Partnerships between entities from the beneficiary countries and their counterparts in Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway are a fundamental part of the Grants. This is the case for all programmes and is especially important for the projects funded by the Joint Committee for Bilateral Relations.
However, finding the right partner might be a challenging task. Identifying a place to start is often equally difficult to navigating the plethora of information online. We prepared several tips and resources to help you in that process.
Before you start your search
As a first step and before starting your search familiarize yourself with the requirements of the call, implementation structure of the Grants, available programmes, and donor programme partners. This site is a good place to start to get the bigger picture of the grants and identify possible contact points.
Please note that the Embassy has an active role only as the member of the Joint Committee for Bilateral Fund (JCBF) whereas it has no role in the implementation of the rest of the programmes.
When to start your search
Entities in Norway are limited in number while demand for their participation in EEA and Norway Grants projects across Europe is on the rise. The Grants are implemented in 14 countries other than Croatia, putting a lot of strain to capacities in Norway. Because of that, start looking for a partner as soon as possible.
Also, take your time to develop relationship. The quality of cooperation that you establish with Norwegian partner will have impact on the quality of project results. So, do not choose a partner only for the sake of having one.
Luckily, there are online tools and databases that can help you in that process.
Get in touch with Donor Program Partners
Since they operate in Norway, Donor Programme Partners (DPPs) may be able to assist you in finding the right partner. In Croatia, most programmes have donor programme partners.
For those interested in fields which are not currently covered by the programmes, check out the extensive list of all the entities acting as donor program partners in all programmes throughout Europe. The list includes area of activities, website, contact person and contact details.
The right person to talk to is just a click away!
Finding a civil society organization as a partner
The Norwegian Helsinki Committee has been assigned the role of contact point for bilateral relations under the Active Citizens Funds and have prepared a very useful, searchable database of partners. The database can be used for searching partner under the ACF fund but is not limited only to that.
Do not waste time and register in the database!
Businesses and research institutions as partners
Innovation Norway, Fund Operator of the Business Innovation Program in Croatia, provides various databases to facilitate online search for a partner in the business, research and technology sectors. It also secures Travel Grants to facilitate matchmaking and search for partners.
Check out also the following resources:
- The Explorer - an official database for green technology from Norway, offering a plethora of resources, project ideas, articles and case studies that can help you take your green business idea to the next level.
- The Research Council of Norway - online database for research projects.
- TechTransfer - a website dedicated to innovative technology solutions from the oil and gas sector, highlighting some of Norway’s leading examples where such technology has been applied in other industries across the world.
- EU EEN portal also includes contacts from the donor states
If nothing above mentioned helps, fill in the partner search form on Innovation Norway website.
More resources
Make sure to follow the Embassy's social media channels as well as the offical website of the EEA and Norway Grants in Croatia for updates on programmes, calls and upcoming matchmaking events.