules that apply when Formas gives grants:
State aid rules External link.
Aid intensities according to Formas aid scheme External link. (in Swedish)
Both direct and indirect project costs can be financed. Direct costs are costs that would not have been incurred if the project had not been carried out: staff costs, costs of equipment, buildings, land, costs of consultants and licences, and other direct costs. Indirect costs are costs that are not incurred as a direct result of the project but can still be related to it, such as administration and IT. Indirect costs are sometimes referred to as overhead costs. The allowed mark-up for indirect costs is different for different types of operators.
Costs must be clearly linked to the project and consist of actions in addition to regular activities.
Read more about what costs Formas funds, including rules for indirect costs, under the heading What the application must contain.
The grant size is between SEK 1 million and 4 million from Formas for a project. The project must be co-financed by actors from the business sector with at least 50%. Co-financing may consist of in-kind, cash or other resources.
The project start date is pre-set in Prisma to 1 December 2025 and cannot be changed. The duration of projects can be between 12 and 36 months. Projects have a three-month availability period, which means that funds may be used three months after the project end date.
The budget in the application must include an explanation of how the funds will be used. Fill in the budget according to how the actual costs are expected to occur per calendar year. Formas may, for administrative reasons, set a payment plan that differs from the application's distribution of the budget over time
Subject to fulfilment of the conditions of the approved projects, funds will be disbursed monthly with a first payment in December 2025.
The application can be written in Swedish or English. However, the popular science description must be written in Swedish, while the summaries must be in both Swedish and English.
Under Swedish law, the application (including appendices) is considered a public document when it is received by Formas. This means that anyone can request and take part of it. Information can only be concealed if it is covered by confidentiality under the Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act (2009:400)
Formas has limited possibilities to subject personal data to confidentiality. Therefore, the application should not contain personal data for anyone other than the participants in the application.
The popular science description and the project summaries in Swedish and English will, if the project is granted funding, be published in open project databases without confidentiality checks. These fields should therefore not contain any sensitive information.
We currently see no problem with AI being used as an aid in the preparation of the application. However, it is important to point out that the responsibility for fulfilling the commitments made in the application lies with the applicant. It is the applicant's responsibility to ensure that the content of both the application and the project plan is correct and that the research is carried out as described. You certify this when submitting the application. Applicants must follow good research practice in the application process, which means that plagiarism, falsification or fabrication of content in the application must not occur.
Formas is very keen to ensure that the projects we fund are carried out in a way that maximises positive and minimises negative impacts on the environment and climate. We therefore encourage applicants to design the project so that collaboration takes place primarily through digital meetings and that necessary travel is carried out as climate-smart as possible. We also suggest that the project planning includes measures that minimise energy and other resource consumption, emissions and waste. However, this will not be part of the assessment of your application.
Read about Formas' own sustainability work External link..
Application process
All information on what to include in the application, how to apply and the assessment process can be found in the text below.
Applications to Formas are made in our application system Prisma. All the information needed for the application must be entered there.
Start page Prisma External link.
In order to access the call's application form, the main applicant, i.e. the coordinating party, must have an organisation account in Prisma at the time of application. It is the coordinating party who is responsible for all administration in Prisma and who must be stated throughout the application as the coordinator/administrating organisation. The person who will be the project leader also needs a personal account in Prisma.
The application should be initiated through the coordinated party's organisation account. The person responsible for the organisation account then automatically becomes the project leader. This can be changed by the person responsible inviting another person to become the project leader. If the person responsible for the organisation account is to be the project leader, no personal account needs to be linked to the application.
Organisation account
The organisation that will receive and manage the funds that Formas pays out if the project's application is approved is called the administrating organisation in Formas' application system. Formas distinguishes between administrating organisations that can receive funds in all Formas calls, and administrating organisations that can be approved to receive funds for an individual project. Universities, colleges, most research institutes and government agencies with research assignments are approved as administrating organisations for all Formas calls and already have an organisation account. Most other public and private organisations need to be individually approved as administrating organisations in this call.
If your organisation already has an account in Prisma, please contact the responsible research officer Anna Gellerstedt by email anna.gellerstedt@formas.se to be added as a potential administrating organisation for this call. Please state the organisation number in your message. This also applies if the organisation has been approved as administrating organisation for a project in one of Formas' previous calls.
