Regional development funding

Our goal is to create value across Norway. We therefore offer dedicated funding schemes for companies in rural areas, with different eligibility requirements.
Tog som går i snølandskap
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Type of service
Grants and loans
Target group
Businesses in rural areas
Application deadline
Ongoing
How much
Varies
Application type
Business development and innovation

The main target group is small and medium-sized enterprises and entrepreneurs in areas eligible for regional aid.

Overview of municipalities within the designated area.

Loan and grant schemes in rural areas include

  • startup grants
  • investment grants and development grants for individual businesses and entrepreneurs
  • innovation loans, including subordinated loans, promissory note loans and secured loans

Startup grant

The grant is designed to reduce early-stage risk and fund activities that develop and realise new business ideas in rural areas. Priority areas may vary between counties, but all projects must contribute to value creation, employment, innovation and restructuring.

Business development grant

The grant supports the further development of established businesses, not physical investments in machinery or facilities. Your project must develop or improve a new product, process or service. A wide range of activities needed to successfully develop or implement new solutions may be eligible for funding.

The project may include an initial strategy process and related competence building, development activities and testing. This also applies to the implementation of a new production process, organisational model or business model.

Investment grants

We may provide grants for investments related to establishing a new business, expanding the capacity of an existing business, diversifying production to include new products not previously manufactured, or fundamentally changing the production process of an existing business.

Innovation loans

You can use the loan to commercialise new solutions, strengthen working capital, restructure, develop, grow and expand internationally.

The loan has the same scope and terms as the innovation loan scheme, but places greater emphasis on the project's regional benefits.

Check whether your company is registered in a municipality where regional development funding is available.

The county authorities draw up their own letters of assignment, setting priorities for how the funding is used in each county. This means that priority areas and the types of projects eligible for funding may vary between counties.

The criteria for eligible projects are:

  • Value creation
  • Employment
  • Innovation
  • Restructuring

Projects started before the application is submitted are not eligible for funding.

The scheme has been notified to ESA (the EFTA Surveillance Authority) under the following articles of the General Block Exemption Regulation:

Business development grant
GBER Articles 18, 19, 22, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30 and 31

Investment grants:
GBER Articles 14, 17, 36, 38, 38a, 41, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49 and 53.

Regional innovation loans:
GBER Articles 14, 17, 18, 19, 22, 25, 26, 26a, 29, 30, 31, 36, 36a, 36b, 38, 38a, 41, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 53 and 55

Working capital credit guarantee:
GBER Art. 22

Read more about the individual articles on the page about State aid rules.

Key eligibility criteria for funding

To receive services from us, your company must uphold the principles of responsible business conduct and actively consider its own sustainability risks. Read more about sustainability and responsible business conduct.

State aid rules

Funding from Innovation Norway must comply with State aid rules. There are five general conditions for State aid that must be met.

The General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER) is part of the State aid rules. It contains provisions that allow us to provide support to companies in various circumstances. One or more provisions may apply to each case. Read more about GBER.

Legal basis for the scheme

Our funding schemes have been notified to the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA). The legal basis for these notifications is available on the National Legal Basis page.

Other public funding

The application must state whether other public funding has been or will be sought for the project. The amount of funding we provide is also based on an overall assessment of how much public funding is needed for the project to go ahead.

When determining the grant amount, we therefore assume that you will not receive any other public funding, including SkatteFUNN, beyond what is stated in the application. This applies to funding for the project costs on which we have based our grant calculation (eligible costs). If you nevertheless receive other public funding, including SkatteFUNN, after we have made our offer, and it covers the same costs, we may reduce our grant accordingly or withdraw it entirely.

This does not prevent the company from receiving other public funding for project costs other than those on which we have based our assessment.

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Frequently asked questions and answers
General information about the application process, how we assess applications, project details and the types of ideas we do not support.