The strategic innovation programme Smart Built Environment is a platform that brings together stakeholders across the built environment sector to achieve the programme’s overarching goals and impacts for more sustainable development, with digitalisation and industrial processes as enablers.

Digitalisation and industrialised construction are advancing at a rapid pace both within and outside the programme, so the sector must ramp up the transition to create new work approaches and methods. Smart Built Environment conducts a major annual call each year. Larger research, innovation and development projects are the focus of the annual call, in which multiple stakeholders collaborate in projects that run from one to four years. This call complements the annual call and is specially designed to be accessible and supportive for small and medium-sized organisations, primarily through coaching offered by the programme during the application stage. It offers the perfect chance to get a jumpstart on our innovation journey and support a sustainable development of the built environment.

The purpose of the call is to increase opportunities for SMEs as well as small and medium-sized municipalities to develop ideas that can drive innovation. This can also involve getting the chance to work on previously developed ideas that require testing on a smaller scale prior to implementation or scale-up in day-to-day operations. The call, in accordance with Smart Built Environment goals, aims to support a sustainable development of the built environment. Digitalisation and industrial processes should be central methods in the project activities that are awarded a grant. Applications can address processes, forms of collaboration, business models, technology or a combination of these.

Normally, projects in this call are expected to lead to an idea that can be developed on a higher level towards a solution. The next step for the project can involve funding of major initiatives through Smart Built Environment’s other calls, or through other capital investments. In exceptional cases, funding from this call can be deemed to be able to lead directly to implementation.

The projects applying for grants must:

• Contribute to a sustainable built environment, with digitalisation and industrial processes in focus.
• Develop ideas or solutions that are scalable and applicable in different environments (for example, in planning and permitting processes in municipalities, regions or in construction projects).

The projects should address at least one of the four thematic areas of Smart Built Environment External link.. Projects must contribute to and address one or more of the short-term impacts for 2024 as described in Smart Built Environment Impact Logic 3.0 External link..

If relevant, contribute to greater equity in the built environment and, when applicable, clearly describe in the application how the project does this. See Smart Built Environment, Equality Guide External link..

The applicant must be a Swedish organisation, meaning a legal entity that has 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. The applicant’s organisation must be approved as an administrating organisation in one of these two forms. Learn more under How to apply.

All projects seeking funding from Formas must have a responsible project leader. The project must be carried out by the individuals stated in the application. An applicant is not allowed to submit the same application with different applicants. Applications containing the same content will be rejected.

At least 50% of the project’s costs must be co-funded by the applicant (see Costs that qualify 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 rules. See the section State aid rules for companies and other organisations engaged in economic activity.

Formas strives for an equitable, gender-balanced and inclusive development of society. Applicants should therefore design the project so that its results can benefit a diverse group of people, and the team should consider the gender distribution of project members. How influence is distributed in the team should also be taken into account.

Applicants who so wish can register their interest in receiving coaching support offered by the Smart Built Environment programme office. Registration is open until 7 September. To apply for coaching, use a separate Coaching form External link.. The coaching process is an opportunity for applicants to have their idea tested by experienced coaches and get advice that can improve their application to Formas. The use of coach is an opportunity, but not a requirement, to submit the application to the Innovation Ideas call.

When you apply for project funding, you can apply for a grant to cover both direct and indirect costs. Direct costs are expenses that are directly tied to the project, such as expenses for staff, equipment and travel. Indirect costs are costs that are not directly tied to the project but are still needed to carry it out, such as for administration and IT. Indirect costs are also called overhead or operating expenses.

The grant must therefore be clearly linked to the project you wish to fund and must be used to fund activities that are not part of your ordinary activities or operations.

Read more about the costs that Formas can fund:

Costs that qualify for funding External link.

Costs Formas can fund under the state aid scheme External link.

The call’s total budget is approximately 5 million SEK. In this call, you can apply for a maximum of 500,000 SEK in funding. At least 50% of the project’s costs must be co-funded by the applicant.

The project start is 1 December 2023, and a project can run for a maximum of 12 months. The budget in your application must state how you plan to use the funds, and applicants should record the budget based on how the actual costs are expected to be incurred for each financial year. For administrative reasons, Formas can apply a payout plan that differs from the application’s allocation of the budget over time.

Applications with a different requested amount or a project duration that does not fall within the above range will be rejected.

