State research institute

Research institutes attached to ministries are one of the main sources of information needed in social decision-making. There are currently 12 publicly financed research institutes in seven administrative sectors.

State research institutes, with abbreviations (administrative sector):

Finnish Institute of International Affairs, UPI (Parliament of Finland)
Government Institute for Economic Research, VATT (Ministry of Finance)
Natural Resources Institute Finland LUKE (Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry)
Finnish Food Safety Authority, EVIRA (Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry)
National Land Survey of Finland NLS (Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry)
Finnish Meteorological Institute (Ministry of Transport and Communications)
Geological Survey of Finland, GTK (Ministry of Employment and the Economy)
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd * (Ministry of Employment and the Economy)
Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, STUK (Ministry of Social Affairs and Health)
National Institute for Health and Welfare, THL (Ministry of Social Affairs and Health)
Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, TTL (Ministry of Social Affairs and Health)
Finnish Environment Institute, SYKE (Ministry of the Environment)

* non-profit state enterprise with special tasks

The primary task of state research institutes, which are the main actors in sector research, is to acquire, produce and provide information as the basis for political decision-making and development of society. In addition to research duties the institutes have a varying number of different specialist, monitoring, training, guidance and other official functions, charged and other service activities and so on. Research institutes produce services horizontally to many different administrative sectors and to the rest of the public sector. They also provide services to businesses and to third sector operators.

The majority of research and development activities carried out in research institutes are financed with appropriations allocated in the state budget. In addition to budget funding R&D activities are increasingly financed by external funding consisting of income from charged services and funding from elsewhere than the institute's own budget classes. External funding mainly comes on a competitive basis from several sources and from both domestic public and private sectors and international sources. The share of external funding is based on the performance targets of the institutes and is thus estimated.

Research institutes attached to ministries are one of the main sources of information needed in social decision-making. There are currently 18 publicly financed research institutes in nine administrative sectors.

State research institutes, with abbreviations (administrative sector):
Finnish Institute of International Affairs, UPI (Parliament of Finland)
National Research Institute of Legal Policy, OPTULA (Ministry of Justice)
Government Institute for Economic Research, VATT (Ministry of Finance)
Research Institute for the Languages of Finland, KOTUS (Ministry of Education)
Agrifood Research Finland, MTT (Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry)
Finnish Food Safety Authority, EVIRA (Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry)
Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute, RKTL (Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry)
Finnish Forest Research Institute, METLA (Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry)
Finnish Geodetic Institute (Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry)
Finnish Meteorological Institute (Ministry of Transport and Communications)
Geological Survey of Finland, GTK (Ministry of Employment and the Economy)
Technical Research Centre of Finland, VTT (Ministry of Employment and the Economy)
Centre for Metrology and Accreditation, MIKES (Ministry of Employment and the Economy)
National Consumer Research Centre (Ministry of Employment and the Economy)
Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, STUK (Ministry of Social Affairs and Health)
National Institute for Health and Welfare, THL (Ministry of Social Affairs and Health)
Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, TTL (Ministry of Social Affairs and Health)
Finnish Environment Institute, SYKE (Ministry of the Environment)

The primary task of state research institutes, which are the main actors in sector research, is to acquire, produce and provide information as the basis for political decision-making and development of society. In addition to research duties the institutes have a varying number of different specialist, monitoring, training, guidance and other official functions, charged and other service activities and so on. Research institutes produce services horizontally to many different administrative sectors and to the rest of the public sector. They also provide services to businesses and to third sector operators.

The majority of research and development activities carried out in research institutes are financed with appropriations allocated in the state budget. In addition to budget funding R&D activities are increasingly financed by external funding consisting of income from charged services and funding from elsewhere than the institute's own budget classes. External funding mainly comes on a competitive basis from several sources and from both domestic public and private sectors and international sources. The share of external funding is based on the performance targets of the institutes and is thus estimated.