RCN Innovation Projects for the Industrial Sector (IPN)

RCN Innovation Project: Industry and Services

Funds industry-led projects for Norwegian companies across sectors through innovation partnership mechanisms.

The RCN Innovation Project for Industry and Services 2026 — known colloquially as BIA, its legacy programme name before RCN restructured in 2020 — is the Research Council of Norway's flagship industry-driven R&D grant for companies across all commercial sectors not covered by the four sectoral IPN sub-calls (energy/transport, seafood, land-based bioeconomy, and agriculture/food). It sits within RCN's Innovation and Climate portfolio and operates on open-ended rolling intake throughout 2026, with no fixed annual deadline.

Eligibility requires that a Norwegian-registered company acts as the project owner and consortium leader. At least one approved Norwegian research organisation must participate as a partner; individual researchers and standalone universities cannot apply without industry co-leadership. Applicable sectors span manufacturing, ICT, materials, professional services, and all other industry categories. Per-project award amounts and match-funding percentages are not published on the call index page; they are set out in the full call documentation available at RCN's application portal, and applicants must review those requirements before preparing budgets.

The programme replaced the former BIA (Brukerstyrt innovasjonsarena) label but preserves its core design: industry defines the research agenda, research organisations provide scientific capacity, and RCN funds the collaboration. Successful consortia typically combine an industry partner with a relevant Norwegian university or institute, demonstrate market relevance of the research question, and show credible plans for exploiting the results. Applications are submitted through RCN's My Research Space portal and are evaluated on scientific quality, innovation potential, and the consortium's capacity to achieve results.