The contracting authority's enquiry is for tenders for research-based broking in the project Forregion Mobility Finnmark 2017-2019. The mobilisation project is the Research Council of Norway's continuation of Means for Regional R&D and Innovation (VRI) and is one of three pillars in the new regional commitment Forregion, which is about to start. The project will run in the period 2017-2019 and it will be a cooperation between the Research Council of Norway and Finnmark County. Further details on the project are in Annex D — Project Plan for Forregion Mobilisation Finnmark.
The mobilisation project in Finnmark shall further develop the commitment to research and development for businesses in Finnmark. The project has the following aims:
Main aim
The commitment shall contribute to realising the target in the regional development plan (RUP) that Finnmark shall be a competitive region characterised by a diversity of businesses and growth companies and innovative business groups and competence environments shall be developed in Finnmark. The county shall achieve this by proactively facilitating research based innovation in business.
Sub-goals for both commitment areas
Sub-goal 1: Several Finnmark companies shall use R&D in their development work and, thus, contribute to competitive and sustainable economic life.
Sub-goal 2: Several companies/business environments shall qualify themselves for regional, national and international research programmes.
Sub-goal 3: The commitment shall identify and strengthen the company network and (growing) groups in Finnmark and mobilise for an increased use of research in the network.
A central policy instrument in the mobilisation project is the research-based broking work form. Competence arbitration means connecting companies (individual companies or a network of companies) with research environments. Proactive and planned work is necessary in order to get more companies and/or networks of companies to use research and cooperate with research environments. Finnmark County would like to facilitate a geographical spread of the selected companies/business environments in the commitment. The assistance from research-based brokers is free for the companies. The research-based broker will be responsible for assisting companies connected to the project's two commitment areas.
1) Companies in the value chains connected to natural resources and natural advantages.
2) Strengthening company networks and groups.
The role of research-based broker requires a network and legitimacy in the business environments where work is being carried out, insight and/or experience with research and knowledge of the public policy instrument apparatus. The research-based brokers shall coordinate their activities with each other and with the rest of the work group and the project management.
The contracting authority primarily has a need for up to four research-based brokers, who shall be active in the period 2017-2019. The offered research-based brokers can be 1-4 persons. Complete or partial tenders can be submitted. The research-based broker shall be a fixed contact person for the contracting authority.
All activity and reporting will be regulated through a plan between the research-based brokers and the county, which will be jointly prepared after the contract has been signed, based on the project plan for Forregion Mobilisation Finnmark (annex D).