2025 Thematic research infrastructures: Local research infrastructures to strengthen regional R&D activities

At the core of the Research Council of Finland’s activities is to provide funding for excellent scientific research. The research we fund is also expected to have high scientific and societal impact and follow the principles of responsible science. In the present call, the RCF will fund research infrastructures that facilitate high-quality research and development activities.

The multiannual plan for the use of central government research and development funding includes a policy outline to “increase RCF funding also for pre-commercial applied research that aims at the renewal of business and society, is based on pioneering in science and promotes extensive utilisation of research findings”. The plan further states that “the development of the RDI system in a balanced way requires increasing and diversifying the collaboration between companies, universities, research institutes, universities of applied sciences and wellbeing services counties”. The plan goes on to point out that “competed research funding provided by the Research Council of Finland is also used to support research-oriented applied research with public results”.

The aim of the present call is to promote regional vitality and ambitious R&D activity by targeting research infrastructure funding at research organisations, such as universities of applied sciences, that carry out high-quality applied research. The funding will be targeted at building and upgrading local research infrastructures of regional importance.

The funded research infrastructures should create conditions to achieve regional R&D objectives. These objectives have been identified, for example, in ‘smart specialisation’ strategies and other strategies at regional level. In addition, the funded research infrastructures should encourage R&D actors to collaborate and promote the creation of innovations or other societal benefits from R&D. The research infrastructures must have usage principles that allow their services to be widely used by the user groups of the RDI system. Applicant organisations must commit to maintaining the research infrastructure after the investment.

The funding applied for must be used for R&D activities that are in the public domain. Research and development (R&D) generally refers to systematic activities to increase knowledge and use it in new application areas. The aim is to create something fundamentally new. R&D activities include basic research, applied research and development. Research and development expenditure (R&D expenditure) includes R&D-related salary costs, purchased services, other operating expenditure and investment and acquisition costs. In this call, the RCF will only fund research infrastructures that are primarily intended for R&D purposes, or R&D activity must be their primary use.

The research infrastructures shall also meet the characteristics of a local research infrastructure (see ‘Definition of concepts’) and be in line with the long-term plan for research infrastructures 2030 (PDF).

Definition of concepts

Research infrastructure

Research infrastructures refer to a reserve of research instruments, data and related services that strengthens the impact and increases the international attraction of the Finnish research, education and innovation system. Research infrastructure services enable R&D activity, support researcher training, and maintain and develop research and innovation capacity, thus promoting the quality, renewal and competitiveness of research, strengthening the versatile impact of research environments and enhancing national and international cooperation.

Research infrastructures are research-relevant equipment, information networks, databases, multidisciplinary research centres, research stations, collections, libraries and other memory organisations, as well as services related to their use. Large scientific research infrastructures are often shared and international, offering opportunities for cooperation for both domestic and foreign researchers and other actors.

Research infrastructures may be based at a single location (single-sited), scattered across several sites (distributed), or provided via a virtual platform (virtual). They can also form mutually complementary wholes and networks.

Local research infrastructure

A local research infrastructure is significant locally and regionally and takes into account the growth of digitalisation and the green transition. It is a reserve of research equipment, materials and services that contributes to excellent research, development and innovation. It may be an existing infrastructure or one that is under construction. A local infrastructure supports the strategy of its host organisation. It boosts regional specialisation and growth and serves as a (local/regional) hub of expertise, a platform for cooperation or a partner. A local research infrastructure must have a plan for the maintenance, development and availability of services. All data produced with the local research infrastructure must be as open as possible and as closed as necessary.

