Facts and figures

Finland has a world-renowned education system¹, with no tuition fees up to postgraduate level. A large proportion of Finland’s labour force holds a tertiary education degree² and there is a high number of doctoral graduates³. 

Finland is home to around 17,000 life scientists⁴. The country is especially strong in fields such as neuroscience, cancer, structural biology, bioinformatics, and genetics. Scientists benefit from a network of public organizations that works closely with research institutions and the private sector. 

Gross expenditure on research and development (GERD) in Finland in 2019 was 2.8% of GDP⁵. Business enterprise financed 54.3% of GERD expenditure, the Finnish government’s share was 27.8%, and 15.5% was funded from abroad⁶. Researchers based in Finland have been successful in obtaining funding, through Horizon 2020 projects, European Research Council grants and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions⁷, and from EMBO⁸. Initiatives such as Biocenter Finland open up access to technology platforms to researchers across the country.

In 2020, the European Patent Office granted 1,565 patents with first patentees residing in Finland⁹. Finland has one of the world’s largest prizes for science-based innovations, the Millennium Technology Prize, awarded every two years by the Technology Academy Finland. 

The government has set out an ambitious roadmap to increase GERD to 4% of GDP by 2030¹⁰. This includes targets to attract international talent and funding.