Business networks

Business networks across Norway can apply for funding for main projects lasting up to three years.

The participants in the business network must agree that one of the participating companies will act as the applicant company and administrator on behalf of the network.

The business network must meet the following minimum requirements to be eligible for further assessment:

• The business network must consist of at least three small and medium-sized enterprises with established operations in Norway and sound finances
• The companies must be registered in the Norwegian Register of Business Enterprises
• The companies should not normally have any ownership interests in each other
• Large companies and knowledge institutions in Norway or abroad may participate, but Norwegian small and medium-sized enterprises must account for at least 50 per cent of the participants
• The project must aim to increase growth and value creation by developing and realising new market opportunities in existing or new markets in Norway or abroad, based on the companies’ existing products, services, expertise and technology
• The project must be based on strategic collaboration between companies with shared needs and complementary resources that offer potential for synergies
• Letter of intent signed by the participating companies

You can apply for a grant of up to NOK 1,000,000 per year for up to three years.

Our funding will cover costs related to the administration and project management of the network.

Costs that may be included when calculating the grant are:

• The applicant/administrator company's costs related to managing the network. This includes purchased services (project management, report preparation, workshop facilitation and more) and other invoiced costs related to the network.
• The applicant/administrator company's own hours spent managing the network project. For more information about standard hourly rates, read more about approved hourly rates.

Costs that are not eligible for funding:

• Hours worked and travel expenses incurred by participating companies.

The level of public funding will be based on an overall assessment of the project. Participating companies should expect to contribute both cash and their own time and resources.

The grant is paid to the applicant/administrator based on documented project costs recorded in the applicant's/administrator's accounts.

The total costs recorded by the applicant company/administrator must be at least equal to the amount of public funding.

You can apply for one year at a time, for up to three years. You can provide additional information in project documents attached to the online application.

You should apply when the applicant company and participating companies consider the project sufficiently well planned. Applications for years 2 and 3 must be submitted well before the current project period ends. The application for year 2 must be submitted well before the agreed project period for year 1 ends.

De minimis aid

Grants for business networks are awarded under the rules on de minimis aid.

The grant is distributed among all participants in the business network, including the company administering the network. For example, if the network has 10 participants and receives a grant of NOK 1 million, NOK 100,000 will count towards each participant's de minimis aid limit.

Declaration of de minimis aid

As part of the application process, the administrator company (applicant) will receive a task from us to complete the Declaration of de minimis aid. In the form on My page / Online banking, the administrator must download the PDF version of the declaration and then share it with all the business partners in the network.

Once everyone who is able to do so, including the administrator company, has submitted their declaration in the form, it must be uploaded and returned to us for further processing. If any network participants are unable to submit a declaration because they have exceeded the de minimis aid threshold, you must inform your case officer. We will take this into account when determining the grant amount.

This is what we focus on when assessing your project:

The impact of the project

• The extent to which the collaboration and use of synergies strengthen the companies’ competitiveness
• Potential for growth and value creation among the participating companies as a result of the collaboration, beyond what the companies can achieve individually
• Expected contribution to long-term value creation in Norway

Degree of innovation/novelty

The main emphasis is on market innovation and risk:

• The extent to which the project targets new market segments and customer groups in existing or entirely new markets
• To what extent will the collaborating companies offer new integrated product and service solutions that deliver greater customer value?
• Overall risk associated with the collaborative project
• The extent to which public funding contributes to the implementation of the project
• To what extent will the public funding reduce risk, act as a catalyst and help to
  • the project is initiated and delivered
  • the scope of the project/activities will increase significantly
  • the project/activities are completed more quickly
  • the participating companies commit significantly more of their own resources

Implementation capacity

The participating companies’ ability to deliver, i.e. whether they have sound finances and the financial resources, expertise and capacity to contribute the agreed resources to the project – and realise their own value creation potential

