The regional research funds will allocate a total of NOK 200-300 million annually to R&D projects initiated by companies, public enterprises, universities, university colleges and independent research institutes. The funds are designed to support the priority focus areas within each individual region.
Cooperation with the Research Council of Norway
The regional research funds incorporate the strategic priorities of the authorities for the respective counties included under each individual fund, and are headed by boards authorised to take decisions regarding the grant allocations. A secretariat has been established in each region to carry out the day-to-day tasks.
The electronic system for submission and assessment of grant applications employed by the Research Council will be open to use by the regions. The Research Council will also award funding to certain cooperative projects that extend across individual regions and take the initiative to establish a joint learning arena. The Research Council's regional representatives sit on most of the funds' boards as observers and assist the regional secretariats with their work.
Four funds with current calls for proposals
The regional research funds in western, southern, inland and northern Norway are the first to issue calls for proposals, and by 2 June the first grant applications will be submitted for processing. The other three funds ' for the Oslo area, the Oslo fjord region and central Norway ' also plan to issue calls later in 2010
Information available on the Internet
The funds have established a common website with access to individual websites for each fund.
Read more about Norway's new regional research funds here (website available in Norwegian only).
Contact:
Lars Krogh
Senior Adviser
Division for Innovation
Departement for Regional R&D
E-Mail: lkr(at)forskningsradet.no
