Norway

A White Paper ‘Long-Term Perspectives – Knowledge Provides Opportunity (2012-13)’ proposed a new approach to the formulation of national research policy to ensure clear priorities for long-term co-ordinated public investments in research and higher education. On this basis, the new government has adopted in 2014 the Long-Term Plan for Research and Higher Education 2015–2024. In accordance with the commitment to update it every four years, the plan will be revised in 2018 following a comprehensive assessment of progress in achieving its objectives by the OECD. Beside the three overarching objectives, the Long-Term Plan for Research and Higher Education 2015–2024 defines six long-term priority areas, including four thematic ones: seas and ocean; climate, environment and clean energy; public sector renewal, better and more effective welfare, health and care services; enabling technologies. Several sectors, most often directly related to the above-mentioned priority areas, had already adopted specific research and innovation strategies under the label of “21-Strategies” (Energi21, Klima21, Maritim21, etc.) since 2001. New strategies have been adopted in recent years. Following an inclusive process, the development of these strategies is led by a committee with representatives from all concerned parties. Although most of these are one-off strategic initiatives, in a few cases they have transformed into dedicated platforms to improve cooperation between the various actors, including public authorities, in corresponding areas. For instance, the Health&Care21 initiative, signed in 2014, aims to promote evidence-based health and care services characterised by high quality, patient safety and efficiency. It was designed by a dedicated strategy committee composed of representatives from industry, higher education, hospitals, regional health authorities, user organizations, and government agencies. An advisory board with broad representation has been appointed by the Ministry of Health and Care Services to serve as a permanent dialogue forum with responsibility for follow-up of the strategy. The implementation of the government’s strategy is guided by a specific action plan for the period 2015–2018 which contains a list of 40 actions within the areas identified in the strategy.

Since 2013, measures have been taken to encourage and promote open access to results of publicly funded research, including promoting open-access publications with funding support. The new government has engaged in additional actions to make the results of wholly or partially government-funded research publicly available for the benefit of both the research community and society. The policy on open access of the Research Council of Norway, introduced in 2009, was revised in 2014. It requires RCN grants beneficiaries to make their scientific publications resulting from funded research available in open access repositories. It is planned that from 2019 there will be no more targeted financial support for open access publishing from the RCN as publishing costs will be included among the indirect costs in applications. An open access policy framework was introduced in the 2013 White Paper on research (Long-term perspectives – knowledge provides opportunity). In 2016, the Ministry of Education and Research established a working group that proposed a set of National guidelines for Open Access to Research results in line with the EU Competitiveness Council decision in May 2016 that all scientific papers should be freely available by 2020. The National Financing Initiative for Research Infrastructure (INFRASTRUKTUR) supports infrastructures that give open access to research data. A call for proposals launched in 2014 gave priority to infrastructures that facilitate open access to publicly funded research data and safeguard important Norwegian data series. Those infrastructures are required to comply with the principles and guidelines set out in the RCN's policy for open access to research data.

An evaluation of the schemes for commercialisation of public research concluded in August 2015 that the support to research commercialization has become more efficient; but that there is a lack of coordination between the different agencies. The evaluation could not find evidence that the new rules regarding the establishment of companies introduced in 2013 have led to a significant increase in companies established, technology sales or patents submitted by the universities. Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs) that are totally or partly owned by the universities play a key role in the knowledge transfer and commercialisation activities by the HEIs in Norway. The TTOs are partly financed by Commercialising R&D results programme (FORNY-2020, budget of USD 28 million PPP (NOK 262 million) in 2016). FORNY-2020 enables TTOs to develop research-based business ideas into viable companies and licensing deals. The programme also funds projects in need of proof-of-concept within the portfolio of TTOs. The aforementioned evaluation found that although the commercialisation of research results has increased, it has not been the case of the number of patents or cooperation with the business sector in recent years. Administered by Innovation Norway, the Pre-seed Aid Scheme for TTOs and incubators introduced in 2015 aims to contribute to the growth of promising start-ups by matching the amount of capital provided by investors (USD 0.3 million PPP (NOK 3 million) per enterprise, but not more than 50% of the total investment). The capital is provided as interest-free loans to TTOs/incubators or business angel networks, for investments in innovative, R&D-intensive start-ups.