Research Council of Finland and National Research Foundation of Korea Joint Call 2026: 6G (NextG) and quantum technology

5 Mar 2026
30 Apr 2026
Open

In Korea, the call for full proposals ends at 12.00 Finnish time. However, the RCF will still accept Intentions to Submit by email until 16.15 Finnish time.

This joint call differs from normal RCF application procedures. Please read the guidelines below carefully before preparing your proposal.

Applicants from the Finnish side participate in this call with a joint proposal with a Korean partner; the partner shall submit a proposal to the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) between 5 March and 30 April 2026.

Before submitting the joint proposal, the Finnish applicant (the principal investigator, PI) must verify their eligibility for RCF funding. See ‘Eligibility’ below.

The NRF and the RCF collaborate via a Lead Agency model, in which the NRF acts as the Lead Agency. In this approach, proposers from both countries will collaborate to write a single proposal. It is the responsibility of the Korean PI to submit the joint proposal to the appropriate NRF programme for review. Researchers from Finland participating in the joint research project will apply for funding separately from the RCF in accordance with the guidelines and procedures outlined in this call text.

The RCF has earmarked a total of 2 million euros for this call. A maximum of four joint projects will be funded. The funding comes to an average of 166,650 euros per year for the Finnish party of the project. This corresponds to a maximum of 70% of the total costs of the Finnish party. The NRF has reserved a similar amount of funding for the Korean side of the project.

The RCF’s funding is granted only to proposals that are selected for funding in both the NRF and the RCF application process. RCF funding can only be used for research conducted by a research team operating in Finland. The RCF’s invitation-only call will be opened in autumn 2026 with a call text published on this website.

Themes

The overall goal of the cooperation between the Research Council of Finland and the NRF is to enable and facilitate high-quality basic research collaboration between researchers from Finland and Korea.

Before you start preparing to apply for the funding, please read carefully the call text published by the NRF.

Research themes of the 2026 Joint Call:

  1. 6G (NextG)
  2. quantum technology

The themes are included in the themes of the RCF's Finnish Flagship Programme and in the strategic choices decided by the Finnish Research and Innovation Council (“disruptive technologies”).

Eligibility

Before submitting the joint proposal, no later than 30 April 2026 at 16.15, the PI of the Finnish side must send to the RCF a notice of their intention to participate in the call. The notice will be sent by email to flagship@aka.fi. The subject field of the email should read “Participation Intention for Korea Call”. An Intention to Submit form (PDF) shall be appended to the message, the last page of which contains the commitment by the site of research of the Finnish party. With this form, the RCF can ensure the applicant's eligibility.

The RCF will send the applicant an email confirmation of eligibility for funding within one week of receipt of the message and notify the NRF at the beginning of May.

The PI of the Finnish side must have a doctoral degree and other significant evidence of scientific work. Usually, the PI is a researcher at the professor or docent (adjunct professor) level.

RCF funding can be applied for by individual research teams or consortia consisting of two or more Finnish research teams. The consortium parties may be based at one or more research organisations.

For an application to be considered by the RCF, it must include at least one applicant from Finland and one from Korea, and both countries must make a significant contribution to the research. The joint projects must provide the kind of added value that the PI's team could not achieve alone. The proposed research topics should fall within the field of basic research in 6G (NextG) and/or quantum technology (TRL 1–2).

Restrictions:

  • A PI who applies for funding from the RCF can participate in only one active RCF–NRF partnership proposal at a time. The proposal is considered active from the moment it is submitted until the RCF makes the funding decision.
  • PIs who received funding in the 2024 Joint Call between the RCF and the NRF are not eligible in this call.
  • The RCF cannot grant additional funding to joint Finnish-Korean projects or other projects for which it has previously granted funding and whose funding periods will continue after 31 October 2026, if the funding purpose is the same as before.

Funding

The RCF has earmarked a total of 2,000,000 euros for this call. The funding is intended for four (4) projects for a period of three (3) years.

The maximum funding requested from the RCF by the Finnish parties to each project is 500,000 euros over three years (i.e. 166,650 euros per year on average). The funding applied for from the RCF must be specified on the Intention to Submit form. The funding follows the principles applied to the RCF funding scheme Academy Projects.

The funding period is no more than 36 months. For Finnish parties, the funding period starts in November 2026 at the earliest (October 2026 for Korean parties).

Application process

The stages of the application process for applicants from the Finnish side are as follows:

  1. The notice of the intention to participate in the call must be sent by email to flagship@aka.fi by 30 April 2026 at 16.15 Finnish time. The message shall be accompanied by the Intention to Submit form with the commitment by the site of research on the last page. The form contains a budget table for an indicative breakdown of the funding requested from the RCF.
  2. The RCF will assess the eligibility of the Finnish party to the project.
  3. The RCF will send the applicant an email confirmation of eligibility for funding within one week of receipt of the message and notify the NRF at the beginning of May.
  4. The PI of the Korean side shall submit a joint research plan to the relevant NRF programme for review. NRF research funding support system, Integrated R&D information system (IRIS). The NRF will review the proposal according to its own criteria.
  5. Based on the results of the review, the NRF will prepare a funding proposal for approval by the RCF.
  6. The RCF will open an invitation-only call in the RCF online services for Finnish researchers proposed to be funded. The funding decisions will be made in late 2026.

Special RCF guidelines (not applicable to the funding of the Korean side):

  • The RCF will open an invitation-only call for Finnish parties to the projects selected for funding in autumn 2026 (October, TBC). Applications must include the joint research plan (i.e. a copy of the proposal submitted to Korea) and the appendices necessary for the granting of RCF funding, such as a self-assessment of research security and a description of compliance with the principles of responsible science. Read more: research security and responsible science. More detailed instructions will be published in the call text on the RCF’s website.
  • On the Finnish side, the project must comply with the general conditions of the RCF, that is, the Finnish site of research, the participants and the costs must be eligible. The standard terms for RCF funding can be found here: How to use funding. In accordance with the full cost model, the RCF will fund up to 70% of the total costs on the Finnish side. The RCF’s contribution to the three-year funding of the project is limited to a maximum of 500,000 euros per project.
  • Those applying for funding from the RCF must draw up a separate budget that presents the costs and the funding requested according to a specific budget template.

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