Polish-Norwegian Research fund launched

A €15,3 million fund has been launched to strengthen research co-operation between Norway and Poland. The Polish-Norwegian research fund specifically earmarks the fields of environment and health. Eligible members of the Polish research community – those who have at least one Norwegian research partner – may now apply for support from the fund. The fund’s focus will be on support for large projects.

- I think the fund can make a difference, and I would like to see lasting results from this mechanism, said Norwegian Minister of Education and Research, mr. Øystein Djupedal in Warsaw upon the launching ceremony on 26 September. 

The Polish-Norwegian research fund is part of the EEA Financial Mechanisms, in which EEA-EFTA nations make available funding for the 12 countries that have joined the EU and the EEA since May 2004. Norway has contributed €13 million of the fund’s capital, and the remaining €2,3 million has been contributed by Poland. A primary goal of the fund is to strengthen the bilateral research cooperation. 

- Good scientific networks are already in place. To mention one example, Poland and Norway already have a long history of allied research efforts on Svalbard, and there is great potential for expanding Norwegian-Polish research co-operation, said the Norwegian Minister. 

- In the 6th EU Framework Programme for research and technological development , Poland and Norway participated in almost 250 projects together. Mostly in the fields of ICT, environment and agriculture. We are also partners in 14 so-called ERA-nets, which is a cooperation between research funding agencies at European level. This makes Poland one of Norway’s top twelve partners in the Framework Programme, said Djupedal. - I am confident that the Polish-Norwegian Research fund will be a success, and strengthen the relations between our countries even further. 

Norway will until 2009 contribute with close to €1.3 billion to the reduction of social and economic disparities in the EEA. Through the EEA Financial Mechanism, the three EEA-EFTA states – Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway – will make a total of €672 million available to the 12 countries which have joined the EU since 2004, as well as to Greece, Portugal and Spain. Via the Norwegian Financial Mechanism, Norway will make an additional €567 million available to the 10 countries that joined the EU and the EEA in 2004, and additionally €68 million to bilateral cooperation programmes with Romania and Bulgaria. 

The official website of the Fund: www.fbn.opi.org.pl.