Eligibility and conditions for consideration

Who may apply

Two distinct routes:

1. Universities of applied sciences (hogescholen) as referred to in Article 1.8 of the Higher Education and Research Act (WHW). The person submitting in ISAAC is deemed authorised by the Executive Board. The application form must be signed by the chair or a member of the Executive Board, or by a mandated person with proof of mandate. In this route, the application is drawn up under the responsibility of a professor (lector) or senior researcher affiliated with the applying university of applied sciences.
2. Researchers at universities, university medical centres and specific research organisations, provided they hold a permanent appointment or a tenure-track contract. Eligible organisations: universities per WHW Article 1.8(1) and the Policy Rule on Universities in the Kingdom of the Netherlands; university medical centres per WHW Article 1.13(1); KNAW and NWO institutes; the Netherlands Cancer Institute; the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen; NCB Naturalis; ARCNL; Princess Máxima Center.

Persons on a zero-hours contract or a fixed-term contract other than a tenure track are excluded from submitting.

If the tenure-track contract ends before the intended completion date, or permanent employment ends on reaching state pension age, a statement from the employer must be added guaranteeing adequate supervision of the project and of all funded staff for the full duration.

Consortium requirements

• At least 2 practice partners in addition to the applicant.
• At least 1 SME established in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
• No dual roles between the applying research side and the practice partners.

Conditions for consideration (checked before assessment)

• The application has been received before the set deadline.
• At the collection moment, the application has been submitted to only 1 thematic KIEM funding round.
• The applicant meets the conditions of section 3.2.
• The application meets the DORA guidelines.
• The application has been drawn up using the forms made available in ISAAC.
• The data management paragraph has been completed.
• The application form and mandatory annexes are correct, complete and completed according to the instructions, after any one-time request for supplementation.
• The application has been submitted via the applicant's ISAAC account.
• The application has been drawn up in Dutch or English.
• The budget has been drawn up according to the conditions of this call.
• The proposed project has a duration of a maximum of 12 months and starts within 3 months of the grant decision.

Only applications meeting these conditions are admitted to the assessment procedure. Applications submitted after the deadline, or not submitted via ISAAC, are not taken into consideration.

Mandatory annexes

• Project proposal (PDF)
• Budget (Excel file)
• Project participants form (Excel file)

Annexes other than those listed are not permitted.

Submission, assessment and selection process

Collection moments (ophaalmomenten)

The round works with two collection moments rather than a single deadline. Regieorgaan SIA processes all applications received in ISAAC up to that point.

First come, first served

There is no partial funding ceiling per collection moment. The budget remaining after the first collection moment becomes the ceiling for the second. Per collection moment, all applications with a positive assessment are awarded until the funding ceiling is reached. Applications with a positive assessment are then prioritised by submission date and time.

If the application meets the conditions for submission immediately, the moment of submission in ISAAC counts. If the application had to be amended to meet the conditions, the moment at which it was submitted completely and correctly counts instead.

If the funding ceiling is reached before the submission deadline, the round closes early and is announced in the Government Gazette (Staatscourant).

Timeline — 2nd collection moment (15 September 2026)

Assessment steps

1. Written assessment by the assessment committee — comments plus a sufficient or insufficient per criterion.
2. Committee meeting — plenary discussion. The written assessments are indicative but are not necessarily adopted in full. The committee gives a sufficient or insufficient per criterion, leading to a final judgement.
3. Decision-making — the committee issues a written recommendation to the board of Regieorgaan SIA, which decides on award or rejection.

The assessment committee is external and independent, appointed by the board of Regieorgaan SIA, with members from the research world and from professional practice who have knowledge of the theme. Each application is assessed on its own merits. There is no rebuttal stage and no external referees.

Administrative corrections

Within 2 weeks of the collection moment, Regieorgaan SIA may approach the applicant to make administrative corrections. The applicant gets one opportunity, within a maximum of 4 working days. If the corrected documents are again incomplete or incorrect, the application is not taken into consideration.

Assessment criteria (pre-award)

This round is assessed pass/fail, not on a numeric scale. Committee members assess every criterion as sufficient (pass) or insufficient (fail). Each assessment criterion carries equal weight. To receive a positive assessment, an application must score sufficient on each of the criteria. Only applications with a positive assessment can be eligible for a grant.

