5 Norway as a research nation1
A total of NOK 45.5 billion was invested in R&D activity carried out in Norway in 2011, and just under 65 000 individuals were defined as R&D personnel. This encompasses people who work in many different organisations and within a variety of sectors and industries, private and public alike. This white paper employs a broad definition of R&D. The various sectors, industries and subject areas have their own work methods, timeframes and needs. Thus R&D activity in its myriad of forms has many different objectives and motivations. Each of the ministries is responsible for knowledge development for and within its own sector. The state provides support for a comprehensive higher education and research system through a diverse range of instruments, institutions and activities spread throughout the entire country.
About 27 per cent of all R&D activity in Norway is conducted at universities and university colleges. This consists mainly of long-term, basic knowledge development whose focus is determined by the institutions and research groups themselves. Roughly six per cent of R&D is conducted by the hospital trusts, and the main purpose of this is to improve the services. Some 23 per cent of R&D is carried out at independent research institutes. These institutes receive basic funding from the state, but serve markets and develop knowledge for use in both the business and the public sectors. The business sector accounts for about 44 per cent of R&D performed in Norway. This is R&D designed to improve the companies’ products and services.
In addition to allocations to universities, university colleges and independent research institutes, the government supports the development and application of knowledge through many different instruments such as loans, tax incentives, grants through research and technology programmes, funding for commercialisation of research results and new business start-ups, network building, infrastructure and industrial parks, etc.
Some of the instruments are open to all thematic areas and are intended to provide support for researchers and companies seeking to pursue their own ideas. Others are targeted towards the advancement of scientific fields, major social challenges or the development of technologies, sectors or enterprises. Almost one-third of public allocations to R&D are channelled through the Research Council, which plays a vital role as implementer of national research policy.
Report No. 30 (2008–2009) to the Storting, Climate for Research, emphasised that Norway scores disproportionately low in international comparisons related to GDP targets due to its particular industrial structure and the prominence of the petroleum sector. To obtain a more nuanced picture of research investments, it is important to use additional indicators that view R&D investments in relation to population figures or mainland GDP and that look at the number of R&D work-years in relation to the number of employees.
Norway is one of the international leaders in the allocation of government funding to R&D. In fixed 2013-NOK the allocations to R&D activity over the national budget increased from 20.7 billion in 2005 to 27.4 billion in 2013. The proportion of the national budget allocated to R&D also rose during this period: from 3.4 per cent of the total budget in 2005 to 3.7 per cent in 2013.
Of the 34 OECD member countries, only one allocates more government funding per capita to R&D than Norway. If the countries are ranked according to R&D expenditures per capita financed by industry, Norway comes out at number 15. Overall, Norway is ranked number 13 in the OECD area according to total R&D expenditures per capita. Norway is ranked number 10 among the OECD member countries with regard to the number of R&D personnel (researchers and technicians and other supporting staff), with 14 R&D work-years per 1 000 employees in 2011.
Figure 5.1 Gross domestic expenditure on R&D financed by government per capita, 2011 or latest available year, in NOK (adjusted for purchasing power parity)
Source OECD: Main Science and Technology Indicators 2012:2 and the Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education (NIFU)/Statistics Norway: R&D statistics
Total R&D expenditure as a share of mainland GDP was 2.18 per cent in 2011. This is an increase from 2.03 per cent in 2005. Government allocations to R&D over the national budget were 1.11 per cent of mainland GDP in 2013.
The Government has introduced a one per cent target, i.e. that public research allocations are to comprise approximately one per cent of GDP. In 2005 the allocations to R&D activity over the national budget were 0.79 per cent of GDP. Due to an average annual real growth in R&D allocations of 3.5 per cent from 2005 to 2013, this figure has risen to 0.92 per cent in 2013. This increase has occurred simultaneously with a dramatic rise in Norwegian GDP.
The Government’s long-term objective is the three per cent target, i.e. that overall research investments will comprise three per cent of GDP. In 2011 the total R&D expenditure was 1.66 of GDP. The corresponding figure for 2005 was 1.51 per cent.
Looking at public funding alone, no other country spends more money on education than Norway. Norway allocates nearly USD 13 400 per pupil or student annually for the entire educational cycle, which places the country 80 per cent above the average for the OECD member countries with regard to public funding. For expenditure on higher education, Norway allocates the most public resources per student. If private expenditure is included as well, Norway ranks number 5 in expenditures per student. The reason for the large resource use in Norway is primarily that no other country has a higher teacher-student ratio in higher education than Norway.
Enrolment capacity will be expanded through the creation of a total of approximately 23 400 new study places in the period from 2009 to 2017. About two-thirds of these will be allocated to mathematics, natural science and technology, health and social care sciences, and teacher education and early childhood education and care teacher education. The institutions will allocate the remaining study spaces in keeping with their own strategies and regional needs. In addition to addressing the growth in the adolescent-level classes, the Government has maintained the practice of offering free tuition, including for international students, while many European countries are tightening their public budgets.
In spite of the positive trend, Norway diverges from the other Nordic countries in that it has a lower proportion of doctoral candidates in the natural sciences, technology and engineering. In 2010, 18 per cent of all Norwegian doctoral candidates completed degrees in these subjects, while the corresponding figure for Finland was 36 per cent, Sweden 26 per cent and Denmark 21 per cent. Norway has a relatively high proportion of doctoral candidates in the social sciences, education, health and welfare fields.
Figure 5.2 Number of completed doctoral degrees in Norway by academic discipline, 2000–2011
Source Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education (NIFU)/Doctoral Degree Register
The number of completed doctoral degrees per year has more than doubled from 2000 to 2012. In 2012, 1 461 doctoral degrees were completed in Norway, which is 10 per cent higher than in 2011. Almost the entire increase is due to the completion of more doctoral degrees at the University of Oslo and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The percentage of foreign students among the doctoral candidates has risen to 35 per cent. For the first time, the number of women who completed a doctoral degree was equal to the number of men. The distribution among academic disciplines has changed substantially as well. While doctoral degrees in medicine and health sciences comprised 21 per cent of the degrees in 2000, they accounted for 30 per cent in 2011. There has also been significant growth in the number of completed degrees in the social sciences and mathematics/the natural sciences.