Implementation

The 2012 review provides an analysis of the Finnish research system in international comparison, an assessment of individual disciplines and a thematic investigation of research in the area of grand societal challenges.

1 The Finnish research system in international comparison

Part 1 of the report studies changes in the operating environment and reviews the state and status of the Finnish research system in an international context. The review includes international and national statistics and material from a development project on impact assessment (referred to as VINDI) carried out by the Academy of Finland, Tekes, Statistics Finland and the Research and Innovation Council. The themes cover Bachelor’s degree education and researcher training as a foundation for research, the economic and human resources of R&D activities and the performance and impact of research.

The selected reference countries are Austria, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. Compared to Finland, the higher education and research systems in these countries are relatively the same size and sufficiently similar in terms of their operations.

2 The state of scientific research: Analyses by the Academy’s Research Councils

Part 2 includes discipline-specific analyses by the Academy of Finland's Research Councils of the development of the operating environment and the framework conditions for research. The Research Councils also identify areas of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) of research in the near future and make development proposals for the research fields hosted by them.

The Research Councils’ reviews are based on the assessments of the state of different disciplines made by 42 discipline-specific task forces in autumn 2011. The task forces included a total of 366 researchers. For the most part, the disciplines reviewed are based on the classification of fields of science of Statistics Finland and the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture.

The discipline-specific task forces drafted a SWOT analysis of each discipline (evaluation themes addressed by the task forces). The analyses of ecology and evolutionary biology, plant biology, chemistry and sport sciences are based on the Academy of Finland’s evaluation of disiplines published in 2011–2012. The Academy’s Research Councils used these analyses to draft development proposals for the research fields hosted by them.

3 Project and programme funding by the Academy related to the grand societal challenges

Part 3 of the report provides a thematic overview of the extent to which Academy-funded projects have dealt with themes associated with the grand societal challenges identified by the Academy Board: the Northern Climate and Environment; Sustainable Energy; Dialogue of Cultures, A Healthy Everyday for All; Knowledge and Know-how in the Media Society; and the Ageing Population and Individuals. Part 3 has been written by Professor Timo Aarrevaara and researchers Arto Aniluoto, Paula Ranne and Reetta Ruotsalainen from the Network for Higher Education and Innovation Research (HEINE) at the University of Helsinki.

4 Conclusions and development proposals

Part 4 presents the conclusions of the review as well as development proposals for further strengthening Finnish scientific research and the Finnish research system.