Arne Flåøyen
DirectorNordForsk
The Nordics (Norway)
arne.flaoyen@nordforsk.org
Prior to the Second World War, France, Germany, and the UK were the leading partner countries for Nordic researchers seeking international co-operation. The war changed this. While Europe lay in ruins at the end of the war, the US had gained strength technologically, economically, culturally, and politically. The US quickly emerged as the most attractive country to seek co-operation with for talented researchers in the Nordics. With the help of programmes such as the Fulbright Program, Nordic students and researchers could secure funding for their stays in the US. Similarly, Americans could secure funding for study and research stays in the Nordic countries. Over the years, thousands of students and researchers have crossed the North Atlantic and participated in exchange activities. This has laid the foundation for long-lasting and fruitful co-operation between American and Nordic research communities for decades.
The relative importance of research co-operation between the Nordic countries and the US has diminished in line with the growth of the EU’s framework programme for research. There has been a significant increase in European research collaboration since the first framework programme was launched in 1983. As the number of EU Member States has grown, and as non-Member States like Iceland and Norway have become affiliated with the programme, Europe has become the most important source of co-operation for researchers in all the Nordic countries. Furthermore, the budgets of the framework programmes have increased substantially over the years. This has helped to further strengthen the importance of co-operation within Europe.
Research co-operation between Canada and the Nordic countries has been far less extensive than that between the US and the Nordic countries. It has largely been financed by way of small bilateral calls between individual countries in the Nordics and Canada
So far, each of the Nordic countries has had its own bilateral strategies and agreements for research collaboration with the US and Canada, respectively. It’s been especially important for the Nordic countries to have bilateral co-operation with the US. When shifting focus from the US and Canada to the Nordics, it may make sense to consider the Nordic countries as a whole.
Instead of having five separate agreements for research co-operation with five small countries that otherwise appear quite similar, one could draft a single co-operation agreement that covers the entire region. The Nordic countries are geographically connected, share a common history, established political co-operation at an early stage through the Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers, and appear quite similar both economically and socially. They have quite similar statistics and scores on all international rankings, have highly educated populations, have come a long way in the development and use of digital tools, and their citizens have high levels of trust in each other and in public authorities.
There is considerable willingness to strengthen co-operation among the Nordic countries, at least at a general level. In 2019, the Nordic prime ministers formalised their vision for the Nordic Region to become “the most sustainable and integrated region in the world by 2030”. In it we find the recognition that while the Nordic countries are small when taken individually, together they can make a significant difference. With its 27 million residents, the Nordic Region is the world’s 11th largest economy.
So what benefits can be gained by co-ordinating co-operation between North America and the Nordics better than we do today? Based on the experiences we have from Nordic research co-operation organised through NordForsk, I’d argue that Nordic-transatlantic co-operation will improve the quality of research. It will result in increased mobility, networking, and new collaborations. More transatlantic co-operation will help to build expertise and capacity in areas where it’s needed. We know that the Nordic Region has a lot of very good health data and other register data that are well suited for use in research. With further co-operation on health research, it’ll be possible to produce data that can be converted into prevention and treatment that improves people’s health and welfare. Strengthened transatlantic co-operation in research will also provide more innovation and better solutions that we can use to accelerate the green transition.
We live in a time of increased global polarisation and weakened support for democratic values, while the effects of climate change are becoming increasingly obvious. We need more research-based knowledge to overcome these challenges in a good way. Countries that share important values such as faith in democracy, human rights, and the vision of sustainable development must co-operate more. In my opinion, that’s why the Nordic countries should strengthen their research collaboration with North America in the coming years.