Impact Innovation: Pricing and Value Models for Sustainable Water for All

The programme's mission Sustainable Water for All 2050 means that water must be available in the right quantity and quality to create good conditions for people, the environment, ecosystems and business - even in a changing climate. To accelerate the transition, it is strategically important to understand and develop the economic drivers that incentivise the sustainable use and management of water in line with the Water Wise Societies mission.

Sweden is facing a major industrial transition with the expansion of water-intensive sectors such as fossil-free steel production, battery manufacturing and data centres. At the same time, the pressure on water systems is increasing due to climate change with droughts and torrential rain, an ageing infrastructure with significant reinvestment needs and a generally growing demand. Current systems lack economic incentives to promote conservation and circularity, making long-term sustainable management of water resources difficult. This development is intensifying competition for water and highlights the need to visualise the value of water as a societal resource. Strengthening Sweden's competitiveness and resilience requires economic models that support efficient, sustainable and circular water use.

Sweden's current models for pricing and valuing water have worked well historically, but they are not designed for the challenges of the future and the growing demand for water, not least in water-intensive activities. Therefore, new models are needed - or models adapted to Swedish conditions.

The call aims to develop new conceptual and/or practically applicable innovative price and value models that can strengthen the mission of Sustainable Water for All. An important part of this is to strengthen knowledge about how different price mechanisms and value models can contribute to a transition that is in line with Water Wise Societies' mission. For example, it can be about more circular processes, increased water conservation, use of water with the right quality for the right purpose and increased willingness to invest at all levels of society.

We are looking for projects that contribute to solving the challenges addressed in the Water Wise Societies' mission and that fully or partially fit within the system dimension "Money and Value".

Examples of needs described in the assignments are listed below:

• Strengthening resilient water supply and water management in society by developing economic models, pricing mechanisms, and financing solutions that support a resilient and sustainable water system, including investments in infrastructure, preparedness, and co-financing of preventive measures. This includes models for fair and long-term sustainable cost-sharing during droughts and floods, as well as financing solutions for construction and management that integrate nature-based solutions.
• Incentives for the protection of water resources, to safeguard water sources, reduce emissions and discharges, and implement the polluter-pays principle by making the value of clean water and the costs of pollution more visible.
• Sustainable water abstraction and reduced water use through business models that clarify responsibilities and benefits, as well as pricing models that link water availability, demand, and conservation, and that support investments and reinvestments.
• Circularity and resource-efficient use through the development of business models for the reuse of water and water-related resources, fair allocation principles among stakeholders, and incentives for upstream measures and preventive actions.
• Protection of aquatic ecosystems and reduced environmental impact through value models and market incentives that recognize and make visible ecosystem services, as well as policy instruments to reduce the spread of hazardous substances, and models for the allocation of responsibilities, value creation, and compensation schemes aimed at reducing eutrophication and other negative impacts on aquatic ecosystems.

The call will result in price and value instruments that support policies and practices that lead to better water supply, management and governance and contribute to the Water Wise Societies' mission of Sustainable Water for All, the three sub-goals and underlying mission. Projects must have a clear link to at least one of the ten missions of the Programme. External link.

• Research performers, public organisations, businesses and civil society organisations within the "source to coast" system.
• Only multi-partner applications with a minimum of two and a maximum of six partners, including at least one project partner from industry, the public sector or civil society and at least one partner from a university, college or research institute with government involvement.

• The research organisation must be the administrating organisation and thus the coordinator of the project.

• Business is interpreted broadly in this call, and Water Wise Societies particularly encourages actors in industry, agriculture/forestry/agriculture, banking, finance and insurance companies, civil society and the municipal sector to apply.

• A project partner is defined as a legal entity that has an active role in the project. This means that they must be added as a project party in the application form and have budgeted costs in the project - regardless of whether they are seeking support from Formas or not.

• Project partners that conduct economic activities must be authorised for F-tax.