If your organisation does not already have an account in Prisma, an appropriate representative (organisation account manager) must apply for an organisation account on the Prisma website. In the justification for the application, state that you want to apply for the call Bio-based production processes for a sustainable and competitive bioeconomy, what type of organisation it is and the organisation number. It is important that the main applicant applies in good time for an organisation account for the intended coordinating project partner (administrating organisation) if there is no such account in Prisma, but no later than 20 August 2025.
Apply for an organisation account in Prisma. External link.
If you do not know whether the main applicant has an organisation account in Prisma, please contact the responsible research officer Anna Gellerstedt by email anna.gellerstedt@formas.se before applying for a new account. Please state your organisation number.
Project site - create a structure to describe the organisation
In order to register an application, a project site within the organisation must be specified, such as a unit or a department. The person responsible for the organisational account must build a structure with units and sub-units (project sites) in two levels. If the organisation has no units or departments, specify a sub-unit with the same name as the organisation. Information on how to do this can be found in the Prisma user support External link..
Find the call in Prisma
The call is listed under "Organisation account" in Prisma. Organisational calls are only visible when logging in to the organisational account. First click on the Organisation account tab and then go to the link for Organisation calls. See Prisma's user support for instructions on how to find the call in Prisma.
The application will be assessed only on what is stated in the application. Therefore, the project description should clearly address all the assessment criteria.
All maximum character limits refer to characters including spaces. A recommendation is to choose Arial in font size 12 for the information entered in all text boxes. Please note that if the application is written in word processing software and then pasted into Prisma, the formatting may be lost. Tables and figures with advanced formatting or formulae should be uploaded as an attachment in PDF format to avoid losing valuable information.
The application must contain a clear description of the project under the following sections:
Basic information
- Number of months requested: The minimum number of months is 12 and the maximum number of months is 36.
- Start month: The date is preset to 1 December 2025 and cannot be changed.
- Project title in English and Swedish (200 characters including spaces).
- Popular science description in Swedish (4 500 characters including spaces). If the project is granted funding, the popular science description will be published in open project databases without a confidentiality check. The content of this field should therefore not contain sensitive information.
- Summary in Swedish and English (1 500 characters including spaces each). The project summaries will, if the project is funded, be published in open project databases without confidentiality checks. The content of these fields should therefore not contain sensitive information.
Project description
The following should be described in the project description.
Relevance and potential of the project (max 10,000 characters including spaces)
Background
- Describe the context of which the project is a part and why the project is important in a wider perspective. The description is important to give the reviewers a good understanding of how the solution the project aims to achieve meets the needs and conditions of the business community and other relevant actors.
- Describe and characterise the challenge(s) the project is addressing, solutions tried in the past and lessons learned.
Purpose and objectives
- Describe the purpose of the project and how the project can contribute to the purpose and focus of the call, including sustainable development.
- Specify the problems or challenges that the project is addressing.
- Describe the objectives and expected results and impacts of the project in the short and long term.
- Describe how the implementation of the project's expected results and solutions meets the current needs of the business community and other relevant actors.
- Describe the conditions for the expected results or solutions to be disseminated and scaled up nationally and internationally.
State-of-the-art
- Describe the knowledge underpinning the project.
- Describe the context of the project, the novelty and/or innovative nature of the expected results or solutions. Compare the project's expected solutions with any other relevant solutions, nationally and internationally.
- Describe if and how the implementation of the solutions developed is dependent on other developments.
Implementation (max 8,000 characters including spaces)
- Describe and justify how the project will be implemented, including work packages, activities, methods, work plan and timetable.
- Describe clearly the plan for promoting impact of project results.
- Describe any ethical considerations and how they are addressed in the project.
- Reflect on how gender equality aspects have been integrated into the project.
- Reflect on how risks can affect the project's realisation, schedule and budget, how likely they are and how they are managed, if they occur.
Actors (max 5,000 characters including spaces)
- Describe and justify the choice of project partners, their competences, roles and involvement in the project.
- Describe how the interests of the project partners and other stakeholders will be addressed in the project and how this will be done.
