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Executive Summary
The scope of Arctic research in Iceland has been increasing during the past decade and the amount of grants allocated to Arctic research projects has risen. This report contains an overview of governance of Arctic policy in Iceland and a profile of Arctic research performers, such as universities, institutes, companies and infrastructure. An analysis of both domestic and international funds supporting Arctic research is the main content of the report. Both domestic and international funds were examined, however the main focus was on the Icelandic Research Fund and EU Horizon 2020. Selected Arctic research projects with Icelandic participation and international platforms that serve Arctic-related issues are described. DOMESTIC FUNDS • Total amount granted to Arctic research from all national funds in the years 2009-2019 was 1,493,200,788 ISK. • The Icelandic Research Fund was by far the biggest domestic fund, contributing 1,180,897,000 ISK, which is 79.1% of all Arctic research grants. • The financial contribution to Arctic research from the Icelandic Research Fund was 6.93% of its total allocations. • Arctic research projects within the University of Iceland received 70.1% of the total allocation to Arctic research from the Icelandic Research Fund. • A significant majority, or 94.3% of Arctic research projects funded by the Icelandic Research Fund, were in the field of science and technology - 71.9% being in natural and environmental science and 22.3% in engineering, technical sciences and sciences. Only 5.7% were allocated to humanities and social sciences. INTERNATIONAL FUNDS • In this report the focus on international funding is the EU Horizon 2020 programme. The total sum granted by Horizon 2020 to Icelandic participants for Arctic research was €7,322,932 (992,914,422 ISK) out of a total of €120,398,311 during the period 2014-2020. • The percentage of funding to Arctic research projects out of the total funding from Horizon 2020 to Icelandic participants was 6.08%. • The distribution of total Arctic research funding to Icelandic participants from Horizon 2020 is more evenly distributed between companies and institutes, compared to the national competitive funds. ICEWIND and the Stefansson Arctic Institute have each received over 20% of the grant allocation to Arctic research from the Horizon 2020 programme. • The participants with most participation instances in Horizon 2020 Arctic projects are Arctic Portal (six instances), the Agricultural University of Iceland (four instances) and the University of Iceland (three instances). • The biggest Horizon 2020 Arctic projects with Icelandic participants are the NJORD, JUSTNORTH and INTERACT projects, which received over 10% of the funding. • For FP7 the total allocation to Icelandic participants, for Arctic research projects was €2,038,363 (328,244,676 ISK) out of a total of €67,591,003, which resulted in 3.02%. For FP6 there were no Arctic research projects funded. These results showcase an increased activity in Icelandic participation in Arctic research projects funded by the EU Framework Programme on research and innovation. Combined, FP7 and Horizon 2020 have granted €9,361,295 (1,321,159,098 ISK) to Arctic research in Iceland.
