Application Deadline: 12:00 PM, March 10, 2023.  11.59 AM, March 13, 2023
Project duration: 1-3.5 years (projects must end before December 31, 2026)
Total budget for this call: Maximum 85 million DKK
Investment per project: Up to maximum 10 million DKK 

 About MissionGreenFuels – Partnership and roadmap 

The MissionGreenFuels partnership was established as a part of the Danish Governments strategy “Green solutions of the future – Strategy for investments in green research, technology, and innovation” (September 2020). The MissionGreenFuels partnership is one of four InnoMissions and focuses on how to fulfil the Danish, European and global climate goals, specifically a 70% reduction by 2030 and net zero by 2050 by decarbonizing the transport, aviation and shipping sector through green fuels. A fundamental governance principle in MissionGreenFuels is a system-wide focus on a portfolio across knowledge domains, actors, sectors, and value chains. 

The MissionGreenFuels partnership addresses different technological challenges of green fuels in a focused and coordinated way, using the roadmap to align and guide research and innovation activities, and ensuring knowledge sharing that identifies and builds on synergies whilst avoiding lock-ins. 

 The vision for the MissionGreenFuels partnership is to contribute substantially to the decarbonization of the transport, aviation and shipping sector and to support Danish research, innovation, growth, job creation and export potential within the field of green fuels. The partnership will accomplish this by  

• Industrialisation and upscaling of flagship projects to support further acceleration of green fuels in order to create independency of fossil fuels  
• Carrying out research, innovation and demonstration activities within the prioritized areas of the roadmap (link to roadmap)  
• Monitoring national and international developments and update roadmap objectives accordingly  
• Building an agile, dynamic and inclusive mission-driven partnership committed to deliver together over the next five years and beyond  
• Facilitating knowledge sharing and carrying out partnership strengthening activities  
• Securing a portfolio of projects where cross-fertilisation across the individual projects is a priority to secure learning and development  
• Establishing cross-cutting initiatives in the partnership ecosystems as well as outside the partnership i.e. to the other Innomissions to work towards green transition.  
• Defining prioritized topics and areas for new research and innovation activities and work to secure additional funding for these  
• Engaging with relevant national and international stakeholders across the full scope of pathways identified in the roadmap  
• Reaching success depends delivering on cohesion: the partnerships ability to unite forces, minds, ideas and willpower, to work differently and to impact society rapidly. 

Background 

Green fuels are essential for the green transition, as they form a sustainable carbon cycle and link different energy sectors providing a holistic platform to ensure flexibility, optimal use of resources and socioeconomic transparency. Historically, green fuels have been biofuels of different sorts, but not all biofuels are green fuels, nor do they necessarily have to derive directly from biomass or even contain carbon. Once new fuels are introduced into the value chain, they are very difficult to get rid of again even though they in some cases are more GHG intensive than the classic fossil fuels.  

What is called for?  

The MissionGreenFuels partnership invests in ambitious, cross-cutting research and innovation projects that can create new, concrete solutions to issues and challenges towards 2030 and 2050. We seek projects that contribute to the overall MissionGreenFuels vision stated above and on our website (link). 

The projects are selected for their expected contribution to the acceleration of industrialization, production, upscaling volume and utilization of green fuels. This applies to technologies, implementation and development of a market. At the same time, essential projects concerning infrastructure and the social acceptance of green fuels -solutions, i.e., increase the SRL, as there is a need to prepare for the development of green fuels on a large scale in order to create independency from fossil fuels. 

Who can apply? 

Innovation Fund Denmark has granted 201 625 000 DKK to the MissionGreenFuels partnership for project and partnership development over a 5 year project period (2022-2027). The budget for the pool 2 call constitutes 85 mio DKK to be allocated for new projects under MissionGreenFuels. New partners can be invited to join project applications by an existing partner for pool 2 projects but must be approved by the MissionGreenFuels Board of Directors before receiving funding. 

What can be applied for? 

