OPEN | KIEM MV (realising societal and economic impact)

Introduction
The Netherlands is facing urgent societal challenges in areas such as climate, energy, mobility, healthcare and food. Addressing these complex issues requires innovative solutions that are not only technically sound, but also scalable and actually applied in practice.

With KIEM MV, practice-oriented research is supported that focuses on strengthening innovative impact entrepreneurship. The scheme brings together practice partners, research institutions and impact-driven entrepreneurs who use design, making and change capabilities to move innovations towards scaling and societal return.

Purpose of KIEM MV
The objective of KIEM MV is to explore new practice-based research questions related to innovative impact entrepreneurship. Projects focus on the conditions and approaches needed to scale innovations, with particular attention to complex and innovative forms of collaboration.

Impact entrepreneurs play a central role in this: entrepreneurs who develop products or services with a clear societal purpose, or who deploy entrepreneurial activities in support of a societal challenge.

The scheme provides room to test ideas, strengthen collaborations and lay the groundwork for follow-up research or innovation.

Thematic Framework
Within KIEM MV 2026, the focus is on strengthening earning capacity within the Knowledge and Innovation Agenda Mission-Driven Innovation. Central to this is the question of what is needed to actually realise and scale innovations within complex collaborative settings.

Research may, for example, focus on:

• new forms of ownership, sharing, access or service provision;
• collaborations between multiple impact entrepreneurs or between impact entrepreneurs and conventional organisations;
• scaling challenges within chains, networks or ecosystems;
• joint development of business propositions and the implications for collaboration, financing and earning capacity.

Research questions may originate from all sectors, ranging from healthcare and agriculture to logistics, industry and the creative sector.

Budget

The total budget for KIEM MV 2026 is €1,820,302. Within this round, a maximum of approximately 45 applications are expected to be funded. The maximum grant amount per project is €40,000.

Collection dates
Applications can be submitted on a rolling basis and are assessed at two fixed submission rounds, following the first come, first served principle:

• 24 March 2026, before 14:00 (CET)
• 15 September 2026, before 14:00 (CEST) (also the final deadline)

If the budget ceiling is reached before 15 September, the scheme may close earlier.

Background
Through the implementation of KIEM MV, the Taskforce for Applied Research SIA contributes to the Mission-driven Innovation Policy and the Knowledge and Innovation Covenant 2024–2027, in which practice-oriented research plays an important role.

The Knowledge and Innovation Agenda Mission-Driven Innovation focuses on accelerating the scaling of innovations and increasing societal impact. Integral innovation is central to this approach: technological development is combined with knowledge and expertise from fields such as economics, social sciences, public administration, communication and systems thinking.

KIEM MV is a collaboration between the Taskforce for Applied Research SIA (KIEM) and CLICKNL.

More information
Applications for KIEM MV are submitted via the Taskforce for Applied Research SIA. The SIA website provides the full conditions and practical information on how to apply.

DISCLAIMER
This message is for informational purposes only. No rights can be derived from the information on the CLICKNL website. The official call text and conditions published by the Taskforce for Applied Research SIA are always leading. Amounts, deadlines and conditions may change.