State aid rules are applicable when Formas provides grants to companies and other organisations engaged in economic activity. The rules exist 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 enterprise, in this call Formas requires co-funding for at least 50% of the project’s costs.

Prior to any decision, Formas conducts credit checks on companies and other organisations conducting economic activities that might be relevant to awarding a grant.

Read more about the state aid rules that apply when Formas awards a grant:

State aid rules – for companies and other organisations engaged in economic activity External link.

Aid intensities under Formas’ aid scheme External link.

We recommend that you write your application in Swedish, since the review panel that will assess your application is Swedish-speaking. You can write your application in English, but it will then be translated into Swedish prior to assessment. Abstracts should be available in both Swedish and English.

According to Swedish law, your application and its appendices are considered as general public documents once they have been submitted to Formas. This means that anyone can request and read your application. The applicant must specify which information they want to be classified.
Before Formas discloses any applications, it always conducts a confidentiality assessment but can only hide information as legislated for in the Public Access and Secrecy Act (2009:400).

The popular science description and project abstracts in Swedish and English will, if the project is awarded funding, be published in open-access project databases without a confidentiality assessment. Therefore, the contents of these fields should not contain sensitive information. The purpose of these texts is for use by Smart Built Environment’s programme office in external communication about the project.

We at Formas are eager to fund projects that maximise positive and minimise negative impacts on the environment and climate. We therefore encourage grant applicants to design their projects so that collaboration takes place primarily through online meetings and that any necessary travel takes place in a climate-smart way. We also suggest that you include measures that minimise energy use and other resource consumption, emissions and waste in project planning. However, this will not be part of the assessment of your application at this time.

Sustainability at Formas External link. 

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 individual funding call. A decision to approve administrating organisations is taken when grants are awarded in the call. Prior to any decision, Formas conducts credit checks on all companies and organisations engaged in economic activity that might be relevant to the awarding of a grant.

It is important that the applying organisation has a Prisma account before the project leader begins the application process. Organisations that already have an account in Prisma must contact the research officer Anna Gellerstedt 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 in good time, but by 22 September 2023.

Apply for an organisation account in Prisma External link.

Select “Formas”. In the reason for the application, state that you are applying under the Smart Built Environment call, and state the type of organisation and the organisation’s corporate identity number.

If you do not know whether the organisation has an account, contact research officer Anna Gellerstedt before you apply for a new account.

The application must be initiated through the organisation account. The person who is responsible for the organisation account then automatically becomes the project leader. The leader can change this by inviting another person to become a project leader. If another person should be the project leader, that person must have a personal account in Prisma. If the manager of the organisation account should be the project leader, then no personal account needs to be connected to the application.

See more information on the Prisma support page External link.

For you to be able to register an application, a project site must be stated for the organisation. The organisational structure must contain at least one project site. Project site refers to the department, institute or unit within the organisation applying for funding. The project site is mandatory when the applicant submits the application.

The organisation account manager must create a structure of units and sub-units (project sites) in two levels. This is done in the drop-down menus for Administrating organisation and Project site. The project sites that the applicant can select are retrieved from the organisational structure based on the organisation account settings defined by the organisation account manager.

If the organisation does not have departments, specify a sub-unit that has the same name as the organisation. Prisma’s user support contains information about how to do this.

Describe the structure of your organisation External link.

The call is located on the Organisation account tab in Prisma. Click that 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.

Find the call in Prisma External link.

• Number of months applied for.
• The project start is 1 December 2023.
• Estimated project duration: The project duration is calculated automatically in Prisma, based on the start date and the number of months filled in.
• Project title in Swedish and English (max. 200 characters including spaces).
• Thematic area: Identify the theme or themes within Smart Built Environment that the project will primarily contribute to. At least one of the following thematic areas should be specified:
  
  a. Innovations and new areas of application
  b. Knowledge and skills
  c. Information infrastructure
  d. Value chains and business models
  
  Read more about these themes on the Smart Built Environment website External link..
• Have you received coaching support External link. for your project idea?
• Is one of the end users a municipality?
• Popular science description in Swedish (max. 4,500 characters including spaces).
• Popular science description in English (max. 4,500 characters including spaces).
• Abstract in Swedish and English (max. 2,000 characters each, including spaces).

