Who can become an administrating organisation?

The administrating organisation is the party who receives the money that Formas pays out to an awarded project. You can be approved as an administrating organisation either for all types of calls or for individual projects. You apply to become an administrating organisation in our application system, Prisma.

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Become an administrating organisation for all types of calls

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. This also applies to many other research organisations.

The organisations must first meet our administrating organisation criteria. If they meet the criteria, they will receive a general approval. They do not then need to apply to be authorised as an administrating organisation for each new call.

All Swedish universities and institutes of higher learning meet our criteria and are approved as administrating organisations. This also applies to most research institutes. If you do not know whether your organisation is an approved one, contact the person responsible for research in your organisation. You can also contact Formas.

Our criteria

The criteria for becoming an administrating organisation for all types of Formas calls have been established in consultation with two other funders: the Swedish Research Council and the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (Forte). The criteria form a common framework for us and determine which administrating organisations should be allowed to receive a grant from us.

An administrating organisation for all Formas calls must meet the following eligibility criteria:

  • It must be a legal entity with a Swedish corporate identity number.
  • It must be a research practitioner. A research practitioner means an organisation that can prove it carries out research.
  • It must be able to comply with the obligations described in Formas’ terms and conditions. These terms and conditions state that the project manager of a project that receives funding must be employed by the administrating organisation. They also state that the administrating organisation must receive and administrate the funds granted and ensure that the project manager and other relevant staff have access to the facilities, equipment and other resources necessary to complete the project.
  • It must guarantee academic freedom in the context of its purpose, for example as a government agency or as an institute of higher learning. This is done by allowing research problems to be selected freely, allowing research methods to be developed freely and by allowing free publication of the research findings.
  • It must ensure that the results of the research funded by Formas are made openly available to other researchers as well as to the general public and private companies.

Administrating organisations must not engage in economic activity

An administrating organisation that wishes to be approved for all types of calls must not be a so-called organisational entity engaged in economic activity. As a general rule, all private companies are considered to engage in economic activity. Associations and other organisations can also be included here, but this depends on the activities they carry out.

For organisations engaged in both economic and non-economic activity, the use of grants in the operations that engage in non-economic activity is possible. The grants must not be used in the operation that engages in economic activity. The organisation must have separate financial reports for its economic and non-economic operations.

You can read more about the terms and conditions for administrating organisations in Formas’ general terms and conditions for research, development and innovation grants.

Become an administrating organisation for an individual project

In some of our calls, we can approve organisations as administrating organisations for individual projects. In that case, the call will contain the requirements for approval.

In the case of individual projects, the grant applicant is usually the administrating organisation. There may also be several organisations seeking funding for a joint project.

Formas first determines whether the organisation can be approved as an administrating organisation before deciding whether to grant or deny funding. When we do this, we often request additional information about the organisation. We can also do a credit check. In order to be approved as an administrating organisation, the organisation must be financially sound.

If you are a private individual or operate a sole proprietorship, you cannot be approved as an administrating organisation.

Apply to become an administrating organisation in Prisma

If you want to become approved as an administrating organisation, you will first need to apply for an organisational account in our application system, Prisma. Go to Prisma’s home page External link. and click Apply for organisation account. There, you need to fill in the name of the organisation, the organisation’s VAT number and the name of the person to be responsible for the account. This person must be an authorized representative but not necessarily the signatory.

If you want to apply to become an administrating organisation for all Formas’ calls, you specify that in the comment field. You will also need to fill in the form Underlag för beslut om godkännande av medelsförvaltarskap , 38.3 kB. (only available in Swedish) and mail it to registrator@formas.se. In this form, the organisation must certify that it meets all criteria for an administrating organisation.

If you want to apply to become an administrating organisation for an individual project, it is enough to write the name of the call that you intend to submit a proposal in the comment field.

Formas will process your application and notify the organisation whether it has been granted or not. This process may take a few weeks, why we strongly recommend to apply well in advance of the closure of a call.

Updated:19 February 2023