The project's overall implementation capacity

• Is the mix of participating companies appropriate for the project's goals and ambitions?
• Do the companies have complementary resources and shared needs, and has it been demonstrated that this creates potential for synergies?
• Is the implementation plan clear, agreed and realistic?
• Are the collaborative activities relevant and appropriately scaled to create synergies and achieve shared goals?
• Are the project organisation and management described and clarified?
• Are roles and responsibilities clearly defined and agreed?
• Does the board have the right composition and expertise?
• Has it been demonstrated that the project manager and project team have sufficient experience and expertise?
• Whether the administering company has sufficient capacity and resources and is willing to take primary responsibility for successful implementation
• Whether the project has sufficient funding, specialist personnel and other resources to achieve the agreed goals and ambitions

A project must be assessed as satisfactory against all four main criteria to be eligible for funding.

Use the checklist below to help you discuss and prepare a project description. Write briefly and clearly about the factors you consider relevant and important for understanding and accurately assessing the potential and risks of the collaborative project.

Partnership structure

• Brief presentation of all participating companies:
  • briefly about the company
  • core expertise and technology
  • main products and key markets today
  • turnover in the most recent financial year and number of employees
• Rationale for the composition of companies
• How do the companies complement each other, and what needs do they have in common?
• What are the companies' shared goals and ambitions?

Potential for synergies and increased competitiveness

• What is the potential for market, competence or technology synergies resulting from the collaboration?
• To what extent does strategic collaboration and the resulting synergies strengthen the companies' competitiveness?
• To what extent can the companies gain a competitive advantage by offering new, integrated product and service solutions that deliver greater customer value than competing offerings?

Market opportunities

• Which geographical markets is the project targeting?
• What are the key characteristics and trends in the market?
• A specific description of the new market opportunities
• Are the market opportunities related to:
  • existing markets and customer groups
  • new segments and customer groups in existing markets
  • entirely new markets
• To what extent are the market, market segment and customer group new to the participating companies?
• Do any of the participants already have knowledge of, networks in or an established business in this market or segment?

Growth and value creation potential

• What is the potential for growth and value creation for the participating companies beyond what they can achieve individually?
• Expected contribution to long-term value creation in Norway through increased competence in the companies and job creation

Project risk

• What are the main areas of risk?
• How is the overall project risk assessed?
• What is your plan for managing risk?

Project implementation

• A joint strategy and implementation plan with a three-year time horizon.
• Description of how the plan is embedded in the board, executive management and strategy of the participating companies
• Brief presentation of the steering group, project management and any project team, with an emphasis on composition and expertise
• Rationale for potentially strengthening the project's capacity and expertise by engaging an external project manager
• Allocation of roles and responsibilities for implementing the activity plan
• Explain how the main activities will create synergies and achieve the shared goals of the collaboration
• Budget and financing plan for the three-year period (estimate)
• Budget and financing plan for year 1 (detailed)
• Self-financing in the form of cash contributions from participants
• Are all participating companies aware of their rights, responsibilities and obligations to contribute their own funding, personnel resources and other resources to the project?
• Have the commitments been clarified at management level in the participating companies?
• Have all participating companies agreed that a letter of intent must be drawn up, signed and attached to the online application?
• Do all participating companies understand that the collaboration must be formalised through a signed collaboration agreement before the project starts?

• Detailed presentation of the project participants
• Overview of the participants' core expertise
• Pre-project report
• Market reports
• Strategy and implementation plan, project organisation
• Letter of intent (must be included with the online application)

Download a sample letter of intent

Key points for a collaboration agreement

This list of points is not exhaustive. You may need to include additional points, and other solutions than those outlined may be appropriate.

The participants must adapt the cooperation agreement to each individual case. You must assess whether you need legal assistance in this connection. We are not liable for any errors or omissions in the checklist.

Participants

• The companies participating in the collaboration should be listed by name and organisation number (hereinafter collectively referred to as the ‘participating companies’).
• The agreement must specify which participating company will be responsible for the project. It may also specify who will be the project manager.

