How long?
Grand Solutions project duration is typically 2-5 years
When?
Application deadline: April 8, 2021 at 12:00 CET
Innovation Fund Denmark invests in ambitious and targeted strategic and challenge-driven research and innovation projects creating new solutions, technologies and valuable new knowledge in life science, health, welfare, and clinical research.
Innovation Fund Denmark would like to share the risk with the project partners when the level of knowledge, value creation, project efficiency, and implementation of results are correspondingly high.
Purpose
Innovation Fund Denmark's purpose with investments in “Life Science, Health, Welfare Technology, and Clinical Research” is to invest in ambitious innovation projects developing knowledge-based and interdisciplinary solutions to specific challenges in Danish society that - in the short or long term - will create societal value and / or economic growth and employment in Denmark.
We are looking for the great idea with huge potential for growth, expansion, and change in the field of health, in the broadest sense of the term.
Investment Strategy
Innovation Fund Denmark invests in projects at all stages of the research and innovation value chain that fulfil the objective of the call. Thus, Innovation Fund Denmark invests both in the early strategic research project, where targeted efforts and a collaboration with the most competent international and / or Danish partners from relevant professional disciplines are crucial - and in the good project that lacks the final steps to make it ready for successful market launch or deployment.
Innovation Fund Denmark's investments do not necessarily take a project all the way though the value chain. Therefore, it is crucial that the project partners themselves are able to lift the result onto the market or ensure implementation - or have investors who can invest in or take over the project after Innovation Fund Denmark's investment period.
Innovation Fund Denmark is also positive about projects with a focus on broad value creation for society, including a desire to provide a basis for better and more precise regulation. In addition to technological projects, the Fund also invites humanities and social science projects that can contribute valuable knowledge related to e.g. behavior, incentives, regulation, and market conditions.
Many countries, including Denmark, face major challenges related to health. Non-limiting examples of challenges concern e.g. psychiatric and neurological diseases such as dementia, chronic disorders, prevention with a focus on inequality in health, antimicrobial resistance, cancer as well as physical, mental and chemical work environment, including how physical and mental weariness in e.g. the construction industry or agriculture, is best reduced. In addition, knowledge about and prevention of dissatisfaction and poor mental health among children and adolescents.
The development creates a large Danish and international demand for new knowledge, independent, patient-centered clinical research, meta-studies on effects and side effects, psychotropic drugs vs. non-pharmacological interventions, technology and solutions for better and cheaper prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation in both somatics and psychiatry as well as methods for risk-based monitoring of medicines and medical devices.
Personalized medicine is a particularly promising area where the prospects for patients, healthcare and industry are great, just as patient-reported information (PRO data) can have potential in the work of individualizing treatment and more citizen involvement. Please see the FORSK2025 catalogue for further details.
Of the budget frame of approx. DKK 180 million, DKK 63.3 million has been set aside for clinical research that will address challenges in the health area and contribute to optimizing the quality of patient treatment, disease prevention, health technology, and the organization of the health service. The purposes are described in more detail in the FORSK2025 catalogue under Better health.
DKK 25 million of the DKK 63.3 million are allocated to a center within stem cell research, which shall provide significant international research and co-financing from public and private actors.
Assessment Criteria
The main assessment criteria are:
- Quality of science, research and innovation
- Value creation during and after the project period
- Efficiency in project execution
- Implementing project results
For applications for Grand Solution 2021 Life Science, Health, Welfare Technology, and Clinical Research, value creation is broadly defined as targeted activities leading to increased growth and employment through e.g. development of new products and services, the creation of value- creating jobs, increased productivity, lower societal costs, reduced resource consumption or reduced environmental impact, as well as solving significant societal problems where a clear demand can be documented.
In the application, the partners must explain the specific value creation in the project. Value creation should not only be understood as monetary gains, but can also be in the form of health economic parameters, such as increased life expectancy, reduced disease and treatment burden, improved quality of life, in addition to reduced environmental impact, etc.
Specifically, applications will be judged on the project's qualities in relation to research and innovation seen globally in relation to a specific or latent need, state-of-the-art, directly competing or nearby scientific or technological solutions, scalability of the solution, technical , regulatory and market risks, risk management in the project plan and the feasibility of the project.
In addition, the pace of development, efficient use of invested resources, managerial and professional competencies and the subsequent effective implementation of the project's results nationally and / or globally will be carefully assessed. The value creation in the project will be assessed in relation to the size of the investment.
