Regional rural development funding

We aim to create value across Norway. That’s why we offer dedicated funding schemes for companies in rural areas, with different eligibility requirements.
Tog som går i snølandskap
© Foto: GettyImages
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 businesses and entrepreneurs in areas eligible for regional aid.

Overview of municipalities within the eligible area.

Loan and grant schemes in rural areas include

  • Startup grant
  • investment grants and development grants for individual businesses and entrepreneurs
  • innovation loans, including subordinated loans, promissory note loans and mortgage loans

Startup grant

The grant helps you reduce early-stage risk and fund activities to develop and bring new business ideas to life in rural areas. Priorities may vary between counties, but all projects must contribute to value creation, employment, innovation and transformation.

Business development grant

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

Your project can include an initial strategy process and related competence building, development activities and testing. It can also include implementing a new production process, organisational model or business model.

Grants for investments

We can provide funding for investments to establish a new business, expand the capacity of an existing business, diversify production into products not previously produced, or fundamentally change the production process in an existing business.

Innovation loans

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

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

Check whether your business is registered in a municipality eligible for regional funding.

County authorities issue their own letters of assignment setting priorities for how funds are used in each county. Priority areas and the types of projects eligible for funding may therefore vary between counties.

Projects must meet the following criteria:

  • Value creation
  • Employment
  • Innovation
  • Transformation

We cannot support projects that have started before you submit your application.

1. Start with Single point of entry

If you are a new customer or want to find out which services suit your project, start with Single point of entry. Answer a few questions and receive recommendations within 1–2 days on what is relevant for you. These may include services from us or other organisations in Norway.

2. Start your application and talk to an advisor

To apply for funding from us, log in to My page and go to 'Start an application'. Choose the application type that suits your needs. You can use the 'Talk to an advisor' button if you have questions or would like feedback before submitting your application.

3. Assessment

We review applications on an ongoing basis, and several people assess each application. We familiarise ourselves with your company and the plans you have outlined, and assess your project. In addition to our standard assessment criteria, you can find specific criteria for each service on this page.

4. Decision and signing

Once we have processed your application, we will notify you by email. You can find the decision on My page. If we offer you funding, make sure you understand the terms and conditions and how payments are made. Remember to sign the offer before the deadline, otherwise it may lapse.

See our funding guides

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 art. 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 each article on our page on State aid rules.

Key requirements for funding

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

State aid rules

Our funding must comply with State aid rules. Five general conditions for State aid must be met.

The General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER) forms part of the State aid rules. It contains a set of articles that provide the legal basis for us to support businesses in different circumstances. One or more articles may apply in 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

You must state in your application whether you have applied or plan to apply for other public funding for the project. We also base the amount of funding we award 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 receive no public funding, including SkatteFUNN, other than that stated in your application. This applies to funding for the project costs on which we have based our grant calculation (eligible costs). If you receive other public funding, including SkatteFUNN, for the same costs after we have made our offer, we may reduce our grant accordingly or withdraw it.

This does not prevent your business from receiving other public support for project costs other than those used to calculate our grant.

Log in
Go to My page to start or continue your application.
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.