Government cancels cuts to research funding, boosts Academy of Finland budget authority with €147m
In its spending limits discussion on 6 April 2022, the Finnish Government agreed to cancel the research funding cuts that were announced in spring 2021. In 2023, the central government’s contribution to research, development and innovation will be increased by 350 million euros compared with the previous spending limits.
The budget authority of the Academy of Finland will be permanently increased by 147 million euros, and a non-recurrent authority of 10 million euros for 2023 will be allocated for national co-financing of EuroHPC operations. This puts the Academy’s total research funding budget for 2023 at nearly 500 million euros. The budget authority for strategic research will be increased by 25 million euros compared to the previous spending limits, in which a corresponding reduction was planned in the budget authority of the Strategic Research Council (SRC).
In addition, the Government decided that an R&D tax incentive based on an extra deduction will be introduced from 2023 onwards. The tax incentive will be prepared to ensure that its annual economic impact would equal approximately 100 million euros.
The General Government Fiscal Plan also sets aside R&D increases of the same size in future years of the next parliamentary term in order to increase R&D expenditure to 4% of GDP.
The Academy of Finland welcomes the Government’s decision to withdraw the previously planned research funding cuts and its commitment to further support high-quality research, development and innovation. Scientific research effectively creates expertise for society to use.
In the same vein, funding granted by the Academy of Finland for scientific research and research environments creates competence and conditions at international level to make extensive use of the results of research. Internationally top-level research teams and high-quality research environments give us a competitive edge that can boost economic growth and promote wellbeing.
