The Finnish Environment Institute has received 4.5 million euros from the EU's research and innovation program Horizon Europe. SYKE is coordinating two biodiversity projects, BIONEXT and BIOAGORA, which will be launched this year. Research funding was also allocated from the Horizon Europe programme to six projects in which SYKE is a partner and to two European partnerships.
“Our great success in the first call for proposals for the new EU Framework Program period showed how good preparation enables research to be carried out into EU networks promoting a green transition. Our new horizon projects support the transition to sustainability by combining scientific expertise with decision-making analysis and support in many different ways,” says Eeva Primmer, Research Director at the Finnish Environment Institute.
The BIOAGORA project will set up and develop a Science Service to ensure the widespread use of research and monitoring data in biodiversity decision-making. It supports the implementation of the objectives of the EU Biodiversity Strategy and develops methods for more efficient use of research data. The project will develop the service in close cooperation with the new EU Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity.
Researchers in the BIONEXT project will provide information, tools, and guidance on how policy-makers can take biodiversity into account through a variety of future scenarios and development pathways. The project will provide concrete options on how systemic change relevant to biodiversity
can be initiated and accelerated in society. The project supports the evaluation of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) on social means and measures to reverse nature loss. The total budget of the four-year project is EUR 4.1 million, of which the Finnish Environment Institute's share is 1.0 million.
The Finnish Environment Institute is the leader of both projects and the only Finnish player.
Horizon funded projects (leader)
- The Biodiversity Nexus: transformative change for sustainability, BIONEXT (SYKE)
- Bio Knowledge Agora: Developing the Science Service for European Research and Biodiversity Policymaking, BIOAGORA (SYKE)
- Science for Evidence-based and sustainable decisions about Natural capital, SELINA (Leibniz University Hannover, LUH)
- Achieving Good Environmental Status for maintaining ecosystem Services, by Assessing integrated impacts of cumulative pressures, GES4SEAS (AZTI Foundation)
- Designing a resilient and coherent Trans-European Network for Nature and People, NaturaConnect (International Institute For Applied System Analyses IIASA)
- Improved Science-Based Maritime Spatial Planning to Safeguard and Restore Biodiversity in a coherent European MPA network, MSP4BIO (s. Pro Sustainable Projects)
- Nitrogen and phosphorus load reduction approach within safe ecological boundaries for the Nordic-Baltic region, NORDBALT-ECOSAFE (Aarhus University)
- A touch of Blue in the EU Research Nights for a more Sustainable Use of the Ocean, BlueNIGHTs (The National Research Council, Italy, CNR)
- Water Security for the Planet, Water4All (French National Research Agency ANR)
- Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals, PARC (French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety, ANSES)
60 percent of external funding
In recent years, the Finnish Environment Institute has been very successful in its funding applications. In recent years, 40 per cent of its total funding of 64 million euros, has come from the Government’s budget, while the remaining 60 per cent has consisted of project funding obtained from different external sources.
Last year, EU funding accounted for about five million euros of SYKE's operations. In addition to the Horizon Europe, a significant source of EU funding for SYKE is the LIFE program, which funds, among other things, the Canemure for carbon neutrality and Circwaste project for circular economy.
Earlier this week, we reported on the success of the Finnish Environment Institute in the autumn call of the Academy of Finland in autumn 2021, where a total of more than 1.2 million euros was allocated to four research projects.
More information
At Finnish Research Institute:
- Research Director Eeva Primmer, +358 29 525 1521
- BIONEXT, Director Anna-Stiina Heiskanen, +358 29 525 1162
- BIOAGORA, Senior Researcher Kati Vierikko, +358 29 525 2084
- SELINA, Anu Lähteenmäki-Uutela
- GES4SEAS, Samuli Korpinen
- NaturaConnect, Maria Hällfors
- MSP4BIO, Riku Varjopuro
- NORDBALT-ECOSAFE, Seppo Hellsten
- BlueNIGHTs, Ljudmila Vesikko
- Water4All, Seppo Hellsten
- PARC, Noora Perkola
- Other projects, Research Coordinator Eeva Karjalainen, +358 29 525 1213
Emails firstname.lastname@syke.fi