Likewise, emphasis will be placed on the project's buyers and core stakeholders either helping to shape the project, participating in the project or otherwise being directly involved in the project, e.g. via investment.
In addition to the above assessment criteria, reference is made to "Guidelines for Grand Solutions 2021", as well as the distribution of the research reserve 2021. The funds are implemented on the basis of the Finance Act 2021.
Assessment process
Applications for Grand Solutions must be submitted via e-grant, IFD’s application system. The assessment process is shown below. It is a single-phase application process with potential interview:
Innovation Fund Denmark's Board of Directors decides which applications are sent for peer review and invited for an interview with Innovation Fund Denmark. Prior to the interview, the peer reviews are sent to applicant in a consultation procedure in e-grant.
Final response to applications will be at the end of October 2021, with project launch in the 4th quarter of 2021.
The Board of Directors' decision on either rejection or invitation to negotiate an investment agreement will be notified to the applicant via e-grant.
- Guide to e-grant
- Finance Act 2021
- Agreement on distribution of the research reserve and other research priorities in 2021
- RESEARCH2025, including the listed benchmarks for the implementation </li>
- Innovation Fund Denmark's strategy in the area of Health
- Innovation Fund Denmark's general investment strategy
- UN's 17 World Goals for Sustainable Development
Marlene Fredborg
Tel: 6190 5052
Email : marlene.fredborg@innofond.dk
Steen Bennike Mortensen
Tel: 6190 5026
Email : steen.bennike.mortensen@innofond.dk
Any legal entity in Denmark or abroad can be a project participant and receive funding from Innovation Fund Denmark eg.:
- Businesses
- Research institutions
- Public institutions
You can apply for funding for projects that create societal value and/or economic value in Danish public and private companies and/or from buyers in society, for example from citizens, the state, regions and municipalities.
A buyer can be an end user of the innovation, but it can also be a public or private investor who is willing to invest in the project after the Fund's commitment is completed.
It can be an advantage if the purchaser(s) of the project's results and other core stakeholders are involved as active participant(s) in the design of and through the project.
Grand Solutions projects will range from DKK 5,000,000 - 40,000,000
The money can co-finance expenses for salaries, equipment, other project-related costs, external services, etcetera.
The budget must include all direct project costs, meaning costs that can be directly attributed to the project, regardless of whether the costs are to be covered by Innovation Fund Denmark or will be covered by the project participants themselves or another party.
For further details, please see the programme guidelines.
The projects are of 1 to 5 years duration.
The application process for the Grand Solutions programme consists of two phases.
In phase 1, all interested applicants submit a short letter of interest, outlining their project. On this basis, applicants will either receive an invitation for phase 2 or a rejection.
In phase 2, the invited applicants submit a final application, describing their project in detail. When Innovation Fund Denmark has assessed all applications, the fund makes a decision as to which projects will be invited to enter negotiations for an investment agreement.
The application material for both phases must be created and submitted via the electronic application system: www.e-grant.dk. You must register as a user of the system with either a username and password or with MitID before you can create an application.
You create a new application by finding the correct call under "Search Options" and pressing "Start your application". Note that the list of search options is sorted alphabetically and that the names of all calls from Innovation Fund Denmark start with "IF".
You must write your application material for both phases in English.
You can find a guide to e-grant on the website of the Danish Ministry of Education and Research.
In both phases, the application consists of an electronic application form designed in the electronic application system e-grant (www.e-grant.dk), which you must fill out in English.
Your application must have an official title (maximum 180 characters including spaces), which briefly describes the project for which you seek investment. You must also enter an acronym.
You can find the Grand Solutions guidelines below under “Guidelines and general terms and conditions.
Application for phase 1
In phase 1, the application is a letter of interest and must contain:
- Official project title and acronym
- Short summary of the project (maximum 600 characters)
- Overview of the expected budget and duration of the project
- Requested total investment from Innovation Fund Denmark
- Foundation and concept of idea (maximum 1,800 characters)
- Quantifiable goals (maximum 1,200 characters)
- State of the art and competition (maximum 2,400 characters)
- Expected impact (maximum 1,200 characters)
- Description of the project's methods used (maximum 1800 characters)
- Contribution for up to 5 core project participants (maximum 600 characters per participant)
- Description of any other project participants and their contributions to the project (maximum 500 characters per participant).
