INNOVATIVE RESEARCH PROjECTS

PURPOSE

COWIfonden grants donations to innovative research projects in all of COWI's fields of activity.

Projects should be innovative, of relevance to society, and be characterised by high professional standards, social responsibility and a long-term perspective that extends beyond the standard market/service development that is expected to take place in COWI. Applications for prequalification to prepare innovative research projects must be submitted by a COWI employee or an employee with a Danish university.

Projects or activities supported by COWIfonden must comply with COWI's set of values.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE?

• Employees in COWI Group companies
• Research communities at Danish universities.

Projects eligible for donation must be developed and carried out in cooperation between COWI and universities in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Projects that involve COWI departments and universities in more than one of the three Nordic regions will be prioritised.

The innovative research projects may include an industrial PhD study. The conditions are identical to the support for industrial PhD studies, i.e. support must be obtained from the relevant national support scheme for industrial PhDs.

PRE-QUALIFICATION

Submission of application requires prior prequalification, and as much as DKK 100,000 is granted to prepare the actual application.

Deadline for submission of application for prequalification is 1 April at 12:00 (CET). Forwarding of documents is not accepted.

Applications for preqalification must be sent to COWIfonden by email, cowifonden@cowifonden.com, as one Adobe (PDF) document with the following content in the presented order:

• Filled-in application form in editable format
• Application for prequalification
• Appendices to application.

The application for prequalification must include a general description of the research/development idea of the project. The application for prequalification must state the following information: 

• Background for the research/development idea
• Long-term, specific purposes
• Significant content elements
• Expected budget and requested donation from COWIfonden
• Estimate of funds needed to prepare an actual application
• Signed statement of managerial support from SVP and EVP (COWI) as well as from directors of university departments.

The project duration must be limited to a maximum of three years.

The prequalification application must be no more than three to five pages, excluding appendices.

The prequalification application and the accompanying application form must be prepared in English.

PREPARATION OF APPLICATION

Deadline for submission of detailed application is 1 October at 12:00 (CET). Forwarding of documents is not accepted.

Applications must be sent to COWIfonden by email, cowifonden@cowifonden.com, as one separate Adobe (PDF) document with the following content in the presented order:

• Filled-in application form in editable format
• Detailed application
• Appendices to application.

The detailed application must state the following information:

• Name of the applicant and cooperation partners
• CVs of the key persons involved (appendix)
• Presentation of the project manager and their qualifications in relation to that role
• The purpose of the project
• Research questions
• Description of project activities
• Expected results and relevance for society at large
• Description of how data can be utilised (for projects consisting of data col-lection only) 
• The news value and target group of the project
• Reference to relevant studies conducted by other researchers
• Market potential for COWI Group companies
• Dissemination of the achieved results
• The amount applied for and specified budget (hours and amount applied for per activity). This budget template must be used for the preparation of the specified budget
• Project plan and time schedule designed as Gantt chart
• Organisation chart with responsibility and reference relationships
• Concurrent application to other foundations/donors where relevant
• Signed statement of managerial support from SVP and EVP (COWI) as well as from directors of university departments. The signed statement of managerial support must contain information on the self-financing
• Information on whether the applicant/project manager has previously received a donation from COWIfonden.

Applicants are usually notified of COWIfonden’s decision in mid-December.

LANGUAGE

The prequalification application and the accompanying application form as well as the detailed application and the accompanying application form must be prepared in English.

ECONOMIC FRAMEWORK

Total funds applied for: The maximum amount applied for is DKKM 6 for a three-year project.

COWI must account for at least 25 per cent of the fee funds applied for.

You may apply for funds for:

• Fee corresponding to salary expenses/basic salary rate plus an overhead of DKK 175/hour
• Other project-related costs (e.g., equipment, air tickets) corresponding to direct expenses plus a 20 per cent overhead.

Self-financing by all parties involved is a precondition for funding. Co-financing should typically cover project salary costs. The type and size of the self-financing must be described in the application. A total self-financing of 20-25 % is considered appropriate.

RESULTS

Project results are required to be published/made available to the public. For instance, that may include dissemination through publication in international magazines, participation in international conferences, release of open source software and the like.