The Research Council of Norway is recommending an increase of NOK 1 billion for research in its proposal to the national budget for 2014. Close to half of this increase would be distributed among eight main priority areas.
“The Research Council has great ambitions for Norway as a knowledge-based society. Research and innovation will be critical to society’s ability to tackle challenges and safeguard prosperity in the years to come. In our input to the 2014 national budget we have identified the areas that need to be given priority if we are to resolve the most pressing challenges,” says Director General of the Research Council, Arvid Hallén.
“We have proposed four thematic priorities and four structural priorities in our budget input for 2014, with allocations totalling NOK 468 million. These priority areas are intended to address key challenges facing the research community, trade and industry and society at large.”
The proposed thematic priorities target the grand societal challenges which research can help to solve: climate change will require adaptation, energy-related challenges will require new technological solutions, sustainable industrial development will require more efficient utilisation of bioresources, and the growing number of elderly will require action on the part of the Norwegian welfare state.
In its budget proposal, the Research Council points out that several prerequisites must be met if research is to make a genuine contribution to solving these challenges. There must be an adequate number of younger talented researchers who choose to pursue a career in research, trade and industry must invest in research as a means of achieving innovation, the expansion of research infrastructure must continue, and the Norwegian research community must take better advantage of the opportunities inherent in international and European research cooperation.
Thematic main priority areas
The Research Council’s proposed priorities for 2014 are as follows:
- Active and healthy for many years (NOK 75 million)
- Climate change and climate adaptation (NOK 50 million)
- Norwegian bioresources from land and sea (NOK 40 million)
- Renewable energy and petroleum (NOK 55 million)
Structural main priority areas
- Internationalisation (NOK 68 million)
- More research-oriented and innovative trade and industry (NOK 80 million)
- Younger talented researchers (NOK 50 million)
- Joint European research infrastructure (NOK 50 million)
Read more about these priority areas (in Norwegian).
In addition, an increase of all in all NOK 530 million is proposed for research activities in other areas. These primarily comprise somewhat lower ranked priorities associated with the strategic priority areas and other priorities of a more independent nature.