• International organisations cannot receive Formas funding and can therefore only participate with their own funding and/or other support.

• A sole proprietorship may not be a project partner.

• A project partner cannot both receive support from Formas and fund another project partner within the framework of the project.

• The coordinating party is the project administrating organisation. It is the administrating organisation that receives the grant from Formas and transfers it to project partners in accordance with Formas' decision.

For more information on the role and responsibilities of the project manager and administrating organisation, see Formas' terms and conditions External link..

Research collaborations with Russia and Belarus

Due to the war in Ukraine, funding cannot be awarded to projects involving research collaboration with state-owned or federal research institutions in Russia or Belarus.

In this call, these types of costs are eligible:

All costs must be actual, incurred within the project and be auditable.

• Staff costs: Salaries, social security contributions and other staff fees.

• Equipment, land and buildings: instruments, equipment and rent for premises other than the normal operating premises.
• Consultancy and licensing costs, etc.: Consultancy services, knowledge and patents purchased or used under licence on market terms from a third party. Costs for consultancy services from third parties must be justified. If they represent more than 20 per cent of a project partner's budget, an explanation of the size of this item and a more detailed justification is required.
• Other direct costs: For example, materials, supplies and travel that are necessary to implement the project. Formas grants funding for only certain author fees. Read more under the heading Costs of publishing External link..

A project partner 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. Auditor's certificates from internal auditors are accepted for municipalities, county councils and government agencies. Universities and colleges are exempt from audit certificates. Read more under the heading Budget for multi-partner projects External link..

Costs incurred to participate in the Water Wise Societies transition arena and other similar activities are eligible costs. You should budget 25 hours per year per project for participation in Water Wise Societies programme activities.

• Indirect costs (overheads): Costs that are not incurred as a direct consequence of the project but can be related to the project, such as regular premises and cleaning. Indirect costs may not exceed 30 per cent of staff costs. Universities, colleges, research institutes and government agencies that are required to conduct their own research have higher maximum limits depending on the type of activity.

For more information on what costs we can fund, see What costs Formas funds External link. or What you can apply for funding for - Formas External link..

How much funding can the project receive?

You can apply for up to SEK 1.5 million for projects lasting a minimum of one year and a maximum of two years.

How much funding can a project partner receive?

State aid rules govern the proportion of costs we can fund for organisations engaged in economic activities. Economic activities are defined under EU State aid rules as activities consisting of offering goods or services on a market. This is independent of the legal form of the organisation or whether the activity is profit-making.

We therefore distinguish between the amount of funding the project can receive, and the amount each project partner can receive. State aid rules give us a framework for what is allowed, but we can give less support than the rules allow.

Eligibility criteria for organisations engaged in non-economic activities

For organisations carrying out non-economic activities, we can fund up to 100% of eligible costs.

In this call, we provide funding to organisations that do not carry out economic activities. This means that they do not offer a service or product on a market. These organisations usually include universities and colleges, as well as research institutes where the government has influence.

Organisations that carry out both economic and non-economic activities are partly covered by state aid rules. Support for economic activities is covered by the rules, while support for non-economic activities is not, as long as these activities are accounted for separately and the support from Formas or funded activities does not favour the economic part.

Examples of organisations that can conduct economic and non-economic activities are certain research institutes, municipal companies and civil society organisations.

In order for Formas to assess whether funds to a project partner can be granted without being subject to the rules on state aid, the project partner must certify in the application that they are seeking funds for non-economic activities and fulfil the requirements for separate accounting.

Formas may later request a Certificate of Separate Activities or Subordinate Economic Activities External link. in order to make its assessment.

If the application is granted non-governmental support, the authorised representative of the party must also certify when signing the document Project Party Approval, before the grant can begin to be paid.

How do you determine whether an organisation is engaged in an economic activity?

An organisation that offers any kind of service or product on a market is considered an economic operator. It does not matter how the organisation is financed, whether it is public or private, or whether it is profit-making. Nor does it matter what legal form the organisation takes. For example, whether it is a limited company, a partnership, an economic association, a non-profit organisation or a foundation.

