Universities warn EU science funding could fall sevenfold

Estonia’s proposed European Union funding for science could fall from €195 million to €30 million in the next funding period, the Estonian Rectors’ Council said, according to ERR.

The council’s chair, Tiit Land, wrote to the Ministry of Finance that the Ministry of Education and Research’s requested science funding would be reduced from €195 million to €30 million under the ministry’s initial proposal. Funding requested for education would fall from more than €377 million to €95 million.

Compared with the grants available during the current period, the proposal would mean a cut of more than sevenfold for science and more than four-and-a-half-fold for education, Land wrote.

Estonia’s ability to transfer research results to companies, develop necessary research infrastructure and attract talent depends significantly on EU structural funds, he said.

The funding is being planned for the next seven-year EU financial period. The funds would support research and development overseen by the Ministry of Education and Research.

“Essentially, it can be said that this money does not actually exist,” Land said.

Triin Tomingas, head of the Ministry of Finance’s foreign funds department, said that Estonia would receive a total of €6.5 billion in grants during the next EU budget period under the European Commission’s proposal. Of that amount, €5.4 billion could be allocated this autumn, while the rest must remain in reserve under EU rules.

Requests exceed available funding

“There are always, and understandably, significantly more requests than the amount of funding made available to us,” Tomingas said.

She said that if all requests could not be included in the EU funding package in full, this should not be described as a cut. No sector would lose existing funding, but it would not be possible to provide additional money in the requested amounts, she said.

“In spring, the ministries submitted funding requests totalling €11.4 billion, which is more than twice the amount that can be covered,” Tomingas said.

The Ministry of Finance used the requests to prepare input and proposals for political discussions, which began in the government this week alongside talks on the state budget.

Tomingas said the material prepared for the government considered sectors more broadly than the requests of individual ministries. What mattered was the total amount of funding going to a sector and the goals it was intended to achieve, she said.

Research, development and innovation in Estonia are not handled solely by the Ministry of Education and Research, she added.

“We have therefore proposed more than €600 million in funding across several ministries to promote competitiveness, research and development, innovation and entrepreneurship. More than €100 million of that has been proposed specifically for research, development and innovation measures,” Tomingas said.

The remaining funds could support industrial policy, export capacity, the digitalisation and automation of companies, the launch of businesses, and small and medium-sized enterprises.

There are also greater opportunities to fund research, development and innovation through EU-wide funds. Funding for competitiveness and innovation will increase in the next period, and Estonia will be able to apply for support to improve the quality of its science and its capacity for innovation.