Characteristics of a local research infrastructure

• Significance of research: The research infrastructure has local and regional significance for high-quality research.
• Cooperation and impact: The research infrastructure brings added value to the region by increasing the vitality, skills and innovation potential in the region and by supporting partnerships between RDI actors. The research infrastructure supports regional specialisation and business regeneration and growth and/or the provision of solution-oriented information to meet society’s needs.
• Ownership, organisational structure, and competence and know-how: The ownership of the research infrastructure is clear, and the rights, obligations and roles of the owner(s) are known. The ownership must be structured in a way that supports multi-channel and transparent funding and the development of the skills of research infrastructure staff. Staff must have up-to-date expertise and the ability to support the versatile use of the research infrastructure.
• Services and users: The research infrastructure has a clear access policy that allows for a diverse user base and enables access to the services provided by the research infrastructure. Research infrastructure services and technological solutions are user-driven, dynamic and accessible. Research infrastructures actively attract and train new talent.
• Data management and production: The research infrastructure’s activities take into account the changes created by the growth of digitalisation and data intensity. Through responsible and secure data processing and management, research infrastructures contribute as major players to the large-scale production and use of new knowledge.
• Responsible science: In its activities, the research infrastructure must take into account research ethics, equality and nondiscrimination, research security, open science and sustainable development, including the green transition.
• Budget and funding: Research infrastructures must have a long-term funding plan that is stable, transparent and supports the maintenance and development of services.
• Risk management: The research infrastructure must have a risk management plan.

The applicant is an individual research organisation (university of applied sciences, research institute, university or other research organisation) or a consortium of research organisations.

The research organisation selects the person who will be responsible for submitting the application. We recommend that the research infrastructure’s director/ coordinator is the person responsible for the application.

If the research infrastructure is hosted by more than one research organisation, the organisations may form a consortium. A consortium application is an application built around a joint action plan, where each party to the consortium applies for funding. The Research Council of Finland treats a consortium application as a single application, although the funding is granted to each subproject separately. Consortium compositions cannot be changed after the call deadline. Read the consortium application guidelines.

Special terms and restrictions

A research organisation may submit up to three research infrastructure-related applications (either as individual research organisation, as consortium PI or as subproject PI):

• Up to three research infrastructures will be authorised by the person designated by the research organisation to participate in the call by means of a letter of authorisation from the organisation, which will be attached to the application.
• If the research organisation participates without a letter of authorisation attached to the application, the application will not be considered (processed).
• If the same research organisation authorises more than three research infrastructures to participate in the call, only the first three applications to arrive will be considered (processed).

The consortium application for a consortium-based research infrastructure contains different research organisation parties. If the same research organisation participates in the consortium-based application with more than one subproject (as consortium PI or subproject PI), the application will not be considered (processed).

If the research infrastructure is or has been on the national roadmap for research infrastructures, including international research infrastructure memberships and their national functions, the related application will not be considered (processed). In addition, we will not consider (process) an application related to a research infrastructure if the research infrastructure has recently received FIRI funding. This means that the research infrastructure has received funding from the FIRI 2019, FIRI 2020, FIRI 2021 or FIRI 2023 calls (incl. calls for research infrastructures outside the roadmap and the FIRI 2020: Research infrastructures as collaborative platforms call).

Other special terms

You must immediately notify us if you receive funding from other sources for the same purpose after you have submitted your application to us.

We will not consider (process) an application by a person who has participated in the planning of the call to an extent likely to give them a comparative advantage over other applicants.

We will not consider (process) a funding application if the applicant has been found guilty of research misconduct in the three years preceding the year of the call.

If the application includes cooperation with Russia or Belarus, you must take into account our policies.

If you have not submitted a final report on completed or ongoing RCF funding for the research infrastructure concerned by the set deadline, we may decide not to consider (process) your application.

An application will not be considered (processed) if the applicant or the application does not meet the competence requirements or other key requirements set for the call, or if there are otherwise no conditions for processing the case.

A scientific council or another decision-making body may decide not to fund an application based on science policy objectives, or if it is apparent for some other reason that the applicant cannot receive funding with the submitted application. Read more about the circumstances that may cause us not to consider (process) an application.

The RCF Board decides the criteria for the RCF's funding decisions.

The application consists of a form completed in the online services and its PDF appendices. As an applicant, you have the right to submit your application in Finnish or Swedish, but we ask that you to submit it in English to facilitate the international review.

Before the call opens

Check your eligibility

• Familiarise yourself with the characteristics of a local research infrastructure, and check whether the activities of the research infrastructure meet the above definitions of R&D.
• See the ‘Who can apply’ section to find out if the organisation, responsible person and research infrastructure meet the eligibility and funding conditions of the call.
• Contact your organisation concerning the organisation’s authorisation. The organisation shall fill in the template for a maximum of three infrastructures. Append the authorisation to the application.
• Check your region’s smart specialisation strategy and/or other regional strategies. Consider which identified regional R&D-related objective(s) the research infrastructure will help achieve.

