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More research at all institutions:

Health science research growing fastest

Medical and health science research is the largest research field in Norway, and activities have increased dramatically in recent years. About NOK 7 billion is invested annually in this type of research.

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This is according to a report on R&D investments in medicine and health sciences in Norway. The report was commissioned by the Research Council of Norway and drawn up by the Nordic Institute of Studies in Innovation, Research and Education (NIFU). The increase has taken place both at the level of the hospital trusts and within the higher education sector.

Health and care

Better health spawns new needs

“The strong growth in health science research is very positive,” states Jesper Simonsen, Executive Director of the Division for Society and Health at the Research Council. By the same token, he points out, the health sector is facing major challenges.

Jesper Simonsen “Continually improving public health is resulting in a larger proportion of elderly among the population. In the years to come, more people will live with complex, chronic conditions. One of the Research Council’s main priorities is to promote research to meet these challenges,” says Mr Simonsen.

“We need more research on diseases that strike many elderly people, such as diabetes, COPD, heart disease, stroke and cancer, and especially Alzheimer’s. We must also increase research and innovation to improve the health services and make them more efficient and to enhance coordination between the various service levels.”

The Research Council’s strategic function

In 2009, the Research Council allocated over NOK 0.5 billion, or 12 per cent of the total funding, to health science and medical research.

“Although the Research Council allocates a relatively small share of the total national funding of Norwegian medical and health science research, we are a key strategic player. Our open national competitive arena plays a pivotal role in ensuring high scientific quality and encouraging the internationalisation of research,” say Mr Simonsen.

(Photo: Laerdal Medical) More research at all institutions

Medical and health science research has increased at all types of institutions. The growth is considerable at both the universities and specialised university institutions and at the hospital trusts with university hospital status.
The hospital trusts conducted a total of 44 per cent of the research in 2009, whereas the universities and specialised university institutions accounted for 39 per cent, the independent research institute sector 12 per cent and public university colleges five per cent.

Norway – the most public research

Denmark allocates the greatest amount of funding to medical R&D at EUR 300 per capita, while Sweden and Iceland invest about EUR 260. This is followed by Norway with about EUR 170 per capita.

The differences between the Nordic countries are mainly a reflection of the size of their individual pharmaceutical industries.

A unique feature of Norway is that it has the largest proportion of medical and health science research conducted by the public sector or the higher education sector.

Global health

On the path towards internationalisation

Measured in terms of scientific papers co-published with international researchers, the level of internationalisation in Norwegian medical and health science research is relatively high, but there is still considerable room for improvement.

Sweden, Denmark and Finland obtain much more EU funding for their health science research than Norway. The reason is not that Norwegian researchers are less successful in winning EU funding, but that they have been less ambitious in exploiting the opportunities and seeking funding from the EU framework programmes. The Research Council would like to see this situation change.

Women out in front

In 2009, medical and health science personnel comprised over one-fourth of all the researchers in the higher education sector and the independent research institute sector, making this the field with the largest number of people involved in Norwegian R&D activity.

In recent decades, the proportion of women has increased at all levels of the academic career ladder in medicine and the health sciences. The greatest increase occurred among doctoral degree candidates, with a rise from 38 per cent in 1999 to 69 per cent in 2009. The proportion of female professors doubled during the same period. Today women hold one-fourth of all professorships in the field.