Area of collaboration/project

• Describe the scope of the collaboration/project (hereinafter referred to as the ‘project’) and its purpose. If the project needs to be distinguished from the participating companies’ other business areas or activities, this should be described. The project strategy should be included in the collaboration agreement or attached as a separate document.

Legal structure and organisation

• Whether the project should be set up as a separate company or incorporated into the operations of one of the participating companies. You should describe in more detail how the project will be organised, taking into account the chosen legal structure.
• The roles, tasks, responsibilities and authority of the participating companies, project owner and project manager should be included in the cooperation agreement or attached as a separate document. It should be clarified who is authorised to enter into contracts on behalf of the business network/project.

Ownership, rights and obligations

• The agreement should describe what the participating companies will contribute to the project, such as expertise, products, methods, intellectual property rights (IPR), physical equipment and distribution networks. Ownership of and rights to such contributions should be regulated.
• Ownership and rights of use for IPR and other assets developed within the project should be included.

Development tasks and progress plans

• Key development tasks, phases and milestones for the project should be included. Annual action plans may also be referenced in separate documents.

Funding

• How the project will be financed – the distribution of cash contributions from participants and public grants.
• You should ensure that the project has sufficient liquidity at all times.

Finance and accounting. Allocation of income and costs

• The agreement should specify who is responsible for budgeting, reporting and accounting.
• How the project's income and expenses will be allocated among the participating companies.

Management and information

• You should define how the project will be managed and establish a steering group. You should also describe how responsibilities will be divided between the steering group and the project manager.
• Management's working methods, including decision-making rules and whether authority should be delegated.
• Information and communication between the management team and participating companies. External communication on behalf of the project.

Confidential information

• The agreement should specify what information relating to the project is to be treated as confidential and the rules governing the handling of such information. It should also state whether the participating companies are required to sign a confidentiality agreement.

Admission and withdrawal of participants

• Rules for admitting new participating companies to the project should be included. Rules for participating companies leaving the project should also be included.

Breach of contract

• The agreement may specify what will happen in the event of a breach of the cooperation agreement.

Duration

• The agreement should specify how long it will remain in force and the rules for any extension.

Governing law and disputes

• The collaboration agreement should state that it is governed by Norwegian law. It should also specify how disputes are to be resolved and whether they should be referred to the ordinary courts or arbitration if they cannot be settled amicably.

The network is funded through a grant from us and cash contributions from the network participants.

The grant is awarded as de minimis aid, and our share of the funding may cover up to 100% of the approved eligible costs. The amount awarded is based on an assessment of the incentive effect, the quality of the project and the available funding.

The remaining funding for the approved cost base consists of cash contributions from the participating companies.

If one or more of the participating companies have reached their limit for receiving de minimis aid, they must make a higher cash contribution corresponding to their share of our grant.

This means that the total support from us will be reduced accordingly.

We expect all participating companies to commit time and effort to the project. The participants’ staff costs cannot be included in the cost basis for the application or in the project accounts submitted to us. Only the administering company’s staff costs can be included in the cost basis.

If the amount of funding we provide requires co-financing from the business network participants, the network participants must make a cash contribution to the administering company. The administering company must also provide co-financing on the same basis as the other participants. However, rather than requiring a cash contribution from the administering company, it may, for example, provide funding through its operating budget. The extent of this contribution should be described in the application and project report.

In summary: The project accounts submitted to us must only include project costs recorded in the administrator company's accounts.

The extent of the participating companies’ contributions (participation in events, meetings, projects, etc.) must be described in the final report. Timesheets are not required as documentation.

We also offer co-funding to business networks seeking to build their digital competence through European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs). Two EDIHs are based in Norway: Nemonoor and Oceanopolis.

Does this sound interesting? Get in touch directly with an EDIH or our customer advisors who can connect you.