Centres of excellence programme 2000–2005 and 2002–2007

The aim of the Finnish national strategy for centres of excellence in research is to promote the emergence of high-level, innovative and efficient research and training environments that can generate top international research.

The six-year centres of excellence programme launched by the Academy of Finland in 2000 involves 26 units in different research fields. Besides the centres of excellence, this programme also provides funding to seven core facilities organisations. Within the second centre of excellence programme 2002–2007 funding is provided to 16 new units. The size of the units varies from the staff of 20 to almost 200. The funding decisions within the two programmes have been made for three years at a time.

The Academy of Finland is the major source of funding for the centres of excellence. The 2000–2005 centre of excellence programme is funded by the Academy with a total of 54.9 million euros. The 2002–2007 programme is funded with a total of 33.1 million euros. The programmes are also funded by Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, Tekes, (10.5 million € and 5.3 million €, respectively) as well as by the host organisations, i.e.universities and research institutes, which provide a significant share of the funding.

Centres of excellence 1995–1999

Since 1995, the centres of excellence have been one of the criteria for performance-based funding, allocated to universities by the Ministry of Education. The Ministry nominated the first 12 centres of excellence for the period 1995–1999, and a further five units for 1997–1999.

The 2004 budget funding for universities includes a total of 13,8 million euros of performance-based funding, allocated on the basis of centres of excellence. This money is allocated to the university as part of the core funding, and the university may use it at its discretion.