The organisation itself is responsible for assessing whether it is engaged in economic activities. Please note that Formas may make a different assessment once the application is registered in our system.

Funding criteria for organisations engaged in economic activities

In this call, we provide support for industrial research, up to 65%, for organisations engaged in economic activities. This is provided that the project involves effective collaboration between a company and one or more research and knowledge dissemination organisations, and if the latter accounts for at least 10% of the eligible costs and is entitled to publish its own research results.

In simple terms, industrial research can be described as the pursuit of new knowledge through planned research or critical analysis to develop or significantly improve products, processes or services.

For a full definition, see the Formas funding scheme External link..

How much of the costs can we fund?

In this call, companies and other organisations that carry out economic activities can apply for and be awarded grants corresponding to a maximum of 50% of their eligible costs in this call, regardless of the size of the activity.

If the project falls under one of these bonus criteria, we can fund a higher proportion of costs up to 65% of eligible costs:

• Actual collaboration between a company and one or more organisations for research and knowledge dissemination, if the latter accounts for at least 10% of the eligible costs and is entitled to publish its own research results.

• The results of the project are widely disseminated through conferences, publications, open access databases or free and open source software.

We award grants in accordance with Article 25 of the European Commission's General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER).

The size of the organisation and the type of activity will determine the proportion of costs we can fund, i.e. the maximum level of support.

Your application must fulfil certain formal requirements. If any of the requirements are not met, the application will be rejected on formal grounds.

Requirements concerning the project, its partners and project participants.

• The consortium is organised according to the requirements of the call.

• At least one project participant must have obtained a doctoral degree by the closing date of the call.

• All project partners applying for a grant are Swedish legal entities and operate in Sweden.

• All parties are deemed to have the organisational and financial capacity to run the project.

• Project partners must be registered for F-tax and VAT where their organisational form requires it no later than the closing date of the call.

• Project partners with personnel costs in the project budget must be registered as employers with the Swedish Tax Agency no later than the call closing date.

• All project partners can fulfil Formas' conditions for granted funds.

Requirements concerning the formal content of the application.

• The focus of the application is within Formas' areas of responsibility.

• The focus of the application is within the scope of the call.

• No multiple applications with the same or similar content have been received.

• All mandatory fields/information/attachments are included in the application.

• All project partners have filled in costs and funding in the budget.

• All costs reported in the budget are eligible costs.

• The application and the project team comply with the call's other frameworks regarding, among other things, budget, project partners, applied funding level and project duration.

• The application is signed by the administrating organisation within seven calendar days of the call closing.

We also check the financial status

Before deciding on funding, we also carry out an overall assessment of the organisational and financial status of those receiving funding. We use information obtained from credit reports and other sources.

For us to grant funding, this applies:

• Organisations must not be insolvent, or undergoing liquidation or company reorganisation.

• Limited companies must not have used up half or more of their share capital.

• If we request it, organisations must be able to demonstrate that they have the financial means to carry out the project according to their budget in the application. They cannot use public grants or own funds earmarked for other projects to cover project costs in this project.

Applications that fulfil the basic requirements will be assessed by external reviewers against the following criteria:

Relevance

• The project can significantly contribute to the objectives and focus of the call.

• The project has identified the main areas where the result or solution can create benefits.

• The project takes relevant account of the needs and conditions of different social groups.

Potential

• The project's purpose and problem formulation are clear, logical and in line with the purpose and focus of the call.

• The project is based on high quality research.

• The project's expected result or solution is at the forefront of its field, and has significant novelty or innovation value.

• The project has significant potential for scaling up or dissemination.

Implementation

• Planned activities and methods are appropriate to achieve the expected results. Timetable and budget are realistic and appropriate.

• The project's planned management of any obstacles or risks that may affect the realisation of the project is appropriate.

