The Knowledge Foundation funds education and research relevant for businesses performed in collaboration between higher education institutions and the business sector. This section presents the criteria that business actors must meet to be eligible to co-finance Knowledge Foundation projects. The conditions were adopted by the Foundation’s Board in May 2024 and apply until further notice.
In the text below, the organisations that can contribute co-funding to a Knowledge Foundation project are referred to as business actors. In general, the Knowledge Foundation accepts co-financing from business actors, regardless of their legal form, that:
- conduct business activities in a competitive market
- have a Swedish company registration number (Organisationsnummer in Swedish)
The Knowledge Foundation has no size restrictions on the business actors that can co-finance projects. However, it is important for all co-financing business actors to clearly demonstrate that the organisation has the resources and assets required to meet the commitments described in the application. When a project starts, co-financing business actors must have employed staff and, have access to financial resources in the form of grants, capital, sales revenues or equivalent that exceed the value of the planned co-financing, during the project period.
Publicly owned companies can co-finance projects provided that the goods and services produced are offered in a competitive market.
Other types of organizations that do not fall within the above description of co-financing business actors can participate as non-co-financing project partners in projects financed by the Foundation.
The Foundation’s General Terms and Conditions for Projects specify which costs are accepted as co-financing. Individual calls may also set out specific conditions for business sector participation and co-financing.
Contact us
If you are unsure whether a potential project partner can be approved as a co-funder, we recommend that you contact the Foundation’s office for an advance decision.
Clarification regarding certain types of organizations
In addition to the general criteria set out above, specific criteria and restrictions apply to the following business actors.
Foreign companies
The Knowledge Foundation allows foreign limited companies, or equivalent, to provide co-financing in certain programmes. This applies to the programmes Research Profiles, Research Projects, Industrial Graduate Schools, Synergy Projects, and Early Academic Career. Foreign companies are defined as companies that do not have a Swedish company registration number. Their share of the business sector’s combined co-funding in a project may not exceed 25 percent.
The Knowledge Foundation has a trust-based approach to higher education institutions and assumes that they, together with Swedish business organizations, in a spirit of responsible internationalization, include foreign companies that benefit both the Swedish actors included and Swedish competitiveness in general. The Knowledge Foundation reserves the right not to accept co-financing and to refuse participation from foreign companies that are not considered to contribute to Swedish competitiveness. In cases where a Knowledge Foundation funding program provides funding to business actors, such funding cannot be granted to foreign companies.
Research institutes
Swedish research institutes can participate as co-financiering business actors in certain programmes offered by the The Knowledge Foundation (Research Projects, Industrial Graduate Schools, Synergy Projects, Early Academic Career, and Research Profiles). However, their share of the business sector’s combined co-funding in a project may not exceed 25 percent.
Innovation support organizations
Innovation support organizations are defined as support structures with a main task to support innovation and business development in small, start-up companies. The participation of innovation support organizations run and owned by private companies is considered a business actor and is therefore eligible to co-finance projects. Participation by innovation support organizations (science parks, incubators and other similar organizations) that are closely connected to higher education institutions, and whose main funding comes from a higher education institution or other public sources, cannot be counted as co-financing. The reason is that the organizations are largely funded by the same organization that receives grants, i.e. higher education institutions. Secondly, the purpose is to support the development of the companies they support and not to develop their own operations. The companies that receive support from the innovation-supporting organizations can be included as co-funding business actors provided that they meet the general criteria.