Political Control over Research Tightens

by Jani-Petri Martikainen 8 Apr 2013 Research Policies
Published in the "Nordic News" section of Nordita News issue 1, 2013

In Finland there has been active discussions on political guidance of research (see eg. this article from the Finnish public broadcasting company, in Finnish; I will summarize the main idea with my own words).

Currently the Academy of Finland distributes about € 300 million of competitive research funding and about € 20 million based on programs that have been political priorities.

The current plans are that in the future, the Academy will get a new unit that will distribute about € 200 million on projects whose themes and priorities are set by the government. This will be competitive, but the topics should serve the priorities set by the government.

The Academy will continue to fund basic research with around € 300 million/year. The extra € 200 million will be mostly taken from basic funding for states research institutes (Finnish Meteorological Institute, Finland's Environmental Administration, and Geological Survey of Finland) as well as from Tekes (the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation). This means that in the future states research institutes must compete for the funds that in the past have been used to run their operations. The rules for the competition are set partly so that they conform to the priorities of the government.

The Finnish government will also reserve € 30 million for research funding whose spending it will decide on its own.

The topic has crossed the news threshold to mainstream media due to polically motivated non-competitive funding (€ 700000) for celebrity philosopher (Pekka Himanen) whose researcher merits were found to be non-existent. Some feel that changes in funding schemes make such scandals more likely in the future. Personally I see good things as well as bad things in the proposal and I believe so do many other scientists. For sure those working in the above mentioned state research institutes do not like this, but for others having "more" competitive money around might not be that bad even if that is not for pure basic research. I do not have a firm opinion about this. Apparently in Sweden such funding already has a prominent role.

This is how Academy of Finland presents the proposed changes in its newsletter:

"... The other key proposal related to research is from an expert group appointed by the Finnish Government and deals with research institutes and funding. The aim is to implement a comprehensive overhaul of state research institutes by integrating them. A third pillar of funding subject to competition, a council for strategically targeted research, is proposed to be established alongside the funding instruments for scientific research and innovation. This instrument for strategically targeted research would fund problem-oriented research aimed at finding solutions to major societal challenges."

"According to the proposal, research funding subject to competition, supporting social policy and society's functions and services, would be marshalled under the strategic research funding instrument so that the funds available for strategic research funding would amount to EUR 200 million in 2016. Such funding would be collected from the state research institutes' research appropriations, from the Academy's programme-based research funding and from Tekes' innovation and research funding. Further, it is proposed that a council for strategically targeted research be established at the Academy be responsible for the management, decision-making and programme council structure for strategic research..."