The FRICON programme will focus on outgoing mobility with a return phase. It will be a separate programme for mobility and career development under the umbrella of the national scheme for free basic research, FRIPRO (abbreviation for Free Programmes), and managed by the Research Council of Norway (RCN). The programme will address accomplished younger researchers of all nationalities that have been awarded their PhD 0-6 years before the call deadline.Low levels of outward mobility, as recently reported by an evaluation of the Research Council of Norway, are the motivation to seek co-funding for a new mobility programme. This will be done in alignment with the intentions and principles of the Marie Curie COFUND action and the individual fellowships (IEF and IOF), where the best merited researchers compete for funding for a stay abroad.The proposals will be evaluated by international peers in a transparent process based on quality. The proposers are free to choose topic and host organisation in order to secure the best career options by own choice. The FRICON programme will have three calls with deadlines in 2014, 2015 and 2016, and each call will grant 14 fellowships.The selected fellows will spend two years abroad at an international institution and then a one-year return phase at a Norwegian research institution. The fellows will be employed by the return-host during the whole fellowship period. This will ensure the benefits of the Norwegian social security system, including pension rights. The combination of attractive funding, social benefit rights and high prestige will ensure a successful programme.