• the plan for the utilisation of the project results is appropriate

• The project addresses ethical considerations in a satisfactory manner.

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 implemented in collaboration with relevant stakeholders or users.

In this call, Formas will apply a portfolio perspective to enable the funding of projects that address a wide range of challenges and perspectives within the framework of the call as a whole. The portfolio perspective can only be applied by the review panel after each application has been assessed on its own merits.

Read more about Formas' assessment process How the assessment process works - Formas External link..

You apply in our application system Prisma External link..

Start the application in good time. In Prisma, you can start filling in the application and then continue at a later date. Filling in application forms in Prisma can take several days.

You should write the application in English as some assessors are international. Applications written in Swedish are translated by AI and you will not see the translation.

In this call, a project manager for your project must create and register the application in Prisma.

The person who creates the application becomes the project leader for your project. As soon as the project leader creates an application, a draft is automatically saved. The project leader can edit the draft until the deadline. The project leader can invite an administrator involved in the application to help with the application.

When the project leader registers an application, a summary of the mandatory fields not yet filled in is displayed. All mandatory information must be filled in for the project manager to register the application.

The project leader can deregister and complete your registered application until the application is finally registered and automatically signed at 14.00 on 9 September.

We do not allow late registrations or additions to applications after the call has closed. You can only make additions at Formas' request.

When your application is finally registered, the administrating organisation for your project must sign the application within seven calendar days of the call closing.

How do you apply for an organisational account for administrating organisations?

If the coordinating party and administrating organisation of your project do not have an organisational account, an authorised representative of this organisation needs to request an organisational account in order for you to select the administrating organisation in the application in Prisma.

In Prisma there are mandatory fields to fill in. They also indicate which appendices, if any, are either mandatory or optional, the maximum number of characters for each mandatory field and the size limits for appendices.

The project description must address all the assessment criteria in the application and must address the following questions.

Relevance and potential of the project

Background of the project

• Describe the context of which the project is a part and explain why the project is important in this wider context. The description should give Swedish and international assessors a good understanding of how the project's results or solutions can create benefits in relevant areas of society.

• Describe and characterise the challenge(s) the project addresses.

• Describe previous solutions and experiences in the field.

Purpose and objectives

• Describe how the project contributes to the purpose and focus of the call.

• Describe the challenges, needs or problems the project addresses.

• Describe the project's objectives and expected results and impacts, both in the short and long term.

• Describe how the project's expected results and solutions meet the needs of relevant societal actors.

• Describe how the project's expected results or solutions can be disseminated, scaled up and used.

State of knowledge

• Describe the research and knowledge on which the project is based.

• Describe the novelty or innovation of the expected outcome and why the solution represents an advance over existing alternatives.

• Compare the project's expected solutions with any other relevant solutions.

• Describe whether the success of the project is dependent on external factors or on results from other projects, and if so, how these dependencies are managed.

• Describe any ethical considerations and how these are addressed in the project.

Implementation

• Describe and justify the implementation plan including timetable and budget.

• Describe how the project results will be used. Indicate how and by whom the results can be used and what actions are planned for the results to be put into practice, disseminated or commercialised.

• Identify any risks in the project and describe how they can be managed.

Stakeholders

• Describe and justify the choice of project partners, their competences and roles. Justify also the activity levels of the project participants.

• Describe how the interests of the project partners and other stakeholders will be taken into account in the project and how collaboration will take place.

If funding is granted, Formas may set a payment plan that differs from the application's budget distribution over time.

You must also attach these appendices to the application in Prisma

1. CVs for the project leader and all key personnel. The appendix is expected to include at least one CV per project partner. Each CV must be a maximum of 1 A4 page with 12 point text.
2. A short non-confidential summary that can be freely disseminated and published. It must not include confidential or otherwise sensitive information.

We publish the decisions on Formas' website no later than the day after the funding decision has been made. The project leader and administrating organisation will also receive an email when the decision is available in Prisma.

