Mandatory Outline as a Basis for Applications for Research Centres for Artificial Intelligence (AI Centres)
Important dates
09 Apr 2024
Information meeting on two-stage announcement of four to six AI research centres
More information (only in Norwegian): https://www.forskningsradet.no/arrangementer/2024/ki-senterutlysning-informasjonsmote-sporsmal-svar/
07 Jun 2024
Application deadline
Mid-August
Feedback will be given as soon as possible after submission and no later than mid-August.
Important dates
Purpose
You must submit an outline to this call for proposals in order to be eligible to submit a complete application to the call for research centres on artificial intelligence (AI research centres).
The purpose is to mobilise project ideas and stimulate cooperation to develop competitive applications for AI centres. It is mandatory to submit an outline. Applications for the main call must build on one or more of the submitted outlines.
About the call for proposals
In 2024, the Research Council will announce up to NOK 850 million for four to six AI research centres in the range of NOK 75-200 million. The AI research centres will have a duration of five years and start-up in 2025. The call for proposals is divided into two parts: First a call for proposals with a deadline of Friday 7 June 2024 at 13:00 CET, followed by a main call for proposals with a tentative deadline of 15 January 2025.
It is mandatory to submit an outline. Applications for the main call that are not based on one or more of the submitted outlines will be rejected. We recommend that you familiarise yourself with the background for the call before submitting an outline. Read more about our commitment to artificial intelligence (in Norwegian).
The main call for proposals has been published as a notification of a call for proposals with limited information. More details about frameworks, conditions, guidelines, requirements and templates will come later. We plan to publish the full text of the main call before summer 2024.
What happens to the outline?
We will publish the title, name of Project Owner, contact person, actors and summary of each outline. This will give applicants and stakeholders an overview of submitted outlines, who is behind it and, if relevant, who to contact for possible collaboration. The Research Council will also initiate various meeting places (digital and physical) that will give the actors the opportunity to discuss and collaborate on grant applications.
All approved outlines will receive brief written feedback from the Research Council on the content of the outline. The feedback will be a general assessment of the outlined centre's potential for a competitive application. The feedback will not be a scientific assessment. If relevant, you may also receive a recommendation on cooperation or whether to consider applying to other schemes and funding instruments.
AI research centres
The AI research centres must collectively cover three tracks:
- Societal consequences of AI and other digital technologies
- Technology: Development of future digital technologies, with emphasis on artificial intelligence
- Innovation: How to adopt AI and digital technologies
The three tracks overlap and must be seen in context with each other.
The AI research centres are to conduct high-quality research on AI. The research must address issues that require interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral R&D collaboration. By this we mean collaboration between several research organisations and disciplines and with companies, public entities and/or other relevant actors nationally and internationally.
The AI research centres will have different professional centres of gravity and partner compositions. Each research centre is expected to cover at least two of the tracks.
The AI research centres must individually and collectively leave clear and lasting footprints in the Norwegian research and innovation system in the form of new knowledge and technology, increased capacity in the R&D system, more interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral cooperation and utilisation of the knowledge that is brought forth through the research. The research centres are to make Norway even better able to meet the challenges and exploit the opportunities that artificial intelligence will give us in the future.
Expectations for an AI research centre:
- must have clear and unambiguous objectives;
- must have ambitious AI research goals that advance the research front;
- must handle specific problems with transfer value to multiple fields/domains/applications;
- must have interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral cooperation, nationally and internationally: solid (leading) partners from several disciplines, research organisations, trade and industry and the public sector;
- must have ambitious and concrete goals for recruitment, researcher training and competence development among partners and actors outside the centre;
- must have ambitious plans for dialogue, dissemination and dissemination of knowledge to society and relevant actors;
- must have plans and goals for additional financing, in the form of own financing, partner financing or other financing sources.
More detailed priorities and guidelines will be set out in the main call for proposals.
This call is available in both Norwegian and English. The Norwegian call text is legally binding.
Who is eligible to apply?
Approved Norwegian research organisations, companies and public entities may submit outlines. See here for the list of approved Norwegian research organisations and the definition of public sector.
Only approved Norwegian research organisations in effective collaboration with other research organisations, companies and/or public entities may submit applications for the main call.
Who can participate in the project?
Trade and industry/companies, research organisations, public sector organisations and other organisations may participate in the projects/outlines. More details will be provided in the main call for proposals.
What can you seek funding for?
No funding is available under the call for outlines.
Relevant thematic areas for this call
Artificial intelligence
Practical information
Requirements for this application type
Please note that you can only submit the outline once. If you submit the outline before the deadline and afterwards see that it still needs to be changed, you can create a new outline – e.g. as a copy of the one you have already submitted – and thus submit a new version before the deadline expires.
- The outline and all attachments must be written in Norwegian and/or English.
- All attachments must be in PDF format.
The outline description and contact information should be uploaded as one combined PDF file. The document should not exceed five pages and it is not possible to upload more than this.
Administrative procedures
All outlines will be assessed administratively by the Research Council. This is a simple assessment that checks whether the template has been used and whether all points have been answered. Outlines that do not follow the template or that have not answered all the points will not be considered complete, and these will not qualify to be able to submit an application in response to the main call. We will notify those concerned of this as soon as possible after we have received the outline.