- Reflect on the gender composition of the project team (key persons) and the distribution of influence between women and men.
Reference list (max 3 000 characters including spaces)
References that have been included in running text under the items above are listed in a separate field. These can be publications, previous work relevant to the project, etc.
Budget and other information
The project's costs, funding and other information about all organisations participating in the application are reported in Prisma. In Prisma, the entire amount applied for is filled in, for example, SEK 1 million is printed: SEK 1 000 000.
Please note that companies and other organisations engaged in economic activities cannot receive full cost coverage from Formas in this call. Read more under the section Rules for state aid to companies and other economic activities.
The following information must be included in the project budget.
Information on the lead applicant organisation and each project partner
This is mandatory information that must be filled in per project partner for all partners in the project. The data is collected and filled in by the main applicant, i.e. the coordinating party. The lead applicant's organisation must be the same as the one indicated as administrating organisation.
- Name of the organisation
- Organisation number
- Address, postcode, post town, country
- Annual turnover (refers to the total turnover or sales of the university, college, institute, company or organisation in the current tax year, expressed in figures, e.g. 3 500 000)
- Balance sheet total (refers to the sum of the asset side or the sum of liabilities and equity in a company's or organisation's balance sheet, stated in figures, e.g. 5,500,000)
- Number of employees
- Contact person
- E-mail to contact person
- Name of workplace, address, postal code, city, country where the main part of the work will be carried out.
Costs
- Personnel costs for researchers, technicians and other staff to the extent that they work on the project. For employees of a university, college or research institute, the amount may never exceed one hundred per cent of a full-time position. This also means that someone who is already receiving full salary funding from any funder cannot receive additional funds for salary. Researchers who are full-time retired cannot receive funding for their own salary.
- Equipment, buildings and land to the extent and for the duration that they are used for the project. If instruments and equipment are not used throughout the life of the project, only the depreciation costs corresponding to the life of the research project, calculated on the basis of generally accepted accounting principles, are considered eligible. For buildings, only depreciation costs corresponding to the life cycle of the research project, calculated on the basis of generally accepted accounting principles, are considered eligible. For land, costs of transfer on commercial terms or actual capital costs are eligible.
- Costs for consultants, licences, etc., which are purchased or hired from external sources on market terms, and costs of consultancy and equivalent services used exclusively for research activities.
- Other direct costs, such as costs of materials, inputs and similar products, incurred as a direct result of a project. Other direct costs also include travel and conferences, and publication in open access journals and databases. Formas only grants funding for certain author fees. Read more under the heading. Costs for publishing External link.. Project parties applying for funding equivalent to SEK 3 million or more may also apply for funding of up to SEK 30,000 for an auditor's certificate from an authorised/approved auditor. E certificates from internal auditors are accepted for municipalities, county councils, government agencies, universities and colleges.
- Indirect costs:
- Universities may add indirect costs according to the full cost principle they apply. In their accounts, universities and higher education institutions only need to itemise eligible costs corresponding to the amount of the grant.
- The following organisations, when participating in the project with non-financial activities, may claim actual indirect costs up to a maximum of 45% of their eligible staff costs
- research organisations that are
- limited liability companies or partnerships in which the State exercises, directly or indirectly, a legal controlling influence, or
- foundations in which the government appoints one or more board members
- government agencies (other than universities) that are required by their instructions to conduct their own research,
- research organisations that are
The condition of a maximum of 45% applies provided that the organisation receives funds by government decision to conduct independent research. If the organisation also carries out economic activities such as contract research, these activities must be reported separately. If the organisation participates in the project with economic activities, the condition regarding other project partners below applies.
- Other project partners may claim actual indirect costs up to a maximum of 30 % of their eligible staff costs.
Formas does not grant funds for overhead on depreciation costs for equipment or for premises.
Financing
The application can specify four types of funding:
- Grant applied for from Formas: Indicates the amount applied for from Formas under the call. The amount cannot exceed total costs. If the amount applied for is less than the total costs, the remaining amount will be automatically calculated and reported under Own funding.
- Other support (public): If funds for related projects have been obtained with funding from Formas or another public funding body. Please note that public funding cannot be counted towards meeting the co-financing requirements in this call.
