The Academy of Finland and the United States government agency National Institutes of Health (NIH) have signed a provisional agreement on promoting Finnish-American research collaboration.
This cooperation will be strengthened by funding research projects between US and Finnish bodies, in areas represented by the research flagships included in the Academy funded Finnish Flagship Programme.
The Academy, which funds high-quality scientific research, provides expertise in science and science policy, and strengthens the position of science and research in society,will allocate up to €3m to support this collaboration in 2021. The total funding for Finnish-American research collaboration depends on a successful conclusion of the ongoing negotiations between the Academy and the NIH.
Advancing quality, impact, and renewal of scientific research
During the negotiations between the Academy and the NIH, the ten themes represented by the thematic areas of the Academy’s Finnish Flagship Programme have been agreed as an appropriate basis for promoting cooperation.
These are
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Digital Precision Cancer Medicine
- Inequalities, Interventions and New Welfare State
- Materials Bioeconomy
- Photonics
- Wireless Communication Technologies
- Forest-Human-Machine Interplay
- Atmosphere and Climate
- Gene, Cell and Nano Therapy
- Immune System
The collaborative Finnish-American research projects are expected to produce valuable discoveries and innovations that may lead to enhancements in their fields, for example, in healthcare and disease prevention and in developing novel, AI-based health technology.
The funding will be granted via a mechanism called Lead Agency. Under the mechanism, a single collaboration proposal will be submitted to a funding call organised by the NIH. Proposers from Finland will be requested to submit a version of the proposal to the Academy as well. The application guidelines for Finnish applicants are available on the Academy’s website.
Riitta Maijala, Vice President for Research at the Academy of Finland, said: “Research collaboration with strong science countries, such as the United States, is a concrete tool for advancing the quality, impact and renewal of scientific research in Finland. We were therefore very happy to see that the NIH was very interested in supporting Finnish-American research collaboration in the fields represented by the Finnish Flagships. The NIH’s interest in funding cooperation is based on Finland’s high-quality research in these areas, and I’m pleased that we can support cooperation between Finnish and US researchers in this way.”
