Student Entrepreneurship Grant (STUD-ENT)

• Recent graduates from Norwegian universities and university colleges who aim to start their own company based on knowledge gained during their studies.
• Your company must have a team of students. The team must have a project manager who meets the requirements below. Together, the students must own at least 80 per cent of the company.
• The project manager must either be studying or have completed their studies within the 12 months before the application deadline. Eligible programmes are a master's degree, a six-year professional degree or a doctoral degree.
• Project manager currently studying towards:
  • master’s level: submit your master’s thesis before the project starts
  • professional degree level: have completed at least four years of study before the project starts
  • PhD level: provide confirmation from the degree-awarding institution that you can carry out the STUD-ENT project alongside your studies. You must also have written confirmation from the institution of ownership of the intellectual property rights in the project (for example, a waiver or a licence)

We aim to allocate 40 per cent of the funding under this scheme to projects led by women.

To apply for this scheme, you must have a company with an organisation number. At the time of application, your business can be a sole proprietorship (ENK) or a limited company (AS) registered in the Register of Business Enterprises. By the start of the project, your company must be registered as a limited company (AS) and meet the scheme’s eligibility criteria and the requirements under the State aid rules set out in Article 22 of the GBER.

This grant is intended for young students who have had limited opportunities to build networks and raise capital. Executive master’s students and older students can apply for our other startup funding schemes.

Through STUD-ENT, we support innovative startups with proven market acceptance and strong growth potential. Projects with both long and shorter times to market can receive funding.

Innovative idea

By an innovative idea, we mean that you have identified a need or problem in a market that currently lacks a satisfactory solution. You must demonstrate a good understanding of how the market works and describe the products or services currently available. You must also make a convincing case for how your business idea solves the problem in a better way and the position your new solution will occupy in the market. You must describe this in a competitor analysis.

Documented market acceptance

We consider that you have documented market acceptance if customers, users, investors or business partners confirm that the problem you have identified is worth solving.

We consider market acceptance to be documented when customers, users, investors or business partners are willing to commit resources to further develop your project. These resources may include development collaboration, access to test groups or testing facilities, advance payments or invested capital. You must document this interest through letters of intent or similar agreements and attach them to your application.

Strong growth potential 

We consider your business to have strong growth potential if you can describe how you will commercialise your solution. This means explaining how your product or service will contribute to a profitable business model with national or international potential. You need to demonstrate a good understanding of the market and the customer groups you want to reach. You must be able to outline the size of the market and how you plan to reach it.

If your project has not yet achieved documented market acceptance, you can apply to us for Startup grant 1.

The project should include activities to:

• further develop your product or service in close collaboration with customers, users or other partners. The activities must aim to raise the technology readiness level (TRL) from its current level.
• ensure that you develop technology or a solution that meets customers’ actual needs. The activities must aim to raise BRL from its current level.
• strengthen your core team’s overall ability to deliver. Examples include taking part in accelerator programmes, networking events or trade fairs.
• make your company investment-ready. Attracting private capital is crucial to business success. We will therefore give weight to sound strategies for securing access to capital, and to activities that develop and implement these strategies.

• The maximum grant per business is NOK 1 million.
• Funding must not exceed the amount needed to carry out the project.
• The grant can cover up to 100 per cent of approved costs, so you do not need to contribute your own funding. In line with our other startup support schemes, you must have a clear objective to make your company investment-ready during the project period.

We pay 50 per cent of the grant in advance at the start of the project. Once you have completed 50 per cent of the project, you must submit an evaluation and accounts to us before we pay a further 30 per cent. We pay the remaining 20 per cent only once you have completed the project and we have approved the final report and the audited project accounts from an auditor or authorised accountant.

• You have clearly described the market and its potential. You have identified your target group and know how to adapt your solution to meet customer needs.
• You must clearly describe the need or problem you aim to solve and provide evidence of market acceptance.
• The project we support must be innovative and have the potential to create significant value in Norway.
• You must be able to communicate your idea and what makes your project unique through an outline of a scalable business model.
• You have described potential competitors and alternative products in the market.
• You can demonstrate expertise or experience relevant to the project and show that your core team has the ability to deliver.
• You must describe the project’s objectives and how you will achieve them.
• Your project must aim to attract capital and ownership from investors with relevant expertise, with plans and activities to support this.
• Projects we support must be able to help develop a culture of entrepreneurship at the educational institution.
• We prioritise projects that have a clear positive impact on the environment and/or society.

Your application must outline a project with clearly defined activities that contribute to achieving the goals for technology development (TRL) and business development (BRL). The costs in the budget must be necessary to carry out the planned activities.

Read more about our criteria for receiving a grant and what we look for in an application.

Attachments you must include with your application

• Evidence of market acceptance
• Collaboration agreement with your educational institution
• Agreement with a commercial mentor
• Operating budget for 3–5 years

We require you to have collaboration agreements in place with your educational institution and a commercial mentor. You must attach these agreements to your application.

Collaboration agreement with your educational institution and academic mentor

The agreement must confirm that the educational institution supports the project and specify what it will contribute during the project period to help the project succeed.

The agreement must include the name and contact details of a staff member at the educational institution who will act as an academic mentor. The academic mentor must be part of an academic community relevant to the project, and this connection must help reduce technological or other critical risks in the project.

The agreement must also explain how else the educational institution will support the project. This support could include access to laboratories, testing equipment, office space and other facilities.

The agreement must also state that the students commit to sharing their experiences and lessons learned with the educational institution during and after the project.

Template for a collaboration agreement with an educational institution

Commercial mentor

Your project must involve at least one commercial mentor from the business community, such as an industry expert, serial entrepreneur or investor. The mentor must complement your core team with relevant industry and market experience. They should also understand the tasks critical to the project and help strengthen your team's ability to deliver it.

Suggested template for an agreement with a commercial mentor

We use Business Readiness Level (BRL) and Technology Readiness Level (TRL) to assess projects and applications. Before you start writing your application, we encourage you to watch this short introductory video: A management tool for technology development. We also recommend the course Your customers decide whether you have a good business idea.

We also offer a range of online courses you can take whenever it suits you.

Get in touch at kundesupport@innovasjonnorge.no