The popular science description and project abstracts for awarded projects will be published in open-access project databases without a confidentiality review. Therefore, the contents of these fields should not contain sensitive information.

Maximum 10 pages. The project description should be uploaded as a file with a maximum size of 4 MB. Please do not include any budget in the project description.

Template for project description , 54 kB.

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.

The project description should clearly describe the project based on the assessment criteria set out under How the assessment process works.

You report the project budget and other information about the organisation in Prisma. The following information must be stated in the project budget:

Information about the organisation

• Name of the organisation
• Corporate identity number
• Address, postal code, city, country
• Annual turnover (the total sales of the company or organisation during the previous fiscal year), stated using digits. Example: 3 500 000.
• Balance sheet total (the sum of either the assets page or liabilities and equity from the company’s or organisation’s balance sheet), stated using digits. Example: 5 500 000.
• Number of employees
• Contact person
• E-mail of contact person
• Name of the workplace, address, postal code, city and country where most of the work will be carried out.

The following budget information is requested in Prisma.

Costs

• Personnel costs: Eligible staff expenses for companies and other economic activities may be estimated at actual cost.

• Equipment, buildings and land

• Consultancy and licensing costs: For the costs of consultancy services and licenses to be eligible for funding, they must be purchased or licensed from external actors at market prices, and their services and scope must be stated in the project description.

• Other direct costs: Other direct costs can include the cost of consumables, travel, conferences and publication fees for open-access journals and databases.

• Indirect costs: Overhead costs. You can charge a markup for overhead of up to 30% of your eligible personnel costs. Formas does not grant funds for overhead on costs that you write off for equipment or for premises.

Financing

There are four types of funding an applicant can specify in the application:

• Applied funding from Formas: State the amount sought from Formas under this call. The amount cannot exceed the total costs. If the amount sought is less than the total costs, the remaining amounts will be automatically calculated and reported under “Self-finance”.

• Other funding (public): Not used in this call.

• Other funding (private): Not used in this call.

• Self-finance: Self-financing constitutes the project’s co-funding. At least 50% of the project’s costs must be co-funded by the applicant. Contact Formas if you are unsure about what counts as co-funding.

Justification of personnel costs in budget (maximum 500 characters including spaces)

Here, you specify the average hourly cost for budgeted personnel costs. Personnel costs refer to salaries, including social security contributions. Other costs that require explanation can also be entered here.

Prisma automatically calculates the aid intensity and co-funding level. The calculated aid intensity is preliminary and can be adjusted prior to Formas’ award decision.

Budget specification (max. 2,000 characters including spaces)

Here, the applicant explains the budget in their own words and states the overhead costs included in the application. Formas does not grant funding for overhead costs that you write off for equipment or premises.

You also specify any consultancy costs and the scope of the consultant’s participation. The applicant is 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. The classifications are made when the applicant states the subject area, research subject (SCB code), at least one sustainable development goal the project can contribute to, and keywords.

• Subject area

Select the project’s subject area and add a sub-heading.

• Research subject (SCB code)

Select at least one research subject and two sublevels that together 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, in order of relevance.

More about the meaning of the goals External link.

• Keywords

Enter at least one and a maximum of 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”.

CVs

It is mandatory to attach the CV of the project leader. It is optional to add the CVs of up to two participants. Maximum 2 A4 pages per CV.

The organisation account manager registers the application

After the application is completed, it must be registered, submitted and signed by the person responsible for the organisation account. Signing can be done in two ways:

1. If the organisation account manager is the same person as the project leader, that person registers the application and signing takes place by default when the application is registered.

2. If someone other than the project leader is the organisation account manager, then that person must finalise the application. Next, the administrating organisation (the organisation account manager or user whose role is application manager) must register and submit the application. The application is then signed automatically after the application is registered.

The project leader can at any time during the application process access the Verify and Register tab. He or she will see any missing mandatory information or other reasons that might prevent the application from being registered.

For more information, visit the Prisma support page External link..

NOTE: After the application period expires, the application can only be supplemented in special cases on request by Formas.

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 mandatory information.

• The amount sought per project does not exceed SEK 500,000.

• The project duration falls within the period 1 December 2023 – 30 November 2024.

• At least 50% of the project’s costs are co-funded by the applicant.

