Research and development

Diverse R&D activities at the Ministry of the Environment 

Research-based data and knowledge are vital for the core activities of the Ministry of the Environment - high-quality legislative drafting, steering and strategic planning.

The Ministry’s Research and development (R&D) activities include acquiring and utilising research data that serves the Ministry’s tasks and, more widely, the society and environment. Furthermore, the Ministry engages in active cooperation with the relevant R&D actors, influences the allocation of R&D funding, and promotes research infrastructures and national science panels. The Ministry also steers R&D activities within its own administrative branch. 

International and EU R&D cooperation is carried out with the European Environment Agency and various international organisations and science panels. The Ministry also actively influences the thematic allocation of EU R&D funding and acts as an enabler to ensure the Finnish yield on EU’s R&D funding. Moreover, the Ministry supports the creation of large clusters of expertise through Horizon Europe Partnerships and the LIFE Programme.

The five key themes in the R&D activities of the Ministry of the Environment are climate, circular economy, management of marine environments and water resources, biodiversity, and also built environment, land use and housing.  

The aim is that the Ministry’s work is based  on research 

The R&D Strategy of the Ministry of the Environment develops the R&D activities on a long-term basis and improves their efficiency and impact. The aim of the Ministry’s R&D activities is to ensure that all Ministry’s activities are based on research data and knowledge. The specific objectives of R&D activities are: 

• to acquire, utilise and transmit research in a way that is systematic and anticipatory and to develop practices to ensure a sufficiently comprehensive and reliable knowledge base for legislative drafting, decision-making and strategic planning. 
• to actively influence R&D networks to ensure that national and international research funding is targeted to topics that are relevant in terms of the Ministry’s tasks. 

The R&D Strategy is implemented through an action plan that is monitored regularly. The responsibility for its progress rests with the Ministry’s Research Director and the internal research team. The achievement of the objectives of the R&D Strategy is assessed as part of the monitoring of the Ministry’s Strategy.

• R&D Strategy of the Ministry of the Environment 2035 | Institutional Repository for the Government Valto (pdf) (in Finnish)

The Ministry of the Environment develops ways to better utilise research-based data and knowledge 

The Ministry has recognised that the complex and intertwined societal and environmental challenges and sustainability problems require diverse ways to build a common understanding and comprehensive knowledge base. The Ministry of the Environment is among the leading players in the Finnish Government in the development and adoption of methodologies such as science sparring that strengthen the interaction between researchers and law drafters. 

Science sparring is a dialogical support action between researchers and decision-makers designed to strengthen the knowledge base for policy-making. The Ministry has developed science sparring together with the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters. Positive experiences include the process to reform the Nature Conservation Act in 2021–2022 and ecological connectivity and biodiversity in land use planning in 2024.

The Ministry of the Environment has also piloted more broadly different methods for dialogical cooperation with researchers and monitored their success and impacts. The main focus of these pilots was on customising the cooperation to the needs of the policy preparation project, interdisciplinary approach and continuous interaction between researchers and ministry officials. The experiences gained from the projects have been compiled in a guide published in 2021, which also gives step-by-step advice on implementing similar cooperation with researchers. 

• Stronger Knowledge Base for Preparation Processes through Cooperation withResearchers. Drafter’s Guide to Effective Cooperation with Researchers | Institutional Repository for the Government Valto (pdf) (in Finnish)

We are happy to cooperate! 

Cooperation is vital to the Ministry’s R&D-activities. A good timing for cooperation is  when research projects, programmes or organisations are thinking about stakeholder cooperation. Please contact us if you want to cooperate!