New
White Paper on Research:
The Norwegian Fund for Research and
Innovation to be increased to NOK 50 billion
The Norwegian Government plans to raise total investment in research to
three per cent of GDP by 2010, one per cent of which will come from public
funding. It is proposed that the Norwegian Fund for Research and Innovation be
increased to NOK 50 billion. The Norwegian White Paper on Research highlights
three general areas of priority: internationalization, basic research and
innovation.
Report no. 20 to
the Storting (2004-2005): Three first chapters
Summary
“Report to the Storting
No. 20 (2004–2005), which is entitled ‘Commitment to Research’, sets the
ambitious goals of making Norway a leading research nation,” says Kristin Clemet, Norwegian Minister of Education and Research. “Reaching these
goals will require the efforts of researchers and research environments, of the
authorities and of industry and society at large.”
The Government proposes
that public funding of research be increased to one per cent of GDP. This means
that appropriations over the national budget, including the yield from the Fund
for Research and Innovation, will grow in real terms by NOK 5.8 billion until
2010. The Government will propose that an extra NOK 14 billion in capital be
injected into the Fund for Research and Innovation in 2006, raising the total
capital of the fund to NOK 50 billion.
The White Paper outlines
three general areas of priority in Norwegian research up until 2010:
- Internationalization. National
research efforts shall be evaluated in the light of international developments.
Research co-operation with the EU will continue to be of key importance, and
bilateral co-operation with North America and Asia is to be strengthened. National
advantages such as the infrastructure in Svalbard, excellent petroleum research
environments and databases and health registers will be utilised as a platform
for international co-operation. The objective is that this will also attract
more foreign researchers to Norway. In addition, increased emphasis will be
attached to research in development policy.
- Basic research is to be
strengthened through the use of increased resources, strengthened professional
management and funding mechanisms that foster quality. Schemes such as Centres
of Excellence and Outstanding Young Investigators will be extended. Research in
mathematics, natural sciences and technology will be given special priority.
- Measures designed to
boost innovation, both in the public
and private sector. If industry is to achieve its part of an ambitious
stepping-up of research investments, public funding of research must be such
that it triggers increased efforts on the part of industry. Research and
renewal of the public sector will be strengthened by, among other things,
increased levels of research in a changing Europe, welfare, law and democracy
and migration and integration.
In addition to these
general areas of priority, the Government will focus especially on: energy and
the environment, health, oceans and food, and on three areas of technology –
materials and nanotechnology, biotechnology and information and communication
technology. These areas of priority largely represent continuation of current
priorities in Norwegian research.
The Government also
wishes to pave the way for increased private funding of basic research. This
proposal means that gifts of at least NOK 5 million earmarked for basic
research from either companies or private individuals will trigger the granting
of an additional 25 per cent in public funding.
Increased R&D
investments in industry
The White Paper announces a number of
measures designed to increase research investments in Norwegian industry. New
schemes include:
- The establishment of a
scheme of Centres for Research-driven Innovation, in which research environments
and industry co-operate on fostering long-term research that is of vital
importance for Norwegian industry.
- The creation of a scheme whereby industrial scientists
work towards doctorates.
- Entrepreneurial grants for researchers wishing to
commercialise their ideas
- New regional innovation centres
- Increased funding of user-controlled research, R&D
contracts and the FORNY programme for commercialising R&D..
Attractive careers for
researchers
Measures designed to make research
positions at universities and university colleges more attractive:
- The creation of new
temporary posts, with a duration of 4–6 years, in which candidates will be
considered for fixed tenure as professors at the end of their period of
research.
- A scheme for national
graduate schools is to be established.
- Additional Ph.D.
scholarships and post-doctorate positions are to be created.
- Opportunities for
carrying out research abroad will be improved through, among other things,
top-up funding of EU scholarship schemes.
- A new scheme designed to
cover minor operational expenditure in ongoing research projects.
Strong and viable
research institutes
In order to secure quality and long-term
skills-development in those institutes that are most exposed to competition,
the White Paper announces increased basic grants to technical-industrial
institutes and environmental research institutes. The Research Council of
Norway will be assigned extended responsibility for institute policy, and will,
among other things, draw up proposals for new guidelines for central government
funding of research institutes, including a new and more results-based funding
system.
