Digital technologies to boost competence levels

Grand Solutions: Typical duration 2-5 years
2019 budget: DKK 20 mill.

Innovation Fund Denmark invests in ambitious and targeted strategic research and innovation projects that creates new solutions, technologies and valuable new knowledge.

Innovation Fund Denmark is willing to share the risk with the project partners, when the level of knowledge, value creation, project efficiency and implementation of the results is correspondingly high.

Society and business in Denmark and the rest of the world are in the middle of a fast digital and technological transformation. This results in change and the need for developing new ways of working, new working cultures and skill shifts in the future. The biggest changes are expected to take place within industries seeing the most attritional, administrative and/or routine job functions as the potential there for e.g. automation will be significant. Therefore, there is a great need for upgrading the labour force in order to exploit the potentials offered by the new digital technologies. Technology and digitisation can increase productivity and attractiveness of job functions and with a digital and technological upgrade of programmes and education, the necessary labour resources will be ensured in future.

Exploiting these potentials requires increased demands regarding technological and digital competences as well as flexibility of managers and employees. If Denmark is to be the front-runner in the digital and technological transition, there is a need for research and innovation within digital and technological solutions addressing education and lifelong learning too. Solutions, which can provide employees in the private and public sector the necessary digital and technological competencies - short and long term.

Objective

With this call, IFD addresses the need of research, innovation and implementation of new technological and digital solutions for efficient education, competence boost and lifelong learning, with the purpose of creating growth and employment in Denmark, improving the working environment and create sustainable growth and employment.

This call seeks to address specific problems and cross-disciplinary issues, challenges and needs, that will open up for unprecedented social and market opportunities.

Investment Strategy

IFD invests in projects at all stages of the research and innovation value chain. Thus, IFD invests in both the good project that lacks the final steps to make it ready for successful introduction to the market or for implementation and in the early strategic research project where targeted efforts and cooperation with the most competent international and/or Danish partners from relevant professional disciplines are crucial.

IFD's investments often do not take a project all the way through the value chain. Therefore, it is crucial that the project partners themselves have the ability to lift the result onto the market or ensure implementation - or have investors who can invest in or take over the project after IFD’s investment period.

Investment Areas

This call addresses development of digital technologies for interdisciplinary education, competence boost and lifelong learning by using known, or by developing new digital technologies and automation in relation to service, production and/or processes within all disciplines.

The ambition of the projects must be to increase productivity and well-being in job functions, improving the working environment or otherwise contribute to upgrading relevant education programmes. The applicant is expected to explain the concrete methods in the project, the strategy of implementation, method and impact. This can be done, for example, by describing inclusion / exclusion criteria, control groups, statistical strength calculations or e.g. through substitution and efficiency gains.

Non-limiting examples of relevant areas of skills may include: research, development and validation of new and/or known digital technologies for use in connection with the organisation and implementation of teaching and education, development and implementation of new forms of collaborations, incentive structures, new production forms and/or processes (e.g. additive manufacturing, implementation of advanced digital technologies, etc.).

Please refer to the FORSK2025 catalogue for further description. Research can involve ethical and moral aspects of new technologies and methods.

The research and innovation within this call refers to the UN Sustainable Development Goals: 4 Quality Education, 3 Good Health and Well-Being, 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth, 9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure and 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities.

Assessment Criteria

The overall assessment criteria are:

• Excellence - Quality of research and innovation
• Value creation during and after the project period
• Efficiency of project execution
• Implementation of results

In connection with applications for this call, value creation is to be understood in broad terms as targeted activities that lead to increased growth and employment through e.g. development of new products and services, creation of more and more intelligent jobs, increased productivity, fewer societal costs, reduced resource consumption or environmental impact as well as to solutions to major societal problems.

The partners must account for the specific and preferably quantitative value creation of the project. Value creation should not be understood as just monetary value, but may also be e.g. increased quality of life, cleaner environment, etc. It is the applicant's responsibility to account for the different types of value creation.

From IFD's side, great emphasis will be the potential of the project to create measurable value for Denmark and the Danish society. The project potential must be significant and result in new solutions or products, e.g. by development and use of new unconventional business models, methods, smart regulations, etc.

Specifically, the applications will be assessed based on the qualities of the project in terms of research and innovation in a global perspective in relation to an articulated or latent need, state-of-the-art, directly competing or closely related scientific or technological solutions, the scalability of the solution, technical, regulatory and market risks, the risk management of the project plan as well as feasibility. In addition, the development rate, the effective use of invested resources, managerial and professional skills and the subsequent effective implementation of the project results nationally and/or globally will be carefully assessed. The value creation of the project will be assessed in relation to the size of the investment.

Likewise, it will be emphasised that the project's beneficiaries/end-users and core stakeholders contribute to the formation of the project, participate in the project or are otherwise directly involved in the project, e.g. through investments.

In addition to the above assessment criteria, reference is made to “Guidelines for Grand Solutions”. Allocation of funds will be made on the basis of the 2019 Finance Act.

Selected projects are invited to interviews taking place in October 2019. Applications not invited for interviews and thereby rejected will be notified at the end of September. Final decision on the application is notified at the end of November 2019 with project start in Q1 2020.

Download the theme "Digital technologies to boost competence levels" (PDF)