• The applicant is a Swedish organisation, i.e. a legal entity that has a corporate identity number (not a sole proprietorship).

• The project description is written using the template provided on the call’s website.

• There are no multiple applications containing the same content.

All applications are assessed by an external review panel based on the contents of your application. It is therefore important to write the application as clearly as possible and include all important and relevant information.

Summary of the assessment process:

1. Applications that meet the procedural requirements will be assessed by external independent reviewers using assessment criteria. The applications will then be ranked and a recommendation for funding made.

2. Formas takes a decision on which projects are awarded funding.

3. Decisions are announced to the applicants and to Smart Built Environment’s offices and published on the websites of Formas and Smart Built Environment.

Projects must address at least one of the programme’s four thematic areas External link.. Projects must contribute to and address one or more of the short-term impacts for 2024 as described in Smart Built Environment Impact Logic 3.0 External link..

The 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 short-term impacts for 2024 described in Smart Built Environment Impact Logic 3.0 External link..
• The application states the commercial or operational benefit that the project results are judged to have for the applying organisation or other end user indicated.

Potential

• The project is innovative or significantly better than available solutions in the current market.
• The problem formulation and purpose of the project are clear, logical and well delineated. It is clear how the project intends to help solve the problem.
• After implementation on a smaller scale, the idea can be developed to reach a larger market or achieve a greater impact, nationwide or worldwide.
• The project's potential to contribute to greater equity through its results.

Implementation

• Planned activities and methods are realistic and appropriate for achieving expected results during the project.
• The time frame and budget are realistic and appropriate in relation to the purpose and objectives of the project.
• A clearly written, fit-for-purpose plan is in place for how the project results will be disseminated, make real-world impact and (if relevant) made accessible.
• Ethical considerations are described clearly, and the applicant’s plan for managing them is appropriate.
• Gender perspectives are well integrated into the implementation of the project. See Smart Built Environment, Equality Guide External link..

Project organisation

• The project’s organisation and overall expertise of the project team are appropriate for implementing the project, including real-world impact of the project’s results. The project participants’ roles are clearly described.
• The project will be carried out in collaboration with relevant stakeholders.
• The project team (key stakeholders) as well as the distribution of influence is well balanced between women and men. Relevant for project teams of more than 3 people.

Formas is expected to reach a decision on 30 November 2023 concerning which projects are awarded funding. We publish our decisions the following day at the latest on the Formas website and later by email from 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 for the funds can be extended in specific cases if there are special circumstances that are approved by Formas, the project leader and administrating organisation, 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. Instructions on what applies to your project are provided by Formas. All reports are submitted in Prisma.

Financial reporting in Prisma External link.

Formas may impose requirements on how projects must be reported in terms of content and results to enable distribution and application. In such cases, the award decision will contain more information about this. Formas may also require you to participate in conferences and similar events in order to create synergies and platforms for learning and knowledge sharing.

The project leader, project party or both must ensure the real-world impact of project results in accordance with the plan. This can be done through means such as publication, commercialisation or licensing. If the results are published in a scholarly journal, they must be published under open access in accordance with Formas’ instructions.

Data and metadata from the project must, as far as possible, be made available in open access databases according to the principle “as open as possible, as limited as necessary”. The project leader must ensure that a data management plan is in place for the data produced in the project.

Open access to research results and data External link.

SweCRIS

Formas shares information about awarded grants to SweCRIS, a national database of grant-funded research that was instituted by request of the government.

Project leader

A physical person or, in some cases, a legal person who submits an application to Formas and leads the planning and implementation of a Project.

Administrating organisation for an individual project (see the section How to apply)

An organisation that can apply for funding from Formas through individual calls and receive funding for an individual project. These are private companies, associations, trade associations, boards of directors, funds and municipalities.

Project site

A project site can be an institution, department or unit within the applying organisation.

SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) as defined by the EU

A small enterprise is one that employs between 10 and 49 people and has an annual turnover or annual balance sheet total of less than 10 million euros. A medium-sized enterprise is one that employs between 50 and 249 people and has an annual turnover of less than 50 million euros or an annual balance sheet total of less than 43 million euros. For micro enterprises with fewer than 10 employees, the same rules apply as for small enterprises. Note that Formas does not award grants to enterprises that are sole proprietorships, so applications from sole proprietorships will be rejected.

SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) as defined by the EU External link.