26. januar 2021
In 2021 Innovation Fund Denmark will invest 700 mill. DKK in a number of mission driven Green Research and Innovation Partnerships.
Background
In the Green Research Strategy from September 2020, the government points out four specific research and innovation missions that will contribute to the green transition.
In the agreement about the Research Reserve 2021 a total of DKK 700 mill. DKK is set aside to establish Green Research and Innovation Partnerships that meet the missions. The goal of the partnerships is to: 1) contribute to achieve the target of 70% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in Denmark by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050, and strengthening environment and nature, 2) contribute to increased competitiveness of Danish business and industry.
The investments in mission-driven partnerships will accelerate the development of cutting-edge green solutions through strategic and coherent green research ranging all the way from strategic research to commercialization.
The four missions:
The success of the green transition relies heavily on a systemic development of technologies and solutions, in a close cooperation and coordination between relevant players in the whole value chain, with a long term focus. It is imperative that knowledge-institutions and all parts of the business community cooperate closely, and that IFDs research investments are geared with public and private funds in order for the efforts to become as powerful as possible.
To achieve the ambitious goal, the mission should:
- be based on a comprehensive assessment of the set of innovative solutions needed to achieve transformative impact in one of the defined mission areas,
- outline a group of synergistic, sequential innovation projects/efforts (mission roadmap) to achieve a clearly defined transformative impact,
- specify how the Danish efforts fit into/relate to/leverage relevant efforts at the European and global level, drawing on current or potential Danish strengths,
- and be executed by one or more self-established agile partnerships per mission area that comprise a diverse set of stakeholders, are interdisciplinary and possibly include international partners
Two phase call process
The selection of Green Research and Innovation Partnerships will be the result of a two phased call process:
- Phase 1: Development and decision on mission roadmaps
All relevant players in the Danish research and innovation system are called upon to develop a socio-technical roadmap back-tracking from 2050 describing challenges and gaps within the mission, strongholds and potential and sketch key activities and relevant work stream themes for future partnerships.
An international panel of experts is expected to assist the IFD board of directors in selecting one or more roadmaps under each mission to form the back bone of the activities in the future mission-driven partnerships.
Expected call announcement: mid March.
Deadline: 12. May.
- Phase 2: Call for partnerships
The call for partnerships will be announced following the selection of roadmaps. The selection of partnerships will be based on a thorough evaluation and selection process, including international peer reviewers, on the actions within the scope of the selected roadmaps. There can be one or more partnership within each mission.
Expected call announcement: August.
Deadline: October
The final decision on allocation of funds across the missions and partnerships depends on the IFD board of director’s decision on roadmaps and the needs identified in these roadmaps.
In March-April 2021 IFD will host information meetings with stakeholders and potential applicants.
Roadmaps
Mission-oriented research and innovation roadmaps with discrete challenges and concrete goals will form the backbone of the activities in the future mission-driven partnerships.
Well-designed roadmaps have a potential of pin-pointing the missing links in the research and innovation chain and can serve as a tool for securing synergies between public, private and civil society initiatives and investments in high-impact mission-oriented innovations. The character of the roadmaps are expected to be very different from mission to mission.
The IFD encourages the research and innovation system to come together to analyze and coordinate a joint mapping and assessment of the set of innovative solutions needed to achieve transformative impact in one of the defined mission areas.
The roadmaps should build on frameworks from, e.g., the Danish climate partnerships, and the work performed by UFM when formulating the Green Research Strategy.
Furthermore, they should build on a comprehensive assessment of the set of innovative solutions needed to achieve transformative impact in the mission. Roadmaps will have to outline a group of synergistic, sequential innovation projects/efforts to achieve a clearly defined transformative impact. Moreover, roadmaps have to specify the Danish efforts fit into/relate to/leverage relevant efforts at the European and global level, drawing on current or potential Danish strengths.
Partnerships
In the selection of partnerships, emphasis will be on the quality and ambition of the partnership in relation to impact on climate goals, and goals for environment and nature, aligned with the selected roadmaps.
The results within the project period must have a value in itself, but also evaluated for its alignment and impact on roadmaps. Quality of research, innovation, efficiency, implementation and value creation will be some of the key criteria in the selection of partnerships.
Also, partnerships will be asked to move beyond existing constellations – bringing in new actors and capabilities in order to employ new ideas and approaches.
Partnerships need to make clear choices on Danish and international partners and how to allocate funding across entities and activities, based on analysis and excellence. And they will be asked to showcase their ability to achieve transformative impact, thus, in many instances calling for a clear integration into the international innovation system in the respective area.
Both roadmaps and partnerships will have to provide calculation on expected impact on value creation based on international standards.