The project leader can see the decision and opinion for your application under Applications on their personal account in Prisma. The administrating organisation can find the decision and opinion for your application under Organisation applications on the organisation account in Prisma.

Our decision cannot be appealed.

If we grant your application, the project leader and the administrating organisation must sign the Approval of terms and conditions published for your project in Prisma.

The project leader can see the Acceptance of Terms and Conditions under Grants in their personal account in Prisma. The administrating organisation can find the Terms and Conditions Agreement under Sign on organisation account in Prisma.

The Approval of Terms and Conditions describes the conditions of the grant.

You need to follow our general conditions. See the current terms and conditions document Terms and conditions for granted funds - Formas External link..

We may also decide to add specific terms and conditions for individual projects, which will then also appear in the Approval of Terms and Conditions.

In addition to signing the Approval of terms and conditions, you must obtain the project party's approval External link.. This is done by the project leader submitting scientific reports in Prisma. This approval is required by all project partners.

If you are awarded funding, Formas may set a payment plan that differs from the application's budget distribution over time.

Information on how to report the project is available at How to report expenditure and results - Formas External link.. It is clear from the terms and conditions you sign when the reporting is to be done.

If you need to make changes to your approved project, you can read more about how project changes are handled at Changes to ongoing projects - Formas External link. and Changing the budget in projects with several parties - Formas External link..

Under Swedish law, your application (including appendices) is considered a public document when it is received by us. This means that anyone can request and read your application. 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 cover personal data with confidentiality. Therefore, the application should not contain personal data for anyone other than the participants in the application. The application should also not contain sensitive personal data, unless this is clearly relevant to the project.

If the project is awarded funding, the popular science description and the project summaries in Swedish and English will be published in open project databases without a confidentiality check. Therefore, avoid writing sensitive information in these parts.

We currently see no problem with applicants using AI as a tool when preparing their applications. 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. As the applicant, you are responsible for ensuring that the content of both the application and the project plan is correct and that the research is carried out as you have described. You certify this when the application is registered. As an applicant, you must follow good research practice in the application process, which means that plagiarism, falsification or fabrication of content in the application must not occur.

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 great risk that information uploaded will be spread further. 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.

At Formas, we are 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 forms of meeting and that necessary travel is carried out as climate-smart as possible. We also suggest that you already include in the project planning measures that minimise energy and other resource consumption, emissions and waste. However, this will not be part of the assessment of your application.

You must indicate if there are specific ethical aspects to the project. In this case, you should describe the ethical issues involved and how you plan to address them. These may include, for example, research using personal data or research involving experiments on humans or animals.

If your research involves humans, human tissue or sensitive personal data, you will need to submit an application for ethical review to the Ethical Review Authority and have it approved. If you are conducting experiments on animals, you will also need approval from an animal ethics committee. You can apply for this in the Swedish Board of Agriculture's e-service.

You must state in your application whether or not you have a current ethical approval. If you do not, and your application is granted funding, you must have ethical approval before the described experiments begin.

If your research is not expected to involve anything requiring ethical approval, you must state this, and justify how and why.

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.

You must also have a data management plan for the data produced in the project. If you receive funding from us, you must produce such a plan. The plan does not have to be submitted to us, but you must be able to present it on request. By signing our grant conditions, you certify that a data management plan will be in place before the research starts and that it will be maintained.

Open access to research results and data. External link.

Formas regularly transfers data from approved applications to the Swecris External link. database, which is managed by the Swedish Research Council on behalf of the government. The following data from approved applications are transferred to Swecris and made available as open data:

• Project title in Swedish

• Project title in English

• Summary in Swedish

• Summary in English

• Estimated project duration (start date and end date)

• Total amount granted

• Name of coordinating organisation in Swedish

• Name of coordinating organisation in English

• Organisation number of coordinating organisation

• Research subject SCB code

• Names of applicants and participants

• Gender of applicants and participants

• ORCID of applicants and participants