Call for grant applications 2025 – develop your Openlab project
Openlab is pleased to announce a call for grant applications for further development of concepts and projects created within Openlab’s master course. The grant is financed by CIVIS, a European university collaboration network that Openlab is a part of.
Teams of students who have graduated from Openlab’s master course are welcome to apply with their projects. The selected project(s) will receive 1,000-3,000 Euro to cover costs associated with further development, testing, implementation and communication.
BACKGROUND
Openlab creates conditions for societal innovation and solutions to complex societal challenges in the Greater Stockholm area through collaboration and user-centred design methodologies. The master course Innovations for Societal Challenges / Challenges for Emerging Cities is given by four universities in collaboration, where the students learn design thinking to propose solutions to a real-life challenge from the City of Stockholm or the Stockholm Region.
The CIVIS network, in which Openlab is a partner, works with collaboration between universities in Europe based on education, research, innovation and civic engagement.
Through this grant opportunity, Openlab and CIVIS want to create opportunities for students to further develop and implement the proposals developed in the course, in dialogue with the public sector clients, with the aim of creating societal impact.
WHO CAN APPLY?
The application is open to students/student groups who have completed Openlab’s master course any previous semester (the latest three years are prioritised).
At least one of the group members must have been registered as a student at Stockholm University during the master course. This requirement is due to CIVIS’ (funders of the grant) connection to Stockholm University.
The application must concern a project that has been developed within Openlab’s master course.
Previous grant recipients can apply but are not prioritised.
THEMES AND OBJECTIVES
The project needs to be related to one or several of CIVIS’ five overarching themes:
- Climate, Environment, Energy;
- Health;
- Society, Culture, Heritage;
- Digital and Technological Transformations;
- Cities, Territories, Mobility.
The projects should also relate to one of two objectives:
- To collaborate with local stakeholders for prototyping solutions that contribute to and respond to local needs.
- To enable the project to grow and increase its capacity to give rise to larger projects with more ambitious goals.
THE GRANT
Applicants can apply for € 1,000-3,000 for eligible costs related to the continuation of their master course project.
Eligible costs include:
- Costs for compliance testing, certification, or possible homologation;
- Communication expenses;
- Software;
- External services;
- Consumables;
- Local transport fees (for goods, not people);
- Low-cost equipment purchase or rental;
- Internet and telecommunications;
- Conference registrations.
The grant will be paid in arrears to cover expenses, after submission of receipts or invoices to Openlab, using CIVIS templates. Note that the grant does not entail any cash payments, nor does it cover compensation for working hours in the project, according to CIVIS regulations.
Grant recipients will also be offered meetings/coaching sessions with Openlab staff.
APPLICATION AND SELECTION PROCESS
Timeline
- December 1, 2024: Application opens
- February 1, 2025: Deadline for application
- March 1, 2025: Announcement of grant recipients
- September 1, 2025: Deadline for project completion
- October 1, 2025: Deadline for project report
Selection process
A jury selects the projects according to specified criteria. The jury will consist of the Openlab director and teachers from Openlab’s master course. The jury’s decision cannot be appealed.
APPLICATION DOCUMENTS
- Full names, affiliations, and contact information of the Main Applicant and all other participating team members, plus a contact person at the challenge giver’s organisation. The applying students can come from any of the four Openlab universities, but at least one of the applicants must have been registered through Stockholm University.
- A letter of recommendation/endorsement from the challenge giver.
- A budget describing how the grant will be used (see criteria for eligible costs).
- Relevant CIVIS theme(s) for the project stated.
- A preliminary project plan, including a time plan (min. 500 and max. 1000 words).
- A description of the next steps in the project.
Submit your application documents via email to ivar.bjorkman@openlab.se
About CIVIS
The call is developed within the framework of CIVIS – European Civic University Alliance, a European University Alliance that Stockholm University is part of together with nine other universities in Europe. One mission of CIVIS is to build open labs in order to share knowledge, experience, commitment, and intellectual stimulation with local societies, and to strengthen the ways in which the university and the surrounding community cooperate. In this, Stockholm University closely collaborates with Openlab Stockholm.
