Open call: Demonstrator projects

This is a call for Demonstrator projects that can demonstrate and disseminate technologies for digital transformation and its impact in society. Projects are expected to show novelty, high impact, and wide outreach. Researchers from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), and Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE), are eligible to apply for funding under this call.

Background

Digital Futures is a cross-disciplinary research centre that explores and advances digital technologies to tackle societal challenges in Sweden and globally. Established jointly by KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm University, and RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, we fund strategic research projects aligning with our vision. Find out more about Digital Futures’ background here.

One of the specific goals of Digital Futures is to demonstrate and evaluate novel digital solutions in societal-scale testbeds and innovation platforms with industrial and public sector partners. Digital Futures also has Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) on societal outreach and industrial/societal transfer of research results. The Demonstrator projects is one instrument fostering this goal and KPIs.

Purpose

Demonstrator projects aim to disseminate findings in high-impact venues and contribute to industrial or societal transfer. Outputs may include prototype software systems (preferably open source), digital services, experimental artefacts, or evaluations of novel digital technologies. Projects must demonstrate significant impact, involve interdisciplinary teams, and create tangible results displayed at the Digital Futures hub. The results are expected to be disseminated in high impact venues with wide reach, such as national television, press or more specialist venues with international reach.

Demonstrator projects are expected to collaborate with Digital Futures Industrial and Societal partners and/or other external industrial or societal entities, to enhance project value and access resources. However, Industrial and Societal partners and/or other external industrial or societal entities are not eligible to receive Digital Futures funding in this call.

The projects should:

1. Demonstrate technologies with significant potential industrial and/or societal impact.
2. Demonstrate the results in at least one high-impact event at the end of the 2-year project time and provide a preliminary demonstration after one year.
3. Involve researchers, competences, data and resources that enable interdisciplinary research and demonstrations.
4. Create a tangible result that can be displayed at the DF hub, for example, a demo installation or a video.
5. Collaborate with Digital Futures Industrial and Societal partners and/or other external industrial or societal entitiesand testbeds, on data sets, algorithm integration, and/or the project’s demonstration.

The project should fit into the Digital Futures Research Matrix addressing at least one research theme and societal context area, and the research question(s) should have a digitalization aspect. For a description of the different areas please visit this link https://www.digitalfutures.kth.se/research/

Eligibility

1. Each project should list two (2) Principal Investigators (PIs) of complementary backgrounds. PIs should belong to either i) two different KTH schools, or ii) KTH and RISE[1]. Applicants can only be PI or co-PI for one proposal.
2. The PIs must have 80% employment or more at KTH, or RISE with one of the following positions: Assistant professor, associate professor, full professor, or permanent full-time Researcher (”tillsvidareanställning”).
3. Applying PIs that are not already Digital Futures faculty members, will become members if the project application is granted.

[1] Researchers employed by RISE Digital Systems Division in the Stockholm area are eligible to apply.

Project Duration and Funding

Up to five projects will be selected for a two-year duration, with a maximum funding of 2 MSEK per project (1 MSEK per project year). The budget must be split between the PIs with a minimum of 300 KSEK per PI for each project year. This distribution remains consistent across both years of the project duration.

Projects must allocate 5% of the budget for dissemination purposes. This allocation may cover expenses such as creating a demo installation at the DF hub, producing high-quality videos, or other tangible outputs. How the dissemination budget will be spent has to be coordinated with DF Executive Committee.

Industrial or societal partners are welcome to provide cash or in-kind funding, and tangible contributions, such as access to data sets, testbeds and other research infrastructures. A Letter of Intent from the corresponding project partner(s) is highly desirable to be provided with the application. Such contributions are positively regarded in the evaluation of the project proposal.

Applicable Funding Policy for Digital Futures Faculty

Researchers can be involved in several projects under different instruments, but within Digital Futures, the funding per PI is limited to 1 MSEK/year. Hence, funding that you may have received under the current Digital Futures instruments Flagship projects, Research pairs, Research pairs Consolidator, Demonstrator projects, and Seed Projects will be taken into consideration. Funding from Digital Futures to Societal Innovation Projects, and Industrial Innovation Projects, is included, but not the part from partners. Digital Futures Fellows, Postdoctoral Fellows projects, ISPP postdoc Projects and C3.ai Digital Transformation Institute projects are not considered.

How to apply

1. Fill in the application according to the project description template: Project description template – Demo call 2025
2. Create an account on the application submission system and register the application stating the title, PIs and a short abstract by the registration deadline 2025-06-04 using this link: https://crp.dsv.su.se/demo-call-25/
3. Complete the application including uploading the project description to the submission system before the call deadline 2025-06-11, using the same link as in step 2.

Evaluation

The project proposals will be evaluated by an external international expert panel. The evaluation will be based on the following criteria:

1. Project plan and feasibility: Novelty of the goals, clarity and feasibility of project plan, budget and resources,including access to data, testbeds, and other infrastructure necessary to complete the project.
2. Potential for societal and industrial impact: Degree of novelty with respect to potential societal and industrial impact, and possible transfer to society and industry.
3. Societal and industrial engagement: Involvement of external partners in the project, ISPP members and others, and their level of engagement, for example, co-funding, access to data, and/or testbeds and involvement in demonstration.
4. Dissemination and outreach plan: Scope, audience, and visibility of the demonstration events or demonstration methods.
5. Merits of the applicants and composition of the research team: Applicants’ scientific track-record and their relevant background for the proposed research project. Interdisciplinarity of the team and whether the team brings together diverse competences to carry out the proposed project.
6. Conformity to the scope of Digital Futures: The project addresses at least one thematic area and societal context area in the Digital Futures Research Matrix.

The evaluation will be carried out in two phases. In the first phase, the evaluators independently grade the project proposals according to the criteria. Based on the outcome, the top proposals will be invited to the phase 2 hearing, where the applicants present their projects and answer questions by the evaluation panel. After the hearing, the panel finalises their ranking and recommends a set of projects for funding.

Based on the evaluation and available funding, the DF Executive committee compiles a funding proposal on how many of the top project proposals to fund. The funding proposal is then sent to the DF Governing Board and the KTH President for decisions in that order.

Contact

Contact call@digitalfutures.kth.se for further questions. Please include “Demonstrator projects 2025” in the subject of your email.