Ranking among successful applications

A positive assessment does not guarantee funding. If the available budget is insufficient to honour all positively assessed applications, the order of receipt decides, on a first come, first served basis.

Assessment frameworks

• DORA — a broad definition of scientific output is used. Committee members are asked not to rely on indicators such as the Journal Impact Factor or the h-index, and these may not be mentioned in the application. Other scientific products such as datasets, patents, software and code may be mentioned.
• Generative AI is completely excluded in the assessment of an application. Its use when drawing up an application is not excluded, provided it is done responsibly per NWO policy.
• NWO Code on Personal Interests applies to all persons involved in assessment and decision-making.
• Diversity and inclusion — committee members receive tools for inclusive assessment.

Financial conditions

Headline figures

• Funding ceiling for the round: € 1,800,000.
• Maximum grant per project: € 40,000.
• Expected awards: maximum 45.

Co-financing

The required co-financing from the practice partners is at least 25% of the grant amount. Worked example from the call: with a requested grant of € 40,000, total project costs amount to at least € 50,000, and the minimum own contribution plus co-financing is € 10,000.

Co-financing from large enterprises does not count towards the mandatory minimum, even when the large enterprise acts as a practice partner. A grant provided by NWO is not permissible as co-financing. Non-permissible in-kind co-financing is described in the Co-financing Regulations.

The costs of consortium partners other than the applicant are not eligible for a grant — they are considered co-financing. Consortium partners confirm their co-financing by signing the application form.

Budget modules

Not eligible

• Costs of (sub)activities already financed from other grants.
• Organisational infrastructure and overhead: a fully functioning workplace, housing, office automation, personnel administration, commuting travel, training, facility services, HR advice and occupational health care, documentary information provision, working-from-home allowance.
• Use and maintenance of self-developed scientific infrastructure.
• Regular educational activities.
• Data collections and associated software or bibliographies already available another way.
• Maintenance and use of equipment on a project (usable via the material budget instead).

All costs are excluding VAT, unless the VAT is non-recoverable.

Indexation

The rate at the decision date applies. Regieorgaan SIA applies a one-time ex officio indexation of wage costs on award. No additional own contribution or co-financing is required against that extra amount. Indexation does not change the funding ceiling, the maximum grant that may be applied for, the co-financing requirements, or the IP rights arising from co-financing.

Consortium, collaboration and roles

Who leads

The applicant is responsible for the execution of the entire project and acts as lead applicant (coordinator, Dutch penvoerder). Regieorgaan SIA communicates with the applicant (the submitter in ISAAC) about the project.

Minimum consortium

In addition to the applicant, the consortium consists of at least 2 practice partners, of which at least 1 SME established in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Practice partners are organisations that make use of the knowledge generated in the KIEM project in professional practice. A practice partner can be a private or a public party.

SME definition

An SME (including self-employed persons, zzp'ers) meets all of the following:

• it is an enterprise: a unit, regardless of legal form, carrying out an economic activity;
• it is registered with the Chamber of Commerce or a local trade register (non-Dutch registers require an extract no older than 3 months at submission; unregistered entities provide a deed of incorporation or another legal document);
• it has fewer than 250 employees and an annual turnover below € 50 million, or a balance-sheet total below € 43 million. Group personnel, turnover and balance-sheet totals count towards these maxima.

At or above those thresholds, the organisation is a large enterprise.

Who else may join

Private parties, research organisations, umbrella or sector organisations, professional associations and international partners may take part in the consortium. As long as the minimum composition and co-financing requirements are met, further consortium partners may be added. Parties that are not on the budget but do contribute can be listed on the application form under other involved parties.

Consortium partners confirm participation by signing the application form, and must be included in the budget.

Dual roles are prohibited

The applicant, the university-of-applied-sciences staff member involved in the application, and researchers from the research group involved may not simultaneously hold a paid or unpaid employment relationship with a practice partner. Staff of practice partners may only be involved in their role as practice partner, not as researcher or staff of the applying institution.

Consequence: if the assessment committee finds a dual role, this leads to an insufficient on the "Suitability of the network" criterion — which alone is enough to fail the whole application.

Research organisation as practice partner

A research organisation can participate in either of two roles, and the choice must be substantiated in the project proposal and visible in the budget:

• as an eligible research organisation — any cash or in-kind contribution is an own contribution and does not count towards the mandatory 25% co-financing;
• as a practice partner contributing to the mandatory co-financing — in which case that research organisation is not eligible for a grant.

