The new application framework for Grand Solutions is meant to save time and resources for applicants by dividing the application process into two phases. In the first phase, applicants are only required to submit a short letter of interest. By starting with processing this letter of interest, the Fund can make sure that only the most relevant projects are invited to submit a regular application and spend resources on preparing a full application for phase two of a call.
This means that the majority of applicants will receive a decision directly after the first phase, typically within 8-9 weeks (11 weeks in 2024 however).
At the same time, applicants who make it to the second phase and have to write a full application can expect a higher success rate, as the number of competitors for the available funds will be significantly reduced – in this phase, Innovation Fund Denmark expects to approve investments for approximately 30-50 per cent of the received applications.
The new phase 1 of the application process is supposed to make it faster, easier and more user-friendly to start an application for Grand Solutions. By introducing a letter of interest, the Fund also hopes to make the programme attractive to a wider group of potential applicants.
As applicant, you will experience the biggest changes in the first phase of the application process and in the overall timeline for a call.
You must start by outlining your project in a short letter of interest, which will form the basis for an evaluation and decision on whether you are invited for the second phase of the call and are to prepare a full application. The full application for phase 2 will be similar to applications for previous Grand Solutions calls, but will take place in an updated application form and be subject to a revised set of decision criteria, etcetera.
By introducing the new phase 1, the overall timeline from a call opens and until a final decision is announced to applicants who receive an offer of investment will take up to 9 months (up to 10 months in 2024 however).
The new assessment framework is meant to ensure a very strong and deep assessment of each application through the appointment of four thematic committees with members who convene and qualify evaluations on committee meetings. The use of committees is the Fund’s way of making sure that assessments are based on the most relevant and updated competences and experiences within each theme of application. The Fund’s board of directors will on a regular basis consider whether the committees still match the received applications and the themes of the relevant Danish funding acts.
The committees both have the competence to assess and the competence to make decisions. They are thus the bodies in which applications are evaluated and decisions on investments are made. In future, Innovation Fund Denmark’s board of directors will lay down the framework, guidelines and budget for the Grand Solutions programme, but no longer take part in the decision to award investments for specific applications.
By appointing committees with 10-18 members divided between established international researchers and impact specialists with extensive knowledge of Danish affairs, all applications will continue to receive a highly qualified assessment; of their research and innovation level as well as of their societal value. The international participants will help future-proof the committees’ legal capacity and prevent conflicts of interest, just as they will support that investments are granted to projects with a significant international outlook.
Finally, assessment by the new committees will make it more transparent to applicants who it is that evaluates their application – to this end, the Fund will present all committee members on its website with name, main place of employment, etcetera.
The new evaluation procedure does not require any direct actions on behalf of applicants, but it is a good idea to familiarise yourself with the two new sets of sub-criteria for assessment in the first and second phase of the programme respectively. In the decision criteria, there is information on how applications are assessed, including when to expect a consultation procedure as applicant. The decision criteria for phase 1 and phase 2 can be found in the guidelines for Grand Solutions 2024 on Innovation Fund Denmark’s website.
All the changes in the application and assessment framework relate to specific processes and do not have any consequences for the strategic purpose or scope of Grand Solutions. The programme retains its previous aim and focus. Neither do the changes affect projects which have already launched, or the investment management of projects which will receive investment in the future.
The previous application format for Grand Solutions demanded significant resources from applicants. As success rates were often relatively low (13-18 per cent in most calls in 2023), project consortiums often spent many resources on applications which did not receive an investment. Innovation Fund Denmark does not deem this to be efficient use of time and resources for writing applications and has thus developed the new model to ensure a better utilisation of applicants’ resources.
The purpose of the new application framework is to make it easier to apply for the programme in phase 1 and enable a higher success rate for applications in phase 2, so that those who are invited to spend resources on a full application in this phase have a significantly increased chance of obtaining an investment.
The Fund expects applicants to experience a more targeted and efficient use of their time.