Co-financing of salaries and other expenses that are directly linked to the implementation of the project (see guidelines here: guidelines) 

Scope 

Besides contributing to the overall MissionGreenFuels vision, all projects must:  

• Describe how the project positions itself in relation to other relevant national and international projects, and (especially) the existing projects and partners in MissionGreenFuels and how the project complements these. 
• Actively engage and participate in MissionGreenFuels partnership activities (workshops, annual meetings, etc.). 
• Be within TRL 3 and a maximum of TRL 7 in the project period. 

We encourage projects across the full value chain (including SSH elements),  

We encourage projects that involve knowledge institutions and industry partnerships. 

In addition, projects that clearly embrace the partnership spirit in terms of knowledge exchange and exploration of synergies will be prioritised.  

Please make sure to address the above in the application in section 4 “Strategic fit to the InnoMission”. 

 How much can be applied for? 

A maximum of 85 mio DKK will be allocated for projects, conditioned by sufficient quality within the field of applications.  

In order to achieve diversity in project types and topics, a project should fit within the following limits for investment:  

1. Small: Below 2.5 mio DKK,  
   • Technical 
   • Society and system analysis 
2. Medium: Between 2.5 and 5 mio DKK  
3. Large: Up to 10 mio DKK 

Small projects (up to 2.5 mio DKK) can receive investment rates corresponding to the maximum investment rates provided by EU rules on state aid in return for a high degree of openness and contribution to the partnership. These projects, which can be both technical, or societal or within e.g. system analysis, must especially emphasize how they create value for the partnership, e.g. in the form of open science or other.  

Applications above 2.5 mio DKK investment cannot receive more than a 75% investment rate. 

In all cases, applicants must ensure to follow the rules about co-financing as described in the guidelines (link) 

The MissionGreenFuels partnership does not accept applications where a successful outcome is dependent on receiving additional funding for further research and development (e.g. projects that involve financing in multiple phases). 

Important dates 

• Call opens in e-grant: During February 2023
• Deadline for application: 12:00 PM, March 10, 2023
• Expected response date: End of June 
• Expected earliest launch date: Q4, 2023 

Evaluation criteria 

All applications will be evaluated on 

• Quality of the idea – the quality of the research and innovation 
• Impact – value creation during and after the project 
• Quality of execution – efficiency in the project execution and the implementation of the results  

A detailed description of these criteria is found here. International peers evaluate these criteria via the EUREKA expert panel. 

Applications will be evaluated by the MissionGreenFuels Board of Directors regarding the strategic fit to the MissionGreenFuels’ vision (please make sure to address this in the application in section 4 “Strategic fit to the InnoMission”). 

This includes, but is not limited to:  

• Value chain coverage 
• Societal value 
• Accelerated commercialization

Evaluation process 

Applications must be submitted via the e-grant-system, which is the application portal of Innovation Fund Denmark. Applications must be submitted via www.e-grant.dk. The call opens January 6, 2023. Please note, that applicants will receive a receipt for submitting the application. 

A scientific/technical assessment by an international panel from the EUREKA expert database (applications are scored according to the criteria described above) 

Projects with the highest total score from the international peer reviews, will be evaluated by the MissionGreenFuels Board of Directors. If there are more than 30 applications, a number of applications that fits 3x the size of pool 2 (3×85 mio DKK) will be evaluated by the Board of Directors, however, there must be 5 large, 5 medium and 10 small projects (5 technical, and 5 societal or system analysis), if possible. If fewer than 30 applications are received, all will be evaluated by the MissionGreenFuels Board of Directors. 

The members of the Board of Directors can be found here. Applicants are asked to indicate whether they see any conflict of interest with any of these. 

E-grant has prepared a FAQ that can be accessed here. It is the responsibility of IFD board of directors to approve the final proposal of projects for investment. 

It is expected that the project applications will receive either invitation for investment negotiations or a rejection of the application in June, after which the investment negotiations can be initiated with an expected project start in Q4 of 2023. 

Guidance and documents

• Application guidelines
• Application template
• Gantt template
• Budget template
• Process document
• Assessment criteria
• Roadmap
• IFD guidelines
• IFD terms and conditions
• TRL levels
• SRL levels

Contact info 

For questions, please contact: 

Partnership director, Carina Jensen, cje@adm.aau.dk