Plan the contents of your application

• Start drafting the action plan. Use our template (see ‘Application parts in the online services’). Read the instructions on using the templates. You have access to the template even before the call opens.
• Draft the data management policy by using DMPTuuli or with the help of the RCF’s instructions.
• Read the review guidelines and review form. Write your plan in such a way that reviewers can easily find the answer to the review questions.

Plan the funding of your project

• Draft the budget in line with the guidelines of your organisation. Read more about the amount of funding and the terms and conditions in the call text under ‘Funding to be applied for and funding period’.
• Contact your organisation’s support services now if you have any budget-related questions.
• Be prepared to present a long-term funding plan for the research infrastructure. Use our template (see ‘Application parts in the online services’). Read the instructions on using the templates. You have access to the template even before the call opens.
• Also read our funding terms and conditions. If you are granted funding, you are also bound by the terms and conditions.

When the call opens

• Sign up or log in to our online services. Check and update your personal details. Your up-to-date email address is important when we are in contact with you.
• Instructions on how to fill in the application form are available in the online services.
• If you are applying as part of a consortium, read the consortium application guidelines before you start drafting the application. The consortium application is prepared by the consortium PI (the person responsible for the application), who should be the head/coordinator of the research infrastructure. All research organisations acting as consortium parties must demonstrate their commitment to the application in the online services. Please note that only the person designated by the research organisation is entitled to issue a commitment on behalf of the site of research.

Application parts in the online services

The different parts of the application are listed below. A comprehensive A–Z index of application guidelines is available on our website. Instructions for filling in the application form are also on the tabs of the form.

• Personal details of the person responsible (the consortium PI)
• General information: details on research infrastructure, keywords, research fields and details on site of research
• Consortium parties: In the consortium application, the consortium PI names the subproject PIs.
• Abstract
• Public project description
• Project’s funding and commitment by site of research. See section ‘Funding to be applied for and funding period’ in the call text.
• Collaborators: list of collaborators not only during the project, but also for infrastructure activities in general; the collaboration is described in the action plan
• Affiliation with research infrastructures, Centres of Excellence and Finnish Flagships
• Research ethics

Appendices to be appended on dedicated tabs:

You must use our templates for the following appendices:

• Action plan (obligatory appendix)
• Long-term funding plan (obligatory appendix)
• Authorisation from the person designated by the applicant organisation to apply for funding under this call. An organisation may authorise up to three individual applications or consortium subproject applications. (obligatory appendix)

Other appendices

• Data management policy (obligatory appendix)
• Progress report (case-specific) If the research infrastructure has ongoing RCF research infrastructure funding for which a final report has not yet been submitted, the application shall be accompanied by a progress report.

Submitting the application in the online services

You can submit the application when you have filled in or attached all the necessary information. A red warning triangle tells you that there is an error or information missing.

The joint consortium application is submitted by the consortium PI. They can submit the consortium application only after all subprojects have tagged their applications as complete.

You can authorise a person to edit or view the application on the tab ‘Authorisation’.

Submit your application in good time. You can supplement and edit the application and change appendices until the call deadline.

The RCF is prepared to fund research infrastructures under this call with a total of 15 million euros.

The funding granted for an individual research infrastructure project comes to a maximum of 1.5 million euros. The maximum funding for a consortium-based research infrastructure project is up to 2 million euros, and subprojects will be granted up to 1.5 million euros.

The funding period is 1 January 2026–31 December 2028.

The funding applied for must be used for R&D activities that are in the public domain. Research and development (R&D) generally refers to systematic activities to increase knowledge and use it in new application areas. The aim is to create something fundamentally new. R&D activities include basic research, applied research and development. Research and development expenditure (R&D expenditure) includes R&D-related salary costs, purchased services, other operating expenditure and investment and acquisition costs.

In this call, the RCF will only fund research infrastructures that are primarily intended for R&D purposes, or R&D activity must be their primary use.

The funding of the research infrastructure cannot rely too heavily on competitive funding granted by the Research Council of Finland. The funding is not intended for operating costs or permanent operating expenses of the research infrastructure. The research infrastructures to be funded must have a sound and sustainable funding base and a long-term funding plan. The application must be accompanied by a long-term funding plan demonstrating the organisation’s commitment to maintaining the research infrastructure beyond the funding period.