- Other support (private): If funds from another private company or organisation contribute to the project.
- Own funding: If the project partner provides own funding for the project, it is automatically calculated in the own funding field.
Justification of staff costs in the budget
Here you specify the average hourly cost of budgeted staff costs per project partner. Staff costs refer to salaries including social security contributions and other mandatory contributions linked to salaries. (Maximum 500 characters including spaces, per project partner.)
Budget specification
Here the main applicant explains and justifies the budget in words. Here the overhead costs applied for in the application are stated. Formas does not grant funds for overheads on depreciation costs for equipment or premises.
Also indicate any consultancy costs and the extent of the consultant's involvement. Please also indicate which project partner(s) will bear the consultancy costs. Applicants are encouraged to be clear in describing all costs in relation to the relevant activities of the project (maximum 9,000 characters including spaces.
Certificate for organisations carrying out partly economic activities
Organisations that conduct both economic and non-economic activities and intend to participate in the project within their non-economic activities must attach a certificate to this effect. The certificate must be signed by an authorised representative of the organisation and then uploaded as a PDF in Prisma (max 4 MB). Formas accepts e-signatures.
Certificate of separation of accounts and subordinate activities. (in Swedish) External link.
Ethics
Indicate if there are specific ethical aspects to the project. If so, please describe the ethical issues involved and how they will be addressed. For example, this could be research that utilises personal data or research that involves experiments on humans or animals.
For research involving humans, human tissue or sensitive personal data, an application for ethical review must be submitted to the Ethical Review Authority and approved. If the research involves experiments on animals, approval from an animal experimentation ethics committee is also required. The application for this is made in the Swedish Board of Agriculture's e-service.
Indicate in the application whether or not current ethical approval exists. If not, and the application is funded, ethical approval must be obtained before commencing the described trials.
If the research is not expected to involve anything that requires ethical approval, this should be stated and justified how and why.
(Maximum 9,000 characters including spaces).
Classifications
Formas uses the project's classifications in analyses and documentation at an overall level. The classifications are made by the applicant specifying the subject area, research topic (SCB code), at least one global sustainable development goal to which the project can contribute, and keywords.
- Subject area: Select the subject area of the project and add a subheading.
- Research subject (SCB code): Select at least one research subject and two sublevels that create the merged code.
- Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Indicate at least one and up to three SDGs to which the project can contribute, in order of priority and relevance. More on the meaning of the goals. (In swedish) External link.
- Keywords: Enter a minimum of one and a maximum of three keywords that describe the project.
Administrating organisation - the organisation receiving the funds
The organisation that receives and manages the funds that Formas pays out to approved projects is called the administrating organisation.
- Select the administrating organisation from the drop-down list. If the organisation to be the main applicant is not listed, see the heading Organisation account under the section Application process.
- Select the residence from the drop-down list. If you cannot find the right residence, please refer to the heading Applicants from co-managers who need to be individually authorised under the section Application process.
CV of the participants
Please attach CVs including relevant qualifications of key persons as a single pdf in Prisma (max 20 pages, max 10 MB). Recommended length per CV is 2 A4 pages.
The CV should include relevant information showing the competences that are important in the project for each key person, e.g. experience in relevant project management, collaboration, research, implementation and promoting impact of project results. It is mandatory to attach the CV of the project leader.
The CV should include the following:
- Name of the organisation
- Gender
- Organisation
- Title
- Role in the project
- Relevant skills and experience
- Reasons why the person is a key person
- Other
In this call, researchers at our generally approved administrating organisations cannot link to CV data already entered in Prisma. This is to ensure an equal assessment of applications and CVs.
Annexes
It is possible, but not mandatory, to add additional annexes to the application. Any images, tables, figures, etc. to the application are uploaded as a single pdf attachment (max 10 MB).
Once completed, the application must be registered, submitted and signed by the organisation account manager.
The signing of a registered application is done by the organisation account manager, and can be done in two ways:
- If the organisational account manager is the same person as the project leader, he/she registers the application and signing is automatic upon registration.
- If the project leader is a person other than the organisation account manager, the project leader completes the application. Then, the administrating organisation (the organisation account manager or user with the role of application manager) registers and submits the application. The application is then signed automatically upon registration.
