More research in Norwegian companies

Funding from the Research Council of Norway comprises 35 per cent of the overall project costs for the individual project. The Research Council’s support in this funding round will elicit research activity totalling NOK 1.4 billion in Norwegian trade and industry.

Anne Kjersti Fahlvik (Photo: Sverre Jarild) Cooperation between companies and researchers

“The companies use most of the funding for cooperation with researchers. Building bridges between research institutions and industry and ensuring the development of new knowledge and expertise in both spheres are key tasks for the Research Council,” says Anne Kjersti Fahlvik, Executive Director of the Division for Innovation at the Research Council.

More applications – higher quality

“A total of 187 grant applications were processed in this funding round,” says Ms Fahlvik. “This means a 34 per cent increase in the number of project proposals received this time than for the corresponding deadline last year. The applications are also of higher quality than in previous years.”

Project quality is assessed on the basis of the potential for value creation in industry, useful applications for industry and society, and R&D-related risk. However, despite the large number of high-quality applications, we were not able to fund all of the qualified projects in this round with a budget framework of NOK 500 million,” says Ms Fahlvik with regret.

Minister of Trade and Industry Trond Giske is pleased about the increase. “It is great if this is a long-term trend that shows Norwegian companies now want to invest more in research,” he says.