Historical archive

Government asks for ideas to improve global health and education

Historical archive

Published under: Solberg's Government

Publisher: Ministry of Foreign Affairs

‘If we are to meet the new sustainable development goals for education and health, we need innovative solutions. Today the Government is announcing the first round of a competition in which we are asking for ideas for innovation projects that can help to reduce poverty globally,’ said Minister of Foreign Affairs Børge Brende.

As part of the innovation initiative Vision 2030, the Government will spend up to NOK 150 million over a three-year period on developing new projects for fighting poverty. The deadline for sending in project outlines in this first round is 17 February 2016.

‘Traditional development aid is coming under pressure, and in order to solve today’s development challenges, it is more important than ever to think innovatively and involve new actors. I would particularly like to encourage Norwegian businesses to take part in the competition, by all means in partnership with other Norwegian and international actors,’ said Mr Brende.

The first round of the competition and the preliminary call for project outlines is being administered by the Research Council of Norway.

Read more here: http://www.forskningsradet.no/en/

The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) has been given overall responsibility for managing the funding mechanism, and is cooperating closely with the Research Council and Innovation Norway. Together, these three institutions have a wide range of means at their disposal for moving forward with the most promising outlines and ideas.  

Each of the institutions will issue thematic calls for proposals by summer 2016, and the best ideas will qualify for inclusion in this next round. The Research Council and Innovation Norway will use existing funding schemes, while the main call(s) issued by Norad will entail open international competition through innovative procurement(s).