Call for proposals: Advisory service for manufacturing SMEs
Net Zero Industry invites organisations with a public mandate, intermediaries, to apply for funding to establish innovation advisory services for small and medium-sized manufacturing companies. The aim is to accelerate the transition to a competitive and resilient Swedish manufacturing industry with net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. The call for proposals is part of Net Zero Industry’s mission-critical initiatives for small and medium-sized enterprises.
What is the purpose of the offer?
The entire industrial system for the manufacturing industry is needed if we are to jointly achieve Net Zero Industry’s mission of a competitive and resilient Swedish manufacturing industry with net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.
With this initiative, the programme aims to initiate organised support for small and medium-sized enterprises so that they can effectively transform their operations as part of the major transition.
General info
Call: Impact Innovation: rådgivning till små- och medelstora tillverkningsföretag för omställning till nettonoll
Closing date: April 27th 2026, 14:00
Responsible authority: Vinnova
Link to the call: Impact Innovation: rådgivning till små- och medelstora tillverkningsföretag för omställning till nettonoll
Would you like a sounding board?
Do you have thoughts and ideas about your project and how it can meet your needs? You are welcome to contact Dan Carlsson. General questions about the call for proposals should be sent directly to Vinnova or utlysningar@netzeroimpact.se.
Information meeting
Vinnova invites you to an information meeting about the call for proposals: Wednesday, 18 February, 10:30–11:15. (Information meeting: Support to manufacturing SMEs via intermediaries).
Cecilia Ramberg
Call Manager
cecilia.ramberg@ri.se
Dan Carlsson
SME Coordinator
dan.carlsson@ri.se
More articles about the call for proposals:
SMEs are crucial to Sweden’s competitiveness – Net Zero Industry
FAQ regarding the call: Impact Innovation – advisory services for small and medium-sized manufacturing companies (SMEs) to support the transition to net zero
Note: The official call text always applies. The information below reflects the programme office’s objectives for the call.
Net Zero Industry works towards the mission of creating a competitive and resilient Swedish manufacturing industry with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. SMEs play a central role in the value chain and contribute innovation in areas such as new product development, production development, and business models. This makes them an important target group for the Net Zero Industry programme.
Through this call, we aim to provide advisory services, coaching, mentoring, and knowledge-building to support SMEs in their transition to net zero.
The call is implemented as a pilot, focusing on quality-assuring intermediaries that operate according to clearly defined processes for supporting and managing the target companies. The purpose is to ensure and establish a robust structure that can form the basis for a larger-scale initiative.
The target group is SMEs, but it is intermediaries that apply in this call.
Innovation advisory services may be applied for by organizations with a public mandate (from a public actor in Sweden, such as the state, region, municipality, college, or university).
Intermediaries (organizations) must demonstrate that they do not distribute profits to their owners. At the same time, the services must clearly support companies’ transition to net-zero emissions, with higher requirements for resource efficiency and resilience.
The ambition is to scale up the call, based on the results of this pilot, in order to reach significantly more SMEs each year during the programme period.
The call also provides an opportunity for established intermediaries to collaborate with the programme office to influence the design of future efforts, exchange experiences, and develop models for cooperation and broader service offerings through workshops and dialogue meetings arranged by the programme office. Costs for participation in these workshops, including preparatory and follow-up work, are eligible for funding.
Each intermediary must manage an SME portfolio of 5–10 companies. The maximum total state aid per SME during the project period is SEK 150,000.
This means a project can apply for up to SEK 1,500,000 if the portfolio includes 10 SMEs.
Innovation advisory services should be provided by the intermediary through, for example, coaching, mentoring, training, and access to various resources such as expertise or infrastructure.
We do not fund general business development support or the intermediary’s own organizational development.
However, there is room for learning and exchanging experiences between projects and the programme office. The programme office has high ambitions and seeks to build on established initiatives while identifying the need for new instruments that best support SMEs’ transition capacity nationally. The pilot call will be used in future dialogues with funders to develop more large-scale support for SMEs.
The information meeting will be hosted by Vinnova on Wednesday, 18 February, 10:30–11:15. (Information meeting: Support to manufacturing SMEs via intermediaries).