Academy of Finland to introduce new opportunities for Finnish-American research collaboration

The Academy of Finland and the United States government agency National Institutes of Health (NIH) have signed a provisional agreement on promoting research cooperation between Finland and the US. Cooperation will be strengthened by funding research projects between US and Finnish parties in areas represented by the research flagships included in the Academy’s Finnish Flagship Programme. The Academy has earmarked a total of up to 3 million euros to support this collaboration in 2021. The funding depends on a successful conclusion of the ongoing negotiations between the Academy and the NIH.

Advancing quality, impact and renewal of scientific research

In the negotiations between the Academy and the NIH, the ten themes represented by the competence clusters of the Academy’s Finnish Flagship Programme have been agreed as an appropriate basis for promoting cooperation. The research funding cooperation will be tested in 2021.

The collaborative US-Finnish research projects are expected to produce valuable discoveries and innovations that may lead to enhancements for instance in healthcare and disease prevention and in developing novel, AI-based health technology.

The funding will be granted via a mechanism called Lead Agency. Under the mechanism, a single collaboration proposal will be submitted to a funding call organised by the NIH. Proposers from Finland will be requested to submit a version of the proposal to the Academy as well. The application guidelines for Finnish applicants are available on the Academy’s website.

Riitta Maijala, Vice President for Research at the Academy of Finland, said: “Research collaboration with strong science countries, such as the United States, is a concrete tool for advancing the quality, impact and renewal of scientific research in Finland. We were therefore very happy to see that the NIH was very interested in supporting Finnish-American research collaboration in the fields represented by the Finnish Flagships. The NIH’s interest in funding cooperation is based on Finland’s high-quality research in these areas, and I’m pleased that we can support cooperation between Finnish and US researchers in this way.”