What does co-production mean?

Co-produced research

In co-produced research projects, researchers and business actors work together to formulate research questions, solve problems, analyse, test, and evaluate to achieve scientific results that also benefit participating business actors. Co-production projects thus seek to bring together high-quality scientific results with beneficial effects that strengthen the competitiveness of participating business actors.

Co-produced education and competence development

In co-produced education projects, universities and external partners work together to develop and implement educational programmes or educational activities. Co-producing degree programmes gives the universities a good insight into the knowledge and competence needs of the business sector, while the business sector improves its opportunities to gain a good provision of competence, which is crucial to the business sectors’ development and long-term competitiveness.

Academia and business actors choose the area and the focus of the project

The Knowledge Foundation’s calls for proposals are open to project proposals in all subjects and areas of activity. It is academia and the business sector that jointly select the areas and research questions that are both of academic interest and highly relevant to industry. The projects we fund therefore span a wide range of scientific areas and business sectors.

The co-produced projects for which the Foundation grants funding must always have a scientific value and a benefit that is broader than an individual business actor could achieve alone. This means that the Foundation in principle always requires at least two independent business actors to be involved in each project.