Evaluation Report Publications of the Academy of Finland 1/11

1.2  Background of the evaluation
In 2009, the Academy of Finland Research Council for Natural Sciences and 
Engineering decided to conduct an international evaluation of publicly funded 
chemistry research in Finland. This was motivated by several strategic decisions and 
reports that targeted the chemistry field and raised issues concerning the future 
demand for PhDs, the role of applied and basic research, and recent trends in the 
quality and productivity of chemistry research. However, the most important factor 
was perhaps the Academy’s research impact assessment “The state and quality of 
scientific research in Finland 2009”, SIGHT2009, where one of the recommendations 
was to evaluate the chemistry field. There was also an assessment, from the viewpoint 
of chemical industry, being prepared by Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for 
Technology and Innovation, on the available chemistry expertise at universities and 
research institutes.
The Research Council also wanted to get an overall view of the impact of 
Academy of Finland funding in the field and information on how to improve the 
Academy’s funding instruments and optimally target its resources. Apart from the 
Academy’s general research grants, this concerned the impact of graduate schools, 
whose funding is administered and partly covered by the Academy, the Centre of 
Excellence programmes, which are funded primarily by the Academy, and the Finland 
Distinguished Professor Programme (FiDiPro).

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The Strategic Centres for Science, Technology and Innovation also give rise to 
expectations for the future. The strategic centres are cooperative bodies, usually 
organised as independent companies, where different actors appear as stakeholders. 
The centres aim at more integrated innovation chains combining basic and applied 
research in a mid- and long-term perspective. The first of the strategic centres, Forest 
Cluster Ltd, is especially relevant in the context of this evaluation as the future 
importance of chemistry to the forest sector, albeit already at a high level, is expected 
to grow. The timeliness of the evaluation is further supported by the fact that 2011 
has been announced as the International Year of Chemistry.
Most importantly, chemistry research is strategically important to the future of 
Finnish society, business and industry. In terms of the gross value of production, the 
chemical industry is Finland’s second largest industrial sector after the 
technology industry. In 2009, the gross value of production totalled EUR 16 billion, 
accounting for 17 per cent of total industrial output. During the same period, chemical 
industry value-added amounted to EUR 3.5 billion, or 16 per cent of all Finnish 
industriy. Petroleum products contribute about 40 per cent and basic chemicals nearly 
one-third to the gross value of production, respectively. In terms of value added, basic 
chemicals are the largest product group and 25 per cent is accounted for by plastic 
products. About 40 per cent of chemical industry products are exported, accounting for 
17 per cent of total exports. R&D investment by the industry amounted to EUR 356 
million in 2009. There is a long tradition of collaboration between the chemical 
industry and universities, and university education and research are more important 
for this industry sector than for the Finnish industry on average. It is expected that 
this evaluation is beneficial also for the chemical industry after the strategies for 
university collaborations have been revised.