- Description of competencies and experience for up to five key people (maximum 600 characters per person)
- Literature list (maximum 1200 characters)
- Budget overview (see the instructions in the application form in e-grant for further information)
The following optional appendices can be attached to the electronic form: Appendix A: Figure (max. 1 A4 page with max. 1 figure)
Application for phase 2
In phase 2, the application is a full application. The content of the electronic application form for phase 2 and the corresponding appendices will be announced in the invitation to applicants who make it to the next round. You can find more information on which adjustments are allowed from phase 1 to phase 2 in the programme guidelines
You can also see a preliminary outline of the application form for phase 2 below – please note that this is only a preview of the expected application form and that the final form may be subject to change.
The programme text for Grand Solutions has been updated in February 2024. To learn more about the changes to Grand Solutions, visit our Q&A here.
The applications are assessed by four committees with members who convene and qualify evaluations on committee meetings. The committees have the competence to assess as well as make decisions and are thus the bodies in which applications are evaluated and decisions on investments are made.
The committees consist of 10-18 members, divided between established international researchers and impact specialist with extensive knowledge of Danish affairs.
In phase 2, the applications are also assessed by external evaluators, and evaluations that are subject to consultation are sent to the applicants as part of a consultation process.
Applicants who are not invited for phase 2 or to enter an investment agreement after phase 2 will receive a rejection stating why.
Special conditions in 2024:
In 2024, letters of interest for phase 1 of the application process will be assessed internally and by external evaluators (including a consultation process for applicants) and decided by Innovation Fund Denmark’s board of directors. The reason is that the new committees are introduced for the first time in 2024 and will not be functional until later this year. Applications for phase 2 will be evaluated by the new committees in the second half of 2024.
Applications for the Grand Solutions programme are evaluated based on three overall decision criteria:
- Quality of idea
- Impact
- Quality of execution
You can find further information on the three overall criteria and their sub-criteria in the guidelines for phase 1 and phase 2 of Grand Solutions. Please note that the sub-criteria for the two phases are not identical.
In phase 1, applicants will receive either a rejection as response to their letter of interest or an invitation for phase 2, in which applicants must submit a full application. The decision will be notified to you via e-grant.
In phase 2, invited applicants will receive either a rejection or an offer of investment and thus an invitation to negotiate an investment agreement. The decision will be notified to you via e-grant.
Applicants for Phase 1 of Grand Solutions will receive a response after 10 weeks.
Applicants who progress to Phase 2 can expect a 12-week response time in this phase itself and a total time horizon of 9 months from the time the expression of interest is submitted in Phase 1 until they receive a final response in Phase 2.
The programme text for Grand Solutions has been updated in February 2024. To learn more about the changes to Grand Solutions, visit our Q&A here.
An investment from Innovation Fund Denmark is conditioned by the project parties entering into an investment agreement with the fund on the organisation of the project no later than 60 days after receiving the written invitation to investment negotiations.
The project must be started no later than 90 days after this investment agreement has been signed by all parties.
Innovation Fund Denmark may demand repayment of parts of the investment if the agreed conditions are not met. You can find more information in the investment agreement and the document containing the general terms and conditions for the programme.
Below, you will find the standard documents needed for the investment agreement negotiations.
You are free to choose whether you want to prepare the agreement in Danish or English.
The project can start as soon as there is an approved investment agreement and it must start no later than 90 days after the agreement has been signed by all parties.
The payment is generally made two times a year and is handled in collaboration with Innovation Fund Denmark and the financial administrator appointed by the project.
Innovation Fund Denmark is an active partner in all Grand Solutions projects and engages proactively with the project for its entire duration. Specifically, Innovation Fund Denmark appoints one or more investment officers to carry out this task.
The project follow-up and the requirements for accounts and reporting will be evident from the investment agreement that Innovation Fund Denmark enters into with each project.
Innovation Fund Denmark may terminate the investment ahead of time if the Fund considers that there is insufficient progress, the project proves aimless, or if the project is unable to achieve the objectives which the Funds' investment to the project is based upon.
There will be an ongoing dialogue between the appointed Investment Officer from the Innovation Fund as well as with the steering group of the project about the progression of the plan.
At the project's last steering group meeting, the completed accounts are reviewed and the project's progress and results are evaluated.
Here you can find and download call texts
