Open call: Flagship Projects

This is the second call for Flagship Projects within Digital Futures. Researchers from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm University (SU) and RISE Research Institutes of Sweden can apply for funding under this call. Stockholm University will fund a maximum of 2 PIs/CO-PIs¹. 

Background

Digital Futures is a cross-disciplinary research centre that explores and advances digital technologies to tackle societal challenges in Sweden and globally. Established jointly by KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm University, and RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, we fund strategic research projects aligning with our vision. Find out more about Digital Futures’ background here.

Purpose

The Flagship project call is a funding instrument designed to support excellent scientific research and build competence and broad expertise towards digital transformation. Project proposals should be of the highest scientific quality and show originality, high impact, and an interdisciplinary approach. This instrument also aims to encourage collaboration between senior and early-career researchers to ensure the future need for researchers in the sciences of digital transformation. Collaboration with industry and society is encouraged.

Eligibility

1. The proposals shall address subject areas at an intersection of the Digital Futures Research matrix, as described in the strategic plan². More information about the research matrix can also be found here.
2. Each project should list three (3) Principal Investigators (PIs) of complementary backgrounds (one PI and two co-PIs). At least one of the PIs must be an early-career researcher who obtained a doctoral degree not more than 12 years³ ago at the time of opening this call. At least two of the PIs should belong to either i) two different KTH schools, ii) KTH and SU, iii) KTH and RISE⁴/SU, or iv) RISE and SU. Applicants can only be PI or co-PI for one proposal in this call. Applicants with a current Digital Futures Flagship project are not eligible for this call.
3. The PIs do not need to be Digital Futures faculty when applying but will become Digital Futures faculty if the project proposal is granted. The PIs must fulfil the requirements to become a Digital Futures Faculty when applying for this call. More information about the criteria can be found here.

Project duration and maximum funding

In this call, up to five projects are intended to be selected. The duration of the projects is three years, and the projects will be funded with a maximum of 9 MSEK in total (the distribution per year per PI is 500.000 SEK in 2026, 1 MSEK in 2027, 1 MSEK in 2028, and 500.000 SEK in 2029). PIs from SU will be granted funding starting in January 2027, meaning they will not receive any funding for 2026. Please note that SU will fund a maximum of two PIs in this call.

Applicable Funding Policy for Digital Futures Faculty

Researchers can be involved in several projects under different instruments, but within Digital Futures, the funding per PI is limited to 1 MSEK/year. Hence, funding you may have received under the current Digital Futures instruments Flagships projects, Research pairs, Research Pairs Consolidator, Demonstrator projects and Seed projects will be considered. Funding from Digital Futures to Societal innovation projects, Partner innovation projects, Industrial innovation projects, and ISPP demo projects are included, but not the part from partners. Digital Futures Postdoctoral Fellows projects are not considered.

How to apply

1. Fill in the application according to the project description template below.
2. Create an account on the application submission system and register the application stating the title, PIs and a short abstract by the registration date (see at top) at this link: https://crp.dsv.su.se/flagship-call-25/ 
3. Complete the application, including uploading the project description to the submission system before the call deadline (see at top) using the same link as in step 2.

Evaluation

An external international expert panel will evaluate the project proposals. The evaluation will be based on the following criteria:

1. Scientific quality and originality of the proposed research 
2. Alignment with Digital Futures Strategic Research Programme⁵ 
3. Merits of the applicants 
4. Degree of interdisciplinarity, composition of the research team, and involvement of external partners from industry and society 
5. Feasibility of the project 

The evaluation will be carried out in two phases. In the first phase, the evaluators independently grade the project proposals according to the criteria. Based on the outcome, the top proposals will be invited to the phase 2 hearing, where the applicants present their projects and answer questions from the evaluation panel. After the hearing, the panel finalises their ranking and recommends a set of projects for funding.

Based on the evaluation and available funding, the Digital Futures Executive Committee compiles a funding proposal on how many of the top project proposals to fund. The funding proposal is then sent to the Digital Futures Governing Board and the KTH President for decisions in that order.

Information meeting

Digital Futures offers two optional information meetings to get first-hand information on all call conditions.

This meetings will be held at Zoom. Link: https://kth-se.zoom.us/j/61772070835 

• 4 June at 11:00-11:30 CEST
• 21 August at 11:00-11:30 CEST

No registration is required before the meeting.

Contact

Contact call@digitalfutures.kth.se for further questions. Please include “Flagship project 2025” in the subject of your email.