Consortium agreement

After award, a consortium agreement covering intellectual property and publication, knowledge transfer, confidentiality, payment of co-financing, and progress and final reports must be entered into by all consortium partners and submitted via ISAAC no later than 13 weeks after the start of the project. It is a requirement for payment of the grant; failure to submit leads Regieorgaan SIA to withdraw the grant decision. Arranging it is the lead applicant's responsibility.

Required project structure and implementation

The scheme does not impose a fixed backbone of work packages, deliverables or milestones. It does impose a project plan structure through the project proposal form.

Project plan (chapter 8 of the project proposal)

The applicant must describe:

• what the project plan entails, explaining the work packages and activities, the intended (sub)results of those work packages, and the phasing;
• who is involved in each work package, and explicitly how professional practice is involved in carrying out the plan;
• what will happen during the project and how the plan contributes to achieving the intended results. If an iterative approach is used (such as action research), how that process is set up and what steps it involves;
• that the plan is proportionate for a KIEM project in duration and use of financial resources, and in line with the budget.

Mandatory time planning and task division table

The planned activities must be recorded in a fixed table with these columns:

Data management paragraph (chapter 9)

Completing the data management paragraph is a condition for consideration. Four questions must be answered: whether reusable data will be collected or generated; where data is stored during the research; how it is stored long-term and made available for reuse by third parties, and for whom it is accessible; and which facilities (ICT, secure archive, refrigerators, legal expertise) are needed and whether they are available.

Performance indicators (chapter 10)

Regieorgaan SIA collects indicators on network formation (number of organisations per type, split between consortium partners and other involved parties) and on connection to education (number of teachers and students involved, per education sector). These are used to align the schemes with their objectives; they are collected for monitoring, not scored.

Duration constraints

The project has a duration of a maximum of 12 months and must start within 3 months of the grant decision. Both are conditions for consideration.

Intellectual property

The policy of Regieorgaan SIA regarding intellectual property is set out in the NWO Grant Regulations.

Consortium agreement governs IP

Arrangements regarding intellectual property and publication, knowledge transfer, confidentiality, payments of co-financing, and progress and final reports are laid down in the consortium agreement. The model agreement is available in ISAAC after award, is entered into by all consortium partners, signed by authorised persons, and submitted via ISAAC.

Balance between openness and exploitation

Regieorgaan SIA intends both that research results of funded projects are publicly accessible, and that further development of results is stimulated by giving parties the opportunity to exploit them. In that context it may be desirable to transfer intellectual property rights or grant a licence to one of the private parties involved in the project. The starting point is that all research results can be published, taking into account arrangements about publication procedures, as determined in the consortium agreement.

Socially responsible licensing

When entering into arrangements about licensing and/or transfer of research results, the 10 principles for socially responsible licensing must be taken into account.

Ownership of investments

After the end of the project, the beneficiary acquires ownership of research resources funded as investments. If the beneficiary realises profit from the economic ownership of these resources, those profits must be invested in research activities.

Ethics, integrity and confidentiality

Ethics statement or permit

It is the lead applicant's responsibility to check whether an ethics statement or permit is necessary, and to obtain it in good time from the relevant institution or ethics committee. Whether or not a statement is held at the time of application has no influence on the assessment. On the application form, the applicant indicates whether approval is needed and by what date it can be supplied.

If required, a copy must be provided to Regieorgaan SIA after award and in any case before execution of the relevant part of the project begins. That part cannot be carried out until the statement or permit has been provided.

Scientific integrity

Research must be carried out in accordance with the Netherlands Code of Conduct for Research Integrity. In the event of a possible breach, the lead applicant must immediately inform Regieorgaan SIA and submit all relevant documents. Researchers can also file a complaint with their institution's Research Integrity Committee or with the NWO Research Integrity Reporting Point.

Knowledge security

The National Knowledge Security Guideline provides tools for weighing opportunities against security risks in international collaboration; self-regulation by the knowledge sector is central. NWO expects applicants to comply with the knowledge security policy of their research organisation. If NWO receives signals that an application or awarded project entails knowledge security risks, it can request insight into risk-mitigating measures and may include further conditions in the award letter.