The funding to be distributed through this call depends on the Finnish Parliament’s decision to allocate the necessary funds in the 2025 state budget.

The funding is granted to a Finnish site of research (usually a higher education institution or research institute) through which the funding is paid.

Funding plan

As a rule, research funding granted by the Research Council of Finland is co-funding. The RCF’s contribution to the funding is up to 70 per cent of the total costs, and the applicant’s site of research (host organisation) will cover at least 30 per cent of the total costs. Before submitting the application, you must agree with the administration at your organisation on the contribution of the site of research to the funding of the project. You must check with your organisation whether the funding planned as the own funding contribution suits this purpose.

On the tab ‘Funding for the project’, provide the following information:

• cost estimate including an estimate of the annual amount of funding needed, itemised by type of expenditure
• the annual instalment costs are spread equally (e.g. 70%/30%) over all funding years
• all funding granted for the project as well as funding that will be provided by the site of research if the project is launched.

Only costs that pass through the books of the site of the research must be included in the total costs.

Pay particular attention to ensuring that the cost estimate is realistic and justified for the implementation of the research project. Justify the most significant research costs by type of expenditure in the free-text field.

For example, the following investment costs for new or existing research infrastructures may be eligible for funding:

• construction or major upgrading, such as the purchase of equipment and systems
• development of data management
• building services and developing skills needed to deliver them
• to a limited and justified extent, for salary costs where the job description of the person employed relates to the above-mentioned activities of research infrastructure development. To be eligible, the tasks of the person hired must be clearly specified in the action plan.
• up to 4.5 months’ salary costs for the coordinator/director of the research infrastructure (in the case of a consortium research infrastructure, only the consortium PI can apply for the salary costs of the coordinator/director).

All acquisitions must be incorporated into an existing or upcoming research infrastructure that is open to use by the users in the RDI system. Wherever possible, so-called innovative procurement can be used.

Our funding cannot be used for economic activity. Read more about the eligibility of economic operators. More information about a research infrastructure’s economic activity is available in the funding terms and conditions. In this call, the RCF will only fund research infrastructures that are primarily intended for R&D purposes, or R&D activity must be their primary use.

Only for compelling reasons can government grants be awarded to cover salary costs in cases where the applicant has obstacles related to illegal employment, as referred to in section 7(2) of the Finnish Act on Discretionary Government Grants.

What is required from the site of research?

The site of research is a Finnish research organisation such as a university of applied sciences, a research institute, a university or some other research organisation.

We require that the site of research provides the research project with all necessary basic facilities. These are determined based on the nature of the research and are the same as those available to other research staff at the site: office and laboratory premises, equipment (incl. computer equipment), and telecommunications, telephone, mailing, copying and library services.

The site of research also commits to ensuring that the data management policy can be implemented at the site of research, and that the measures to be taken comply with good data management practice. The costs of ensuring immediate open access to peer-reviewed articles are included in the overheads of the site of research. The costs associated with storing and sharing research data are regarded as overheads for the infrastructure project’s site of research, but they may also be legitimately accepted as research costs to be covered with RCF funding. If the construction or significant upgrading of the research infrastructure and the formation of services are focused on the processing of large amounts of data, or if the processing of the project’s data requires exceptionally much work or time, the project may apply for funding for salary costs related to the data processing. In this case, a person whose working hours are spent on data management and processing may be hired to the project.

Any supplies, equipment and literature acquired with funding from the Research Council of Finland will remain in the ownership and possession of the site of research. The parties can agree in writing on other procedures in the case of research infrastructures. In multi-site joint projects, the parties must conclude a written agreement on the use, ownership and location of the research infrastructure, even for the time after the funding period. The agreement is kept as part of the procurement documents. The agreement need not be delivered to the RCF.

When accepting the funding, the site of research is responsible for ensuring that necessary statements and permits from ethics committees have been obtained before the start of the project. The site of research is also responsible for ensuring that the applicant has not been found guilty of research misconduct in the last three years.

The application must include the overheads percentage, indirect employee costs and coefficient for effective working hours of the site of research. The site of research maintains these in the online services under the site’s details. The information is provided as percentages.