No, not everything is determined from here. These changes constitute the largest restructuring of Grand Solutions since the programme was first established. This means that there might be continuous adjustments and modifications within the framework approved by the Fund’s board of directors. At the same time, it is important that users can give feedback to Innovation Fund Denmark in order to rectify flaws and implement improvements. For this reason, Innovation Fund Denmark is interested in feedback from applicants and has already planned two rounds of evaluation. To follow up on phase 1, an open, online evaluation meeting will be held on 3 September 2024, while an evaluation meeting for phase 2 is scheduled for 28 January 2025. In addition, the Fund is interested in receiving feedback on an ongoing basis.
From 2024, applicants must submit a short letter of interest in the first phase of a call, and only applicants who receive a sufficiently good evaluation of their project in phase 1 will subsequently have to submit a full application for the programme in phase 2.
Applicants should prepare for the following timeline:
- 8 weeks from calls open to the deadline for submitting a letter of interest in phase 1
- 7-8 weeks of response time following phase 1 (11 weeks in 2024 however)
- A minimum of 10 weeks from receiving an invitation to the deadline for submitting an application for phase two for invited applicants
- 9 weeks of response time following phase 2
- 9 months of processing time in total (up to 10 months in 2024 however)
Applicants should be aware of which changes are allowed between phase 1 and phase 2, meaning the limitations on adjustments from a letter of interest to a full application in phase 2. The rules on adjustments can be found in the guidelines for both phases.
In 2024, letters of interest for phase 1 of the application process will be assessed by internal and external evaluators, and decisions will be made by Innovation Fund Denmark’s board of directors. This necessitates a consultation process and thus a prolonged timeline for assessment compared to the ideal model, in which the committees will perform evaluations and make decisions in phase 1 as well. This will not be possible in the first phase until 2025, as the new committees will not be functional before September 2024.
For this reason, applicants should prepare for the following timeline in 2024 specifically:
- 8 weeks from calls open to the deadline for submitting a letter of interest in phase 1
- 11 weeks of response time following phase 1
- A minimum of 10 weeks from receiving an invitation to the deadline for submitting an application for phase two for invited applicants
- 9 weeks of response time following phase 2
- Up to 10 months of processing time in total
As the new committees are expected to be ready by September, applications for phase 2 of the call will be assessed by one of the new committees in the second half of 2024.
Applicants can expect 8 weeks for writing and submitting a letter of interest for phase 1 and 10 weeks for writing and submitting an application for phase 2.
Yes, the changes affect the response time for applications to the programme. The majority of applicants can expect to receive a response after 7-8 weeks (11 weeks in 2024 however). This response will contain either a rejection or an invitation for phase 2. Applicants who make it to phase 2 can expect a total timeline of 9 months from submitting their letter of interest in phase 1 and until they receive a final response in the form of a rejection or an offer of investment in phase 2 (up to 10 months in 2024 however). A positive response in phase 2 will be followed by a period of negotiations for an investment agreement before the project can start.
A letter of interest for phase 1 will cover approximately five standard pages in total and must contain short descriptions of the project’s idea, goals, state of the art, expected impact and contributions from up to five key persons and organisations. In addition, there are two obligatory appendices with budget estimates and references. Please see the guidelines for phase 1 of Grand Solutions for more information.
An application for phase 2 must contain a full project description, including a full budget and a project plan with specific work packages and deliverables. The application for phase 2 will be similar to previous applications for Grand Solutions, but take place in an updated application form and be subject to an updated set of evaluation criteria. The guidelines specify which adjustments are allowed from the letter of interest in phase 1 and to the application for phase 2.
No, applicants will neither be invited for an interview with Innovation Fund Denmark in relation to their application or to pitch in front of the new committees. Instead, decisions on investment are based completely on the submitted, written material. Additional information may be imparted by external sources in accordance with standard procedures for sufficient elucidation of the case and if so, it will include the applicant’s response to such information in a consultation process.
Innovation Fund Denmark expects to invite a number of letters of interest corresponding to 2-2.5 times the available amount for a specific call (please refer to the call text) to submit a full application for phase 2. The share will vary between different calls.
For this reason, the success rate in phase 1 is expected to be 15-30 per cent, depending on the number of received letters of interest. But due to the new application procedure, the expected success rate is harder to predict than usual and is as such unknown – among other things because of how the new process will appeal to groups of potential applicants who have not previously submitted applications for Grand Solutions, possibly affecting the number of received letters of interest in phase 1.
