Centres for Research-based Innovation (SFI-IV)

Project Description Template

The template is designed to address the elements of the evaluation criteria.

The project period, the progress plan including the project's main activities and milestones, the budget, the
dissemination plan and more, are mainly to be provided in the electronic grant application form. The
project description is to provide a more detailed description of the objectives, the background for the
project and how it will be carried out.

The proposed research should be presented clearly using a language that is understandable also to
individuals with a general scientific understanding of the field.

The project description is not to exceed 20 pages, including an overall budget outline (section 13) and the
list of references. It is not possible to upload an attachment that exceeds this page total. The page format
must be A4 with 2 cm margins, single spacing and Arial, Calibri, Times New Roman or similar 11-point font.
It is permitted to use 9-point font for the list of references and figure captions. Links that are listed in the
project description will not be included in the assessment.

The project description must include the following points:

Part 1: Needs, objectives and impacts

1. Knowledge needs
Describe the industrial or societal challenges in the fields on which the centre will focus. Describe the
underlying knowledge needs that make it important to establish a Centre for researched-based innovation
(SFI) in the area in question. Describe the added value of having a centre in the area in question.

Describe how the proposed centre will expand upon or complement other established centres or large-
scale initiatives.

2. Objectives
Provide a primary objective for the centre. Provide a bullet list of verifiable secondary objectives that will
lead to the achievement of the primary objective. Plainly describe the anticipated results of the centre.

Describe how the centre’s objectives are related to the centre’s expected impacts and to the overall
objectives for the SFI scheme.

3. Importance for national competence-building in research, public administration and trade and industry
Describe how the centre will contribute to long-term, national competence-building in the relevant areas,
for instance through the development of cutting-edge expertise, expansion of the knowledge base,
enhanced researcher training or development of relevant educational programmes.

Give an account of the qualifications and research capacity of the participating research organisations
(including the host institution) in the relevant area, as well as their national position in the field. Describe
how the proposed centre conforms to these partners’ internal strategies and plans.

Describe how the anticipated knowledge developed by the proposed centre will be important to future
innovation and value creation for the participating user partners (companies and eventual public entities)
and indicate how this conforms to their internal strategies, plans and needs. Describe how the anticipated
knowledge developed by the centre will generate innovation and value creation in other segments of the
Norwegian business sector. Also describe the centre’s relevance and benefit to society and which major
societal challenges the centre will help to resolve.
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4. Sustainability
Describe how the knowledge and outputs generated in the proposed centre can contribute to solving
challenges and/or shed light on important issues related to one or more of the UN's sustainability goals.

Describe how the anticipated knowledge developed by the proposed centre will promote more sustainable
value creation as well as sustainable restructuring of the Norwegian business sector.

5. Exploitation, communication and data management

Describe how the proposed centre will facilitate and encourage innovation and how the centre will define,
map and follow up research results that have innovation potential. Describe plans for any patents.

Describe the centre’s plans for communication activities, including knowledge transfer to user partners and
dissemination to the general public via popular science channels. Describe plans for conferences.

Describe plans for publication in scientific peer-reviewed journals.

Describe plans for data management, including the use of portals, databases and archives.

Describe the management of any intellectual property rights (IPR) in the centre.

Part 2: Scientific content and organisation of research activities

6. Knowledge frontiers
Summarise briefly the national and international state-of-the-art of the relevant research topics for the
centre. Describe how the proposed centre will generate new knowledge, beyond the current state of the
art, that will be significant to promoting scientific development in these areas.

7. Research tasks and scientific methods

Identify and describe the research questions and/or hypothesis that will be addressed for the proposed
centre. Describe the theoretical approach and/or methodology chosen to address the research questions
and/or hypothesis.

Describe the main research tasks and why they will be important for achieving the objectives of the centre
and the SFI scheme as a whole (cf. item 2). Explain why the methodologies planned used are suitable for
generating relevant knowledge in the field of the proposed centre and promoting future innovation and
value creation.

Describe how research activities at the centre will be organised, e.g. in work packages. Describe the
scientific context between the work packages and how they will help achieve the overall goals of the
proposed centre. Describe how the centre will ensure interdisciplinarity in both its approach to and
performance of its activities.

If there are ethical issues to consider, describe how these will be dealt with. Give also a brief account of
possible risks that might endanger achieving the objectives and describe how to manage these risks.

Part 3: Management, administrative organisation and budget summary

8. Organisation
Describe the value added of organising the activities as a centre. Describe how the cooperation at the
proposed centre will be organised and why this structure has been chosen. Describe the active role of each
centre partner (research organisations and user partners) in the implementation and performance of the

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centre’s activities and what will each of them contribute (knowledge, expertise and infrastructure/scientific
equipment)? Describe the expected contribution of the partners beyond financing.

Describe the governance and administrative structures of the centre. Describe the qualifications of the
centre director and management group and their experience in leading large-scale projects. Also describe
how much time and resources you plan to devote to the management of the centre.

Describe plans for ensuring the active involvement of the user partners. Describe how knowledge acquired
through research activities at the centre will be transferred to the individual partners to stimulate
innovation and value creation.

Describe plans for interaction at the centre as well as plans for exchange of researchers and other
personnel among the partners.

9. International cooperation
Describe the centre’s objectives, targets and plans for international cooperation. Describe how the
proposed centre will work to facilitate international research cooperation and how such cooperation will
benefit its activities. Describe how the international cooperation in the centre will enhance the ability of
the Norwegian business sector to innovate and create value.

If relevant, describe and justify why the centre has one or more international partners. Describe how
this/these partner(s) will help to achieve the objectives of the centre and the SFI scheme as a whole.

10. Researcher training and recruitment

Describe the business sector’s and public sector’s needs for knowledge and expertise in the centre’s area of
focus. In relation to this, describe how the proposed centre will help to meet these needs. Describe to what
extent the centre will contribute to researcher training and describe and quantify the plans for researcher
training (PhD students, postdocs) and other recruitment (master’s/bachelor’s students). Specify any
name(s) of the educational institution(s).

Describe how the centre will facilitate and fund stays abroad for PhD students and postdocs in the centre.

Describe how the centre will facilitate and fund visits and stays with partner companies for research fellows
in the centre.

11. Gender equality

Describe how gender-related considerations will be incorporated into the proposed centre’s activities, for
example with regard to participation in the centre’s management group and recruitment activities. Provide
a target figure for the percentage of women fellowship-holders (cf. item 10).

12. Phasing-out strategy

Describe how the institution intends to safeguard the SFI investment in the long term, including after the
cessation of the Research Council’s funding of the centre.

13. Overall budget outline

Provide a simplified overall total budget outline for the whole centre period (8 years). The outline must
show how the costs will be distributed among the work packages (WP) and each of the research-
performing partners, as well as how the costs are to be financed. Make sure there is the best possible
match between this overall budget outline and the tables entered in the electronic grant application form.

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We recommend a table like this:

Costs

Activity/Item Host inst. Research Research Company Company Company Partner N Public Public Total
partner 1 partner 2 partner 1 partner 2 partner 3 partner 1 partner 2
WP 1
WP 2
WP 3
--
--
WP N
Management
Sum

Funding

Activity/Item RCN Host inst. Research Research Company Company Company Partner N Public Public Total
partner 1 partner 2 partner 1 partner 2 partner 3 partner 1 partner 2
WP 1
WP2
WP3
--
--
WPN
Management
Sum