Research Council of Norway (RCN )

The Research Council of Norway promotes basic and applied research in all disciplines and is the only national funding agency for academic as well as industrial research in Norway. The Research Council is a key advisory body for the governmental authorities on questions involving research and innovation policy. RCN identifies priority areas for research, allocates research funding from governmental budgets, sets up and takes operational responsibility for research (and RTD) programmes, and conducts evaluations of national research performance in selected areas.

The Research Council bears an overall responsibility for the national research strategy, and is managing nearly one third of the total governmental budget targeted for research funding.

Among the principal tasks of the Research Council is to promote cooperation between Norwegian research institutions and with the international research environment, and to coordinate national research efforts and align them with priorities and activities of international frameworks whenever appropriate. The Research Council has the national responsibility for facilitating Norwegian participation in the EU Framework Programmes, and plays a key role in the promotion of the concept of a European Research Area.

In a process initiated in 1997 and concluded in 1999 RCN identified Microsystems Technologies as a strategic RTD area, and launched a set of coordinated schemes and measures and to support what was named the National Microtechnology Initiative. During the first four-year period the total investment of research funding in this area amounted to about 10 million € annually.

RCN’s participation in MNT ERA-NET is specifically endorsed by the Norwegian Ministry.

www.rcn.no