Personal data

Regieorgaan SIA processes personal data in accordance with the NWO privacy statement, and uses the data on the application form solely to communicate about the grant application. For awarded projects, a summary is published in the online project database (projectenbank) and on Publinova, together with the name and email address of the project contact person — subject to the consent indicated on the form.

Genetic resources

Researchers must take the necessary actions with regard to the Nagoya Protocol, which ensures fair distribution of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources, including traditional knowledge about them (Access and Benefit Sharing).

Open Science and data

Open Science is the movement for a more open and participatory research practice in which publications, data, software and other forms of scientific information are shared at the earliest possible stage and made available for reuse.

Open Access

Scientific publications about the project must be available Open Access in accordance with the NWO Open Access Policy Rule. The NWO website describes the options for articles, books, book chapters and dissertations, and the application of licences. Any costs for Open Access publishing must be budgeted as part of the application budget.

Funder acknowledgement

If the research leads to a publication or other relevant research output, the lead applicant must name Regieorgaan SIA as the funder.

Data management

The data management paragraph in the project proposal is a condition for consideration — applicants make known how data arising from the research is handled. It asks whether data suitable for reuse will be collected or generated (and if not, why the research does not lead to reusable or storable data); where the data is stored during the research; how it is stored long-term after the project and made available for reuse by third parties and for whom it is accessible; and which facilities are expected to be needed for storing data during and after the research, and whether these are available. ICT facilities here means, for example, capacity for data storage, bandwidth for data transport and computing power for data processing.

Multi-actor collaboration, practice orientation and dissemination

Practice-oriented research is the core model

KIEM funds practice-oriented research (praktijkgericht onderzoek): research questions originate in professional practice, and the research is carried out by a network of research organisations and practice partners together. This is not an optional collaboration dimension — it is what the scheme funds.

Required multi-actor composition

The consortium must combine at least the research side (applicant) with 2 practice partners, of which at least 1 SME. Practice partners are defined as organisations that make use of the knowledge generated in the project in professional practice — that is, users of the knowledge, not merely observers.

Question articulation with professionals — scored

Criterion 2 assesses whether the practice-based question comes from professional practice or has been tested with relevant professionals working in practice. The proposal must explain concretely how practising professionals were involved in formulating the question, naming the partners involved and describing how they contributed to gathering and/or testing it.

Practice involvement in execution — scored

Criterion 4 assesses the extent to which professional practice is involved in carrying out the project, and the proposal must make this explicit per work package.

Dissemination into education and practice — scored

Criterion 3 assesses whether attention to dissemination of the research outcomes in both education and professional practice is secured within the network. The dual audience (education and professional practice) is explicit in the criterion, and the performance indicators separately collect the number of teachers and students involved per education sector.

Interdisciplinarity and SSH

The call does not impose an interdisciplinarity requirement or a mandatory social sciences and humanities component. The relevant expertise requirement is functional: criterion 3 asks whether the necessary expertise from research organisations and professional practice is present at the outset to carry out the intended activities.

Contractual obligations after award

Lead applicant

The applicant is responsible for executing the entire project and acts as lead applicant (penvoerder). This person is the formal point of contact during the project unless a change is reported via ISAAC, and can authorise others to carry out administrative actions in ISAAC.

Consortium agreement — 13 weeks

Must be submitted via ISAAC no later than 13 weeks after the start of the project. It is a requirement for receiving the grant: the grant can only be paid out after submission and approval by Regieorgaan SIA. If it is not submitted within 13 weeks, Regieorgaan SIA withdraws the grant decision.

Changes to the project

Any change during the project compared with the awarded application and budget must be submitted in advance for approval via an amendment form in ISAAC.

Co-financing problems

Regieorgaan SIA must be informed at all times of problems in expected co-financing and own contributions. Besides financial consequences, Regieorgaan SIA may require appropriate changes to the project as an amendment request so the research can continue as well as possible.

Completion — 13 weeks

The lead applicant submits a substantive final report in writing no later than 13 weeks after the end of the project duration. If not submitted in time, Regieorgaan SIA can reclaim the grant in whole or in part.

Information sharing with Digital Holland

Digital Holland is a co-funder in this round and finances it through the PPSi surcharge of the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO). For all honoured applications, Regieorgaan SIA shares parts of the project proposals and final reports, plus the name, email address and telephone number of the project contact person, with Digital Holland.