Innovation Fund Denmark expects a success rate of 30-50 per cent among applicants who are invited for phase 2.
Innovation Fund Denmark still assess applications based on the three criteria: quality of idea, impact, and quality of execution. The evaluation of submissions for phase 1 and phase 2 will be based on these three main criteria and their corresponding set of sub-criteria. These sub-criteria are described in the guidelines for each phase, which can be found under Grand Solutions on Innovation Fund Denmark’s website. Please note that the sub-criteria for the two phases are not identical.
First, applications receive an individual assessment by all or the majority of committee members. Secondly, the committee convene on a committee meeting and make a joint decision.
On the committee meeting, applications are discussed to include all perspectives, which helps qualify the individual assessments. At the same time, this is an effective way of minimising misunderstandings or professional biases. The discussions also support a well-balanced calibration across the entire field of applicants, which is a prerequisite for a consistent and well-founded ranking of all applications – and thus the right decisions on which projects are to receive an offer of investment.
Innovation Fund Denmark works – across its programmes and on a continuous basis – to minimise undesirable biases in assessments, and the Fund focuses on training employees and committee members in reducing bias in their decision-making processes.
Experience shows that committee meetings are a good precaution against such biases, as assessment by a wide selection of evaluators, who have different backgrounds and competences and who can help qualify each other's arguments, brings nuance to an evaluation process. This is based on Innovation Fund Denmark’s considerable experience with existing evaluation committees, for instance on programmes such as Industrial Researcher, Innoexplorer and Innobooster.
In appointing committees for the Grand Solutions programme, the Fund will pay attention to diversity in demographic factors as well as in the professional domains within each theme of application, and this will serve as a good foundation for ensuring diversity among applicants as well.
Prior to the appointment of the new committees, the Fund will perform an analysis to identify the essential domains within a given application theme. Significant attention will be paid to make sure that when combined, a committee has the necessary competences to assess applications for the programme within the theme in question.
As approximately 50 per cent of each committee will be made up of established researchers, a committee will be qualified to conduct an evaluation of the scientific level of an application. This is a legal requirement for adequate assessment of applications for the Grand Solutions programme.
In phase 2, the committee’s assessment will be supplemented by evaluations by external established researchers, who will be selected based on the specific subject of each individual application in order to add in-depth knowledge within this particular field to the committee’s assessment. These supplemental evaluations are performed by established researchers who comply with the URIS guidelines and who are recruited outside of Denmark. These assessments will be subject to a consultation process for applicants.
The remaining approximately 50 per cent of each committee will be impact specialists, among other things to ensure that investments are made to projects with the potential to develop Denmark’s strategic positions of strength and foster societal impact. These impact specialists will provide a counterweight to evaluations of the scientific level of applications.
In collaboration with Innovation Fund Denmark’s secretariat and the chairs of each committee, the Fund’s board of directors will regularly consider whether the committees are up-to-date with the necessary competences and experiences. This means that new appointments may take place within the terms of appointment for the committees.
The member profiles of the committees will strike a balance between focus on impact and focus on scientific knowledge. There are two types of members: Impact specialists with knowledge of commercialisation of research, who are able to assess a project’s strategic societal value for Denmark, and international established researchers who will contribute with the most recent scientific knowledge within different domains. The latter group must be affiliated with a foreign research institution in order to ensure an international outlook, and to make sure that all applications are assessed by a committee with the right capacity to make decisions.
The members of the new committees will be presented with their name, main place of employment, etcetera, on Innovation Fund Denmark’s website – similar to how members of the Fund’s other committees are presented online. This is to ensure as much transparency in the evaluation process as possible.
To attract the most relevant and qualified international researchers, Innovation Fund Denmark will reach out to relevant candidates. One of the first steps will be to identify people with the right profile to lead the committees (chairs). This pool of candidates must have knowledge about Danish affairs and the commercialisation of research and innovation – and thus be impact specialists. The recruitment process is under preparation and will contain a combination of ads and targeted search.
After the summer, Innovation Fund Denmark’s board of directors’ sub-committee SRC (Strategic Research Committee) will prepare a nomination for the board with support from the Fund’s secretariat, and the board will ultimately appoint the new committee members in September.
