National strategic priorities for RDI policy and activities aim to boost sustainable growth, promote renewal and strengthen comprehensive security

The Research and Innovation Council has outlined five national strategic choices for research, development and innovation (RDI) policy and activities with a view to boosting sustainable growth and promoting economic and societal renewal while strengthening comprehensive security. The Research and Innovation Council published a report on the strategic choices on 9 January.

The priorities serve to define the needs of different administrative branches and actors when it comes to developing and targeting RDI activities. The goal is to strengthen national RDI policy and communicate Finland’s priorities even more clearly to international partners. Similar national choices for RDI activities have been made in Finland’s key reference countries and other countries that are global leaders in innovation.  
 
“These strategic choices support Finland’s efforts to influence EU policy and give us opportunities to communicate our national strengths more clearly in international forums. The strategic choices will be deepened and outlined in concrete terms in collaboration with a variety of actors,” says Prime Minister Petteri Orpo. 

The five national strategic choices respond to societal and global challenges that Finland has the competence to tackle. The choices are interlinked and partly overlapping, and effective RDI activities will also be created at their intersections. 
 
The strategic choices are:

• data and data-based value creation 
• disruptive technologies 
• health and wellbeing 
• climate, environment and the Arctic dimension, and  
• security, resilience and defence.  

The Research and Innovation Council also outlined two spearheads for developing the RDI system: increasing risk-taking capacity in RDI and attracting RDI investments to Finland. 

“The State has the ability to promote the development and success of strategic technology industries. Success in top sectors creates added value, growth and competitiveness for Finland and is our ticket to strategic cooperation with leading countries in these fields. By channelling RDI inputs to these joint strategic choices, the central government can leverage the productivity of inputs while enabling companies to take these choices into account in their own activities,” says Minister of Economic Affairs Sakari Puisto. 
 
The following perspectives were examined when making the strategic choices: 1) productivity, growth and renewal; 2) national and global challenges; 3) international partnerships; and 4) experts and capabilities. The preparations related to the strategic choices were carried out openly and with the involvement of various actors in a process that lasted over a year. The strategic choices support the collection and allocation of public and private RDI resources.  

“These strategic choices offer an opportunity to harness Finland’s top expertise and produce solutions to global challenges. The choices make it possible to increase RDI cooperation between companies, higher education institutions, research organisations and branches of government,” says Minister of Science and Culture Mari-Leena Talvitie, who serves as Vice-Chair of the Research and Innovation Council.

A seminar on implementing the national RDI choices in concrete terms will be held on Wednesday 4 February 2026 for actors in the RDI field. The purpose of the event is to explore opportunities for RDI cooperation offered by the choices and discuss how they will be implemented at different levels.

The Research and Innovation Council is responsible for coordinating and monitoring the implementation of the choices.

The Research and Innovation Council is an advisory body led by the Prime Minister. Its goal is to support the Government in developing its long-term comprehensive research and innovation policy, present initiatives for national strategic choices and put forth proposals for the allocation of R&D funding. 

Inquiries:

Katri Manninen, Special Adviser to Prime Minister Orpo, tel. +358 295 161 152 
Lars Aikala, Special Adviser to Minister of Economic Affairs Puisto, tel. +358 295 047 330 
Emma Hannonen, Special Adviser to Minister of Science and Culture Talvitie, tel. +358 295 330 077  
Research and Innovation Council: Johanna Moisio, Secretary General, tel. +358 295 160 625, Jussi Alho, Chief Specialist, tel. +358 295 330 388