At any time during the preparation of the application, the project leader can access the check and register tab. This will list any missing mandatory information or other reasons that may prevent the application from being registered.
Once the application period has expired, the application can only be revised in special cases at Formas’ request.
After submitting the application
Formas will first check that the application fulfils the formal requirements set out in the call. If the application does not fulfil the requirements, it is rejected.
The following requirements will be checked in this call:
- That the focus of the application is within the purpose and scope of the call.
- That the application complies with the requirements of the call with regard to the amount requested, co-financing, number of project partners and type of project partners.
- All project partners are legal entities, i.e. not sole traders.
- The application is complete, i.e. it contains all the information required.
- That no more applications with the same content have been received
All applications are assessed by an external review panel on the basis of what is described in the application. Each application is reviewed by several reviewers. The review panel is composed of representatives from academia and relevant stakeholders in society. It is therefore important that the application is as clear as possible in its content and that all important and relevant information is included.
Applications will be assessed against the following criteria:
Relevance
- The project can significantly contribute to the purpose and focus of the call.
- The design of the project and its expected outcomes have taken into consideration the relevant needs and conditions of different target groups.
- The application clearly states what impact the proposed solution will have in terms of benefits to society.
Potential
- The project's problem statement and purpose are clear, logical and in line with the aim and focus of the call.
- The research that forms the basis of the project is of high quality.
- The expected result and/or solution of the project is at the forefront of its field, and has a significant novelty or innovation value.
- The project has significant potential for scalability and/or dissemination.
Implementation
- Planned activities and methods are appropriate to achieve the expected results.
- The timeline and budget are realistic and appropriate in relation to the project’s purpose and goals.
- The plan for the utilisation of project results is well described and appropriate.
- Ethical considerations are well described and the plan for how to manage these are appropriate.
- Gender equality perspectives are well integrated in the project implementation.
Stakeholders
- The project's organisation and collective expertise are appropriate for the implementation of the project, including the exploitation of project results.
- The project is carried out in co-operation with relevant stakeholders or users. The involvement of the project participants is well described and appropriate to the project objectives.
- The project team (key persons) is well composed in terms of gender distribution, and distribution of influence between women and men. This is relevant when the project team consists of more than 3 people.
Read more about the assessment process on Formas' website.
Our reviewers are currently not allowed to use AI tools to support the review of applications. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, there is a high risk that information uploaded will be disseminated. There are also risks related to confidentiality and the processing of personal data. Uploading an application or information from an application to any kind of AI tool is an unauthorised disclosure of information. This applies not only to AI tools but also to many other services and tools for storing and sharing data.
Decisions on which projects are awarded funding are expected to be made on 20 November 2025. We will publish the decisions no later than the following day on Formas' website, and all applicants will receive an e-mail when they can view the decision in Prisma. Decisions on grants cannot be appealed.
For projects that receive funding in the call, the project parties must, individually and after notification of approval, sign a written commitment to carry out the project in accordance with Formas' decision to grant funding. A prerequisite for the first payment of funds is that a copy of all project parties' approval has been received in time and that any requested supplements have been received.
All awarded projects must submit a report to Formas on finances and project results within three months after the end of the availability period. For projects longer than 18 months, a financial status report must also be submitted to Formas annually. All reporting is done in Prisma.
Financial reporting in Prisma (in Swedish) External link.
Formas may have requirements on how the projects are to be reported in terms of content and results to enable dissemination and real-world impact. This will be stated in the decision (with associated conditions) for the project in the event of funding. Formas may also require participation in conferences and similar events to create synergies and platforms for learning and knowledge exchange.
For this call, specific conditions will be developed that will apply in addition to Formas' general conditions and Formas' supplementary conditions for multi-partner projects.
Results from research funded by Formas must be published with open access.
Those who receive funding from Formas must also have a data management plan for the data produced in the project. The plan does not have to be submitted to us but can be presented on request. By signing our grant 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 to Swecris, a national database of grant-funded research set up on behalf of the government.
Revision history
If the text of the call has changed since publication, the changes are indicated here.
Contact details
For questions about the content of the call
For administrative questions and questions about Prisma