When the site of research is a university or a research institute, as a rule, the funding must be applied for VAT included. Consult the financial administration at the site of research for more information. RCF funding may also cover VAT costs, but only on certain conditions (see Value added tax and read more in our funding terms and conditions).

How to submit and supplement the application

The non-negotiable call deadline also applies to consortia. We will not consider (process) an application that has not been submitted by deadline. The deadline for applications is 7 May 2025 at 16.15 Finnish time.

The joint consortium application is submitted by the consortium PI. The PI can submit the consortium application only after all subproject PIs have tagged their applications as complete. While the call is open, the consortium PI may return the consortium’s subproject application to ‘incomplete’ status for supplementation.

Make sure to submit the application in good time before the deadline. The system will only accept applications that contain all obligatory information. The applicant is responsible for ensuring that the content of the application appendices is correct.

You can edit and supplement the application until the deadline. For example, you can change the appendices to the application. If you notice that your application lacks important information after the deadline, immediately get in touch with us via our helpdesk, so that the application can be reopened for supplementation. Once the review process has started, supplementations can no longer be taken into account. Typically, the review of an application starts 1–2 weeks after the call has closed.

We may ask you to supplement the application. In that case, you will receive a supplementation request by email. If you do not supplement the application by the given deadline, or if the application is substantially incomplete even after a request for supplementary information, we may declare it inadmissible (i.e. it will not be processed). Make sure that your email address is up to date.

How the application becomes pending

According to section 17 of the Finnish Administrative Procedure Act and section 8 of the Act on Electronic Services and Communication in the Public Sector, the sender is responsible for the application arriving by the set deadline. An application becomes pending when the online application and the obligatory appendices have been submitted in the online services. The system will confirm a successful submission by sending an email to the address you have provided.

Publicity and data protection

Except for the action plan, abstract and progress report, which are primarily subject to professional secrecy, the application and its appendices are public documents. For example, the CV is a public document and as such must not include any secret information. This publicity is based on the Finnish Act on the Openness of Government Activities.

We are committed to following regulations on data protection. The applicant is responsible for the disclosure of the personal data contained in the application and, where appropriate, for requesting the consent of the parties concerned. The GDPR-compliant privacy notice concerning the research funding process is available on our website under Data protection.

RCF funding is granted based on peer review. We mainly use foreign experts as reviewers, and they make up the review panels. The reviewers are distinguished representatives from different areas of research and development. We may also use Finnish experts in the review.

The review of applications follows a two-stage process. In the first stage, experts are asked to give at least two individual reviews on the application. The application is then assessed by a panel, which gives the application a final rating and panel assessment.

The fundamental principles of the review are transparency, integrity, equity, competence and diversity. Read more: Responsible researcher evaluation

Review criteria

• Support for regional specialisation, regional added value and cooperation between R&D actors (main criterion)
• Quality of R&D described in the action plan
• Feasibility of action plan
• Operations (incl. ownership, long-term funding plan, services and users, digitalisation and data management, and responsible science)

See the review questions and guidelines on our website. The review guidelines and forms and the review principles are only available in English.

A subcommittee appointed by the RCF Board will make the funding decisions in late 2025.

The funding decisions are prepared based on the review reports and the information provided in the applications. One key consideration is to create a cluster of projects that is best placed to further the call’s overall objectives. Additionally, the decisions are prepared considering the RCF’s criteria for funding decisions and other guiding policies. Read about how funding decisions are made.

In addition to the above, the subcommittee will, at its discretion, take into account the objectives of the long-term plan for research infrastructures (PDF) for national and international research infrastructure activities and their overall development.

You will receive an email notification after the funding decision has been made. After receiving the email, you can log in to the online services with your user ID to view the decision and its justifications. There you can also read the review report(s) on your application.

How to receive the funding

A positive funding decision is accompanied by the funding terms and conditions. They include instructions on how to receive the funding (section 1.2).

• Contact us primarily via the helpdesk (select ‘Application guidance, thematic calls’).
• Technical issues with the online services? Contact us via the helpdesk (select ‘Online services and other technical questions’).
• Our telephone number (switchboard) is +358 295 335 000.
• Call webinar 11 March at 13.00-14.00.