Patterns and Policies of Research Funding in the Forest Sector : A Comparative Study between Finland and Norway

Joensuu

1995

189 S.

zahlr. Lit. Ang.

Bandaufführung

13762

73252

This study focuses on the role of public and private funding within research in forestry, wood technology and pulp and paper technology in Finland and Norway during 1983-93. First, recent developments in the levels and patterns of funding are described in major research organizations (excluding individual firms); second, factors affecting these patterns are evaluated and, finally, the effects of the changes in these patterns on research activities are examined. The funding structures of research in the forest sectors of Finland and Norway largely resemble each other, but the countries have pursued different types of science policies. In both Finland and Norway, approximately fourty per cent of all forest sector research is publicly funded. Yet, the share of public funding in traditional forestry can be estimated as only about ten per cent. The research intensities in forestry and in wood technology are also nearly the same (R&D expenditure/GDP in forestry is 2.8% in Finland and 2.5% in Norway, and 1.3% in wood technology in both countries). A major difference in the present science policies is an emphasized output control combined with a reduced level of public funding in Finland while in Norway user-orientation is highlighted with the public funding remaining at a stable level. Both policies favour increased private funding but on the basis of economic theory and the findings of the study its scope appears limited.