Grants for university-led fossil-free energy research centres

Kompetenscentrum för ett fossilfritt energisystem supports long-term research environments joining universities, research institutes, businesses and public organisations. Centres conduct high-quality, needs-driven research, train doctoral researchers and postdoctoral specialists, and put results to use in industry and society. This call funds the first five-year stage, 2027–2031. Any second stage in 2032–2036 follows an assessment of establishment, development and results; it is not guaranteed by the first award.

Research should help Sweden move from fossil fuels to a secure, competitive and sustainable energy system. Stability, flexibility, resource efficiency and security of supply are particularly relevant. The centre must complement existing centres and base its focus on a needs analysis, including changing skills needs; the analysis should also consider vulnerabilities during extraordinary events.

The agency’s contribution is SEK 5–20 million per year, at most SEK 100 million per centre and per recipient, and no more than one third of the centre’s total costs. Universities and research institutes together must match at least the agency’s contribution, and businesses, public bodies and other external organisations together must independently match at least the same amount. For a new centre, the amount requested for 2027 should be roughly half the normal amount for 2028 onward.

Agency funding goes only to participating universities, higher-education institutions and research institutes. It supports fundamental academic and needs-driven research; a smaller, separately budgeted share may fund coordination, international exchange and dissemination. Companies and other public or societal partners co-finance through cash or their own contributions rather than receiving the agency grant.

The host’s contribution must demonstrate alignment with its long-term priorities and draw on its core funding. Research institutions’ matching share may include faculty funds, unrestricted foundation funds, their own work or access to laboratories and other fixed assets. Contributions must relate to centre activities during the approved period, be actual, auditable and recorded by the party claiming them, and must not be financed by another project, such as an EU project, or relate to undergraduate education. Time records must be available on request.

Eligible research costs include staff, project-use equipment and building depreciation, eligible land costs, market-priced external research, knowledge, patents and consultancy, materials and operating costs. Costs must be reasonable, borne and recorded by the recipient and incurred during the approved project period. Unpaid work and recoverable VAT are excluded. Project parties cannot subcontract each other; separate related-company consultancy is limited to actual salary cost.

Actual overheads normally have a ceiling of 30% of eligible salary costs. Universities and higher-education institutions use their full-cost overhead method and need separately record eligible costs corresponding to the grant. The 45% ceiling on actual overheads, calculated against eligible salary costs, covers research organisations constituted as limited companies or partnerships under direct or indirect state legal control, research foundations with government-appointed board members, and government agencies mandated to conduct their own research, excluding universities and higher-education institutions. They must receive funding by government decision for independent research and participate through non-economic work, rather than selling research services on a market. Economic activities require separate accounts. These accounting rules do not expand this call’s restriction to Swedish research-institution recipients.