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Closed call 2022-06-13: ISPP Demo Projects

This is the first call for Industrial and Societal Partnership Program (ISPP) Demo Projects within Digital Futures.

Background

Digital Futures is a cross-disciplinary research centre that explores and develops digital technologies. We bring solutions to great societal challenges in Sweden and globally. We generate knowledge, innovations, and future leaders of high industrial relevance and strategic importance. Digital Futures is jointly established by KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm University, and RISE Research Institutes of Sweden. Digital Futures awards funding to strategic research projects to support a specific action or project that furthers the vision of Digital Futures. Find out more about Digital Futures here.

Current already established funding schemes under Digital Futures with either ongoing projects or active calls relate to Collaborative Projects, Research Pairs, postdoc funding as well as Demonstrator Projects. Societal and Industrial Innovation Projects (formerly known as Partner Innovation Projects) have been launched in 2021, while this is the first call for demonstrator projects explicitly under the ISPP. Demo projects target explicitly societal outreach in collaboration with ISPP partners, in contrast to Industrial Innovation Projects and Societal Innovation Projects, that target rather research and innovation results. Researchers at KTH and Stockholm University (SU) are encouraged to be active in the formation of these projects.

Important dates

  • Call opens: 11 March 2022
  • Proposal Submission Deadlines: 3 April 2022, 13 June 2022
  • Expected decision on Projects: 6-8 weeks after the submission deadline
  • Expected Start of Projects: 1 July 2022 or 1 January 2023

Purpose

ISPP Demo projects are a further instrument within the Industrial and Societal Partnership Program (ISPP) of Digital Futures to foster industrial and societal innovation and impact. The ISPP is intended to grow into a network of industrial companies as well as public entities primarily located in the Stockholm region, which have a strategic interest in technologies for digital transformation. The main goals of the ISPP are to (I) position Stockholm as a leading area in the field of digitalization, (II) to identify trends, challenges, and opportunities related to digitalization for different players (private companies, public authorities), and (III) to foster the creation of novel and innovate project consortia that can address challenges and grow into larger consortia and initiatives. Thus, a major part of the industrial and societal impact and dissemination of Digital Futures is intended to take place through the ISPP. The purpose of these projects is to demonstrate and disseminate technologies for digital transformation and show their impact and potential in society. The results are expected to be disseminated in high impact venues with wide reaches, such as national television, press or more specialist venues with international reach. The output of these projects could include

  1. Prototype software systems (preferably open source), demonstrators, and digital services
  2. Development of an artefact for experimental evaluation and demonstration of research, including physical prototypes and demonstrators for public use
  3. Integration of novel algorithms and methods from research into a testbed or real system within the industry or public sector
  4. An evaluation or study of the impact of novel digital technologies

The projects should

  1. Demonstrate technologies with significant potential societal impact
  2. Demonstrate the results in at least one high-impact event at the end of the project and provide a preliminary demonstration after one year
  3. Involve researchers, competencies, data and resources that enable interdisciplinary research and demonstrations.

Scope

ISPP Demo Project proposals are welcome in all areas of digital transformation (represented by the Digital Futures research matrix, see below figure). Thematic matchmaking workshops held during March and April 2022 address the following topics, (however, all proposals within the Digital Futures research matrix are welcome):

  • Sustainable mobility, logistics, and cities
  • Machine learning for personalized medicine and digital health
  • Cyber-secure digital transformation
  • Industrial metaverse
Digital Futures Strategic Research Programme: The three research themes Trust, Cooperate and Learn cut across the four contexts Smart society, Digitalized industry, Rich and healthy life, and Educational Transformation.

Digital Futures Strategic Research Programme: The three research themes Trust, Cooperate and Learn cut across the four contexts Smart society, Digitalized industry, Rich and healthy life, and Educational Transformation.

Eligibility

The following positions/titles/roles are eligible to apply:

  • Assistant Professor
  • Associate Professor
  • Full Professor
  • Permanent full-time Researcher  (”tillsvidareanställning”)

with a PhD degree and 80% employment or more at KTH Royal Institute of Technology or Stockholm University.

The PIs do not need to be Digital Futures faculty when applying but will become Digital Futures faculty if the project is granted.

Project duration and maximum funding

In this call, up to four projects are intended to be selected. ISPP Demo projects are two years in duration and should preferably feature the collaboration of multiple academic faculty and one, or multiple, industrial and/or societal entities. New collaboration constellations are desirable for a project proposal, but not a necessary condition.

Each successful project can be provided up to 1 MSEK in terms of Digital Futures cash co-funding. An important eligibility criterion is the provisioning of an equal co-funding amount through industrial and/or societal entities, matching (in the aggregate, i.e., summing all industrial and societal contributions) the requested Digital Futures funds in the project. The minimum contribution per industrial and/or societal entity to a prospective project is 250 kSEK per year. Industrial or societal entities which are ISPP members can provide either in kind or cash contributions to projects while Digital Futures will match the total project contribution of such ISPP members with cash co-funding. For non-ISPP members, a minimum cash contribution of 250 kSEK per year is required. In-kind contributions by non-ISPP members cannot be considered towards the Digital Future cash co-funding requested. In-kind contributions from project partners are preferably contributions strengthening the Demo project, i.e. access to testbeds, data sets, provisioning of equipment and alike.

Further requirements on the amounts of requested funding per academic project partner are to be found in the project template.

Partner funding (cash and/or in-kind) provided to the project needs to be clearly outlined in the project application and in a Letter of Intent provided together with the proposal.

Please note the Digital Futures funding policy

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 Collaborative Research Projects, Research Pairs, Demonstrator Projects, Collaborative projects targeting Diversity and Inclusion, and Seed Projects will be taken into consideration. Funding from Digital Futures to Societal Innovation Projects, Partner Innovation Projects, Industrial Innovation Projects, and ISPP Demo Projects is included, but not the part from partners. Digital Futures Postdoctoral Fellows projects or C3.ai Digital Transformation Institute projects are not taken into account.

Evaluation

ISPP demo projects are evaluated in two steps. They are evaluated in step 1 by external evaluators, who review proposals according to the criteria:

  • Potential for societal outreach as well as industrial transfer: Degree of novelty with respect to KPI, KPI impact potential, scientific interest.
  • Feasibility: Project plan, including access to data, testbeds and other infrastructure necessary to complete the project as well as the composition of the proposed research group and external collaboration partners.
  • Dissemination and outreach plan: Scope, audience and visibility of the demonstration event(s) or method.
  • Conformity to the scope of Digital Futures and eligibility: Project proposal fit to research matrix, degree of interdisciplinary of the demonstrator proposed and the team composition.

In step 2, the panel feedback from step 1 will be evaluated by the Digital Futures Industrial/Societal Committee to prepare a recommendation by the Digital Futures Industrial and Societal Board, followed by a Governing Board decision on Digital Futures cash co-funding (and finally approved by the KTH rector).

How to apply

  1. Prepare your application according to the project description template: 2022_03_11_DF_ISPP_Project_Template
  2. Send your application file together with all supplementary material to: call@digitalfutures.kth.se

Contact & Questions

Contact call@digitalfutures.kth.se for further questions. Please include “ISPP Demo Projects call” in the subject of your email.