Strategy and Focus Areas

Smart Innovation Norway's research department works on national and international research projects with a primary focus on sustainable energy, applied artificial intelligence, and new business models for the digital energy era. Additionally, we have a larger group of social science researchers specializing in social and behavioral innovation, with a specific focus on energy systems and smart cities.

The core competence of the Research Department lies in understanding how digital technologies will impact various industries, sectors, and cities in multiple ways. Our primary focus is on the energy industry, examining everything from how end-users participate in a power market to how power producers and grid companies can enhance value creation by leveraging new digital tools. These transformations are now in full swing, driven by advancements in applied artificial intelligence and an ongoing digitalization process within the power system.

Large EU Projects

The Research Department primarily focuses on larger international research projects funded by the EU Commission. With an exceptionally competent research team, Smart Innovation Norway has achieved success in many of its applications, boasting an impressive average success rate of 40% in such a highly competitive international environment. According to statistics from the Norwegian Research Council on Norwegian entities receiving the most EU funding from the seven-year Horizon 2020 program, Smart Innovation Norway is ranked 24th among the 50 most successful actors. In terms of EU funding per employee, we hold the 9th position in Norway.

Research Partners

Our research teams work closely with various companies and municipalities in our clusters, which is crucial for research-driven innovation. We initiate new research projects in various ways.

  • A company or municipality contacts us with a specific problem they need assistance with. We familiarize ourselves with the issue and find a suitable support program that can help the company through a research project or an innovation project.
  • Regarding EU projects, we analyze various EU programs and identify calls for proposals that we believe have the greatest potential to contribute to the green transition. We then develop ideas and concepts before contacting project partners. Our clusters are utilized to find excellent collaborators who are experts in their respective fields. Whether they are large or small companies or municipalities, their expertise and ability to deliver what is required in the call for proposals we are preparing an EU application for are what matters. Our EU Office is among the best in Europe at creating EU applications, leading EU projects, and identifying the best partners across Europe. In EU projects, business partners have 70% of their costs covered, and they receive free research input from research partners. In this way, companies receive 6 times their own contribution in an EU project coordinated by us.

Voltage grid
Research

BATTCHAIN-VIKEN

2023 - 2025

Forskning, Smart Energi

Research

EBSI-NE

2023 - 2025

Research

Research

REEFLEX

2023-2028

Research

Research

GEMINI

2023-2027

Research

Research

FORTESIE

2022-2026

Research

Research

CHRONICLE

2022-2025

Research