Finland wants to strengthen its commitment to research and development activities (R&D) this year. And to achieve this it has increased the allocations in the state budget for 2020.
According to Statistics Finland, appropriations for R&D in the budget increase by 68.6 million euros from the year before. The total appropriations for research and development activities amount to 2,062.5 million euros. The share of public research funding in gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to be 0.83 per cent.
Source: Statistics Finland.
690.4 million to universities
The majority of government R&D funding is directed to universities. In the 2020 budget, the R&D funding of universities totals 690.4 million euros, which is a growth of around 60 million euros from the previous year’s budget. The increase is the result of growth in university appropriations and a higher research share.
The R&D funding of Business Finland also grows in the 2020 budget by around 26 million euros to 477.5 million euros. The R&D funding of the Academy of Finland, in turn, decreases by 46.5 million euros in the 2020 budget and the research funding amounts to 423.6 million euros in total. The R&D funding of central government research institutes and university central hospitals, on the other hand, increases in the 2020 budget.
Among administrative sectors, research and development activities are financed most in the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.
Source: Statistics Finland.
The major provider of funding is the Ministry of Education and Culture, whose R&D funding in the budget for 2020 is 1,236.6 million euros. The increase from the appropriations in the budget one year before is around 31 million euros.
The R&D funding of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment also grows in the 2020 budget, by 24.5 million euros, the majority of which is an increase in the funding of Business Finland.
