Formas has announced a call for proposals for Smart
Built Environment: Digital Built Environment in Practice to contribute to the
sustainable development of the built environment, through projects that centre
around digitalisation and industrial processes. Applications can address
processes, forms of collaboration, business models, technology or a combination
of these.
The purpose of the call is to accelerate digital transformation
through activities that involve stakeholders throughout the value chain, from
planning to the long-term management of the built environment. The current
pandemic has sparked the realisation that a swifter transition to a more
sustainable society through digitalisation is achievable. At the same time,
there is a tendency to focus on short-term solutions for coping with the
current situation.
Projects should leverage the capacity to
quickly transform, as society has demonstrated, together with a focus on the
long-term impacts of the solutions. The call therefore focuses on projects
whose results can be implemented in the near future, are resource-efficient and
scalable, and can be widely applied in spatial planning. Smart Built
Environment specifically encourages projects that enable and incentivise new
business or operational models, innovative forms of collaboration, and new or
developed value chains.
The projects considered for a grant award
must:
- Clearly contribute to Smart
Built Environment’s impact logic, with a focus on the sector’s digital
transformation.
- Clearly promote the
sustainability aspects of reduced climate impact and increased equality in
the built environment.
- Be scalable and applicable in
different environments (for example, in municipal or regional planning and
permitting processes or in construction and infrastructure projects).
Thematic Areas
Search for projects
within the program's thematic areas:
- Innovations and new
applications
- Value chains and business
models
- Information infrastructure
- Knowledge and skills
Funding Information
- Applicants for Innovation ideas
can apply for 500,000 kronor. Project duration: maximum 12 months.
- Research, development or
innovation projects can apply for between 500,000 and 4 million kronor.
Project duration: 12 to 48 months.
Eligible Activities
- Innovation ideas: In this part
of the call, they would like to see applications for the following:
- Grants for a feasibility study
of an idea
- Tests of a previously
developed solution in a smaller pilot or demonstration project
- Research, development or innovation
projects: In this call, they would like to see applications for the
following:
- Implementation and educational
initiatives Examples include original ideas for awareness-raising and
knowledgebuilding, activities that reach out to the many stakeholders and
operators in the built environment sector. The project should preferably
complement traditional education.
- Test beds and demonstrations
Examples include the creation of test bed environments – virtual or
physical – and demonstrations of the results from research and
development projects, such as results from previous projects within the
programme. They particularly welcome applications for system
demonstrators in which several previous results are demonstrated in a
common environment.
- Research and development
projects Projects containing different levels of research and innovation,
such as Ph.D. students or postdocs, or the development of research
results for increased commercialisation.
- Literature reviews and
syntheses of completed projects Activities that complement the overall
syntheses that are part of Smart Built Environment’s coordination
efforts. This can include results and syntheses from two or more projects
implemented in the programme or in other initiatives.
- Miscellaneous The use of
different forms of collaboration that improve the potential of the sector
to benefit from digitalisation. An example of this is innovative
competitions that aim to achieve disruptive innovations and increase the
appeal of the built environment sector. Implementation of hackathons and
crowd learning events are other examples of such activities.
Eligibility Criteria
- The call is targeted to private
companies, public-sector organisations, higher education institutions and
research institutes. At least two parties must participate in the
application. The project manager can come from a private company,
public-sector organisation, a higher education institution or a research
institute. At least one of the participating parties must work at a
private company or a public-sector organisation.
- Innovation ideas: This part of
the call is aimed at companies and organisations that have an innovation
idea and a need to test feasibility, which can lead to a larger development
or innovation project. It is also aimed at companies and organisations
that have developed an idea and need small-scale tests for implementation
or scaling-up in daily operations. One of the parties should be an end
user.
- Research, development or
innovation projects: This part of the call is targeted to consortia of
organisations such as private companies, public-sector organisations,
higher education institutions and research institutes. At least one of the
parties must clearly be an end user who can test the solution within the
framework of the project.
- Smart Built Environment
welcomes applications from all interested organisations and companies,
preferably in collaboration with new partners. Especially interesting for
this call are consortia with start-ups that can help to develop new work
approaches, business models and technology as well as end users such as
property owners, municipalities or construction companies.
- Project participants from
outside Sweden are welcome to contribute their time or other resources as
a project co-funder. International project participants can also receive a
limited part of the grant, according to the research funder’s rules.
However, participants outside Sweden may not be project managers.
- Smart Built Environment and
Formas strive for an equitable, gender-equal and inclusive built
environment. This means that grant applicants should design the project so
that its results can benefit a diverse group of people and build a project
team that takes into account gender distribution and different
backgrounds. You should consider not only the number of people, but the
distribution of power and influence in the project.
Post Date - 12-Nov-2020