The new four-party government in the making has agreed to raise the funding for research, development and innovation, which has been trailing behind compared to competitor countries.
The next Prime Minister and the Chair of the NCP, Petteri Orpo announced that the funding will be increased to 4% of the GDP by the year 2030, up from the current 2.9%.
Speaking later to Helsingin Sanomat, Kai Mykkänen, MP for the NCP, specified the sums to be around €280 million a year in the next four-year parliamentary term, focusing on joint projects between companies and universities.
The aim is to lift Finland on top of product development in global comparison and make the country ”a clean energy superpower.”
The agreement between the four parties was easy to reach since it had been largely prepared by an inter-parliamentary committee already in 2021 after concerns Finland was falling behind compared to its neighbours and competitors. For example, in Sweden, RDI funding is 3.5% of the GDP and in Germany 3.1%.
Politicians are now in the third week of negotiations to form a new government between the National Coalition Party (NCP), the Finns Party, the Swedish People’s Party and the Christian Democrats.
(Pekka Vänttinen | EURACTIV.com)
Read more with EURACTIV
Over 1,500 UK troops to join annual NATO exercise in Estonia
Source: euractiv.com
