Research and Innovation Council discusses monitoring of R&D funding and need for R&D experts

In its meeting on 6 June 2025, the Research and Innovation Council chaired by Prime Minister Petteri Orpo adopted a plan for monitoring and assessing the use and effectiveness of central government research and development funding. The new monitoring and assessment plan covers both the additional funding under the Act on Research and Development Funding and state R&D funding as a whole. The assessment will examine the outcomes and effectiveness of funding from a broad range of perspectives, focusing on factors such as productivity and competitiveness, cooperation between R&D actors, the number of experts and the capacity for innovation.

The goal is to produce an overall picture of R&D funding for decision-makers and actors throughout the RDI system. The data obtained from monitoring and assessment will serve as a tool for managing the system. If necessary, the Research and Innovation Council will make changes as the monitoring progresses. The parliamentary RDI monitoring group will comment on the progress and results of the monitoring. The first follow-up report on the use of central government R&D funding will be drawn up in autumn 2025.

The Research and Innovation Council also discussed the need to increase the number of R&D experts sustainably in order to reach the R&D expenditure target of four per cent of GDP. With regard to topical issues, the council took note of the state of strategic choices in RDI policy. As requested, the council’s preparatory body proposed a set of national strategic choices for RDI policy and activities in March. Since then, the strategic choices – and especially their implementation – have been the subject of political discussion. Preparations will now continue based on a proposal from the council's preparatory body, which was asked to draw up an implementation model so that the strategic choices can be deepened and defined in more concrete terms in the implementation phase in cooperation with a variety of actors. The implementation will take into account aspects such as talent, growth and productivity. The goal is for the council to decide on the strategic choices and their implementation in the autumn.

EU report on obstacles hindering R&D collaboration

Before the meeting, the Research and Innovation Council received the EU Policy Support Facility’s final report on obstacles and bottlenecks hindering public-private R&D collaboration within Finland’s research and innovation ecosystem. In connection with the release of the report, an EU expert group held a stakeholder event on 5 June 2025 to discuss the report’s observations and recommendations. The report makes recommendations on how to strengthen research, development and innovation cooperation between actors in the public and private sectors and how to utilise competence in society more broadly – especially in responding to the shortage of skilled labour, strengthening innovation activities in SMEs and securing the conditions for long-term RDI activities.

Inquiries: Katri Manninen, Special Adviser to the Prime Minister, Prime Minister’s Office, tel. +358 40 706 6450 and Johanna Moisio, Secretary-General, Research and Innovation Council, tel. +358 29 516 0625