Digital Holland employees have only the right of inspection. Without prior written permission of the lead applicant they may not make statements to third parties about content that is not known from the publicly available summary. The contact details may be used to make contact. If additional data is needed to account for the use of resources, Regieorgaan SIA states this in the decision letter.

Monitoring and evaluation after award

Progress monitoring

During the project, the lead applicant keeps Regieorgaan SIA informed of progress. After the end of the project, the lead applicant shares the results.

Final report

A substantive final report is submitted in writing no later than 13 weeks after the end of the project duration. Failure to submit allows Regieorgaan SIA to reclaim the grant in whole or in part.

Programme evaluation

Regieorgaan SIA may approach applicants for an evaluation of the procedure and/or the research programme. On both the application form and the consortium partner form, applicants and partners indicate whether a Regieorgaan SIA employee may contact them for evaluation purposes.

Performance indicators

The performance indicators submitted with the proposal — on network formation and on the number of teachers and students involved per education sector — are used in aggregated form to give insight into the involvement of practice and education in the research that Regieorgaan SIA stimulates, and to better align its schemes with their objectives.

Project proposal (Projectvoorstel) — the technical form

The project proposal is a mandatory annex uploaded as PDF in ISAAC. It uses the fixed Regieorgaan SIA format. It is not permitted to change the structure and layout of the form. The assessment criteria and writing instructions printed in blue italic in the template are guidance and must be deleted before submitting.

Structure — 11 chapters

Word limit — hard constraint

Chapters 4 to 8 are assessed by the review committee and together may not exceed 2,500 words. Text in tables, footnotes and figures counts toward the word count. Exceeding the word count is not permitted. The summary in chapter 3 has its own separate limit of 300 words.

Chapter 4 — Introduction

Describe as concretely and completely as possible: the reason (trigger) for the intended project, indicating when the trigger is another KIEM project, from the perspective of the practice partner(s) involved; the context within which the project takes place; the practice question (praktijkvraag); and why one-year exploratory research matters for this question — how the project can "germinate" (ontkiemen).

Application form (Aanvraagformulier) and consortium partner form

The application form is the administrative form, completed and submitted through ISAAC. The official form is Dutch. It is signed and merged with the consortium partner form(s) into one PDF.

Sections of the application form

Organisation types (used consistently across form, budget and performance indicators)

• University of applied sciences (Hogeschool)
• Knowledge institution, including university and TO2 institute
• Public institution
• SME company (Mkb-onderneming)
• Large company (Grootbedrijf)
• Umbrella or sector organisation
• Professional association
• Other

Consortium partner form

A separate form used per consortium partner, and the route for non-Dutch consortium partners. By signing, the partner declares awareness of the submission, participation in the consortium, commitment to the contribution described in the proposal, and commitment to the associated costs and/or co-financing stated in the budget. Companies registered in a non-Dutch business register must attach a registration extract no older than 3 months; unregistered companies attach a deed of incorporation or other legal proof of being a legal entity.

Also submitted in ISAAC

A public summary of 50-100 words, written accessibly for a broad audience. Regieorgaan SIA may publish it in a news item about the grant awards.

Signature and mandate

For a university of applied sciences, the form must be signed by the chair or a member of the Executive Board. Signature by another person is possible provided that proof of mandate from the Executive Board is submitted once, in advance or at submission, using the mandate form available in ISAAC.

Budget format (Begrotingsformat)

The budget is a mandatory annex and must be delivered in the provided Excel format. A budget submitted as PDF is not processed. Only the formats provided by Regieorgaan SIA may be used; other annexes are not permitted.

Worksheets

Organisation types in the budget

Foreign research organisations and Dutch universities of applied sciences that are not government-funded do not count as Onderzoeksorganisatie in this budget format. A research organisation acting as a practice partner is entered as Praktijkpartner.

Rules enforced by the format

• Maximum € 40,000 grant per project.
• Practice partners cannot receive a grant.
• Only co-financing from practice partners counts towards the mandatory co-financing.
• Co-financing from the practice partners is at least 25% of the grant amount.
• Negative costs and negative co-financing are not allowed — offending fields turn red and must be corrected. Only cash co-financing may produce a negative grant amount on the same row.
• The grant amount may only be positive for research organisations.
• Organisation names must be spelled identically across worksheets.