The Competence Development Fund of Southern Norway

Application criteria and guidelines for applications for funding

Application criteria

The articles of association for CDFSN provide the basis for the four main criteria that must all be met for an application to be assessed. Subsequently, applications will be assessed in accordance with priority criteria.
Main criteria

University / university level
Initiatives designed to raise levels of competence must be at university or university college level.

Vest-Agder
Grants may only be awarded to applicants located in the county of Vest-Agder.

Institution
Applicants may be submitted from private or public institutions or enterprises.
In other words, no funds will be granted to individuals.

Benefit
All competence under development must have a practical benefit for the region - either commercially or socially.

As mentioned above, applications must satisfy all four main criteria if they are to be assessed. Applications that are deemed to be entitled to receive funds will be ranked according to a series of priority criteria, the most important of which are described in brief below.

Priority criteria

Contributions to the development of the University of Southern Norway
Agder University College will apply for university status by 2005. Priority will be given to any contribution that lends support to such an application.

Internationalization
New competence is developed most effectively in collaboration with others. International cooperation is especially important in competence-based projects, and there is a lot of unexploited potential in relations with foreign competence-based environments.

Participation by women
The share of women in managerial positions is low in industry, the public administration and in research institutions. CDFSN will look positively on projects that aim to remedy this incongruity.

Contributions to innovation and entrepreneurial skills
In parallel with the development of new competence, the region needs environments and mechanisms that can exploit new knowledge for the benefit of industry, the public administration and society in general. Good projects designed to enhance competence should contain a plan for utilising this knowledge.

Development of networks
The Competence Development Fund of Southern Norway's funds shall benefit the entire region. This requires that we are able to build good and close-knit networks between private companies, public authorities and knowledge-based environments. Cooperative projects within the region will be given priority in connection with the processing of applications.

Co-funding
CDFSN will only in exceptional circumstances cover 100 per cent of project costs. Project proposals should contain overviews of equity financing and contributions from other sources of funding.

Potential for exploitation
CDFSN shall grant funds for competence-based initiatives that benefit the region. In reality, this will mean assigning priority to projects that have a potential in an industrial or social context.

Ranking of applications

CDFSN will rank incoming applications and notify applicants of the decision after the first board meeting held once applications have been processed. All four main criteria must be satisfied before an application is given consideration. The priority criteria cited above have not been placed in any particular order. CDFSN will make an overall assessment on the basis of the main criteria and other criteria.

The application deadline is 31 August. CDFSN reserves the right to make amendments.

Applications may be submitted by e-mail to post@kompetansefond.com.