3 ms·

The gov't here in Norway put $10 million on the table[1] for 2026 as a response to what's going on in the US. Due to reasons they can't direct it solely at US r

The gov't here in Norway put $10 million on the table[1] for 2026 as a response to what's going on in the US. Due to reasons they can't direct it solely at US researchers, but the intent is there: The minister has followed the recent developments in the United States closely: "Academic freedom is under pressure in the United States, and it is an unpredictable situation for many researchers in what has been the world's leading research nation for many decades. We have had close dialogue with the Norwegian knowledge communities and my Nordic colleagues about the development. It has been important for me to find good measures that we can put in place quickly, and therefore I have asked the Research Council to prioritize grant funding schemes that we can implement rapidly," says Aasland. The program is meant to last years, we'll see how it goes. Now I know, $10m ain't much in the grand scheme of things, but we're just 5 million folks over here. [1]: https://www.forskningsradet.no/en/news/2025/100-million-nok-to-attract-international-researchers/ https://www.forskningsradet.no/en/news/2025/100-million-nok-...

linotype 1y ago
That’s like a couple of DoE grants in the US.
- i_cannot_hack 1y ago
  It's an example showing that institutions elsewhere are actually responding to this (a question asked by the parent post), and Norway will very likely not be alone here.
  - magicalhippo 1y ago
    Yeah I just mentioned Norway since I'm Norwegian. Other EU countries are doing similar, like France[1]. [1]: https://www.politico.eu/article/meet-first-academic-refugees-fleeing-us-france-science-program/ https://www.politico.eu/article/meet-first-academic-refugees...
    - whatshisface 1y ago
      100M NOK is a 1% increase to Norway's annual research budget, but to replace what the current US administration is asking Congress to cut the whole of Europe would have to raise its funding level by 300-400%.
      - dotnet00 1y ago
        It's worth considering that there's still a chance that the cuts end up being more limited than proposed. Kind of like the tariffs or the Tiktok ban that's totally going to go into effect after the most recent extended grace period ends. So it makes sense that the current raises aren't big enough to make up the shortfall. They're aniticipatory in nature, with the assumption that the actual cuts will be a lot less crazy, and increases to take advantage of a talent exodus will take some time to ramp up.
- ViscountPenguin 1y ago
  Norway is a small (albeit wealthy) country. For conparables, you want to keep an eye on EU and Chinese science funding, and see if they're taking advantage of it. Norway is a good existence proof of countries reacting to this though.
foxglacier 1y ago
Yea that's practically nothing, even accounting for your population. It's $2/person compared to NASA's pre-cut budget of about $80/person/year. Where are all these other countries that might pick up the slack? Seems nobody else in the world wants to pay for science. They might complain about American science funding cuts but are happy to keep their already tiny science budgets tiny. Norway's overall science budget is $1 billion per year, or $200/person/year. US's was $200 billion/year or $600/person/year. So Norway isn't really pulling its weight.
- magicalhippo 1y ago
  Where did you get that $1 billion figure from? From what I can see[1][2], it's more like $4.6 billion? In that case it would be more like $920/person/year. [1]: https://www.fpol.no/det-norske-statsbudsjettet-2025-gir-en-nedgang-i-bevilgningene-til-fou/ https://www.fpol.no/det-norske-statsbudsjettet-2025-gir-en-n... [2]: https://nifu.brage.unit.no/nifu-xmlui/handle/11250/3166076 https://nifu.brage.unit.no/nifu-xmlui/handle/11250/3166076 (second page, first section)
  - foxglacier 1y ago
    I've lost it now, some site said 10 billion NOKs. Maybe it's classified in different ways. Either way, Norway is spending more on science than typical countries. Surprising if it's more per capita than the US though.
    - magicalhippo 1y ago
      > Maybe it's classified in different ways. This was my leading thought as well. > Surprising if it's more per capita than the US though. Well we do have these pipes in the ocean that spew money... Our oil fund is currently contributing 25% of the national budget, despite being below the somewhat stringent self-imposed spending rule[1]. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_budgetary_rule https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_budgetary_rule
ted_dunning 1y ago
The NIH budget per capita was about $139, the NSF budget per capita was about $30. Total US government research budget is about $500/capita and private R&D comes to about four times that. You are talking about $2/capita for this Norwegian contribution. Also, this has to be set against the fact that Norwegian government has cut research funding recently in real terms. The US idiocy is massively stupid on a strategic level, but it is also simply massive. That makes it hard for the rest of the world to compensate.
- ted_dunning 1y ago
  Of course, to put all of this into context, the US spends about twice on the NFL (professional football) and the NBA (professional basketball) what it spends on the NSF. (well, spent historically. we'll see how silly that gets in the future)

linotype 1y ago

That’s like a couple of DoE grants in the US.

i_cannot_hack 1y ago
It's an example showing that institutions elsewhere are actually responding to this (a question asked by the parent post), and Norway will very likely not be alone here.
- magicalhippo 1y ago
  Yeah I just mentioned Norway since I'm Norwegian. Other EU countries are doing similar, like France[1]. [1]: https://www.politico.eu/article/meet-first-academic-refugees-fleeing-us-france-science-program/ https://www.politico.eu/article/meet-first-academic-refugees...
  - whatshisface 1y ago
    100M NOK is a 1% increase to Norway's annual research budget, but to replace what the current US administration is asking Congress to cut the whole of Europe would have to raise its funding level by 300-400%.
    - dotnet00 1y ago
      It's worth considering that there's still a chance that the cuts end up being more limited than proposed. Kind of like the tariffs or the Tiktok ban that's totally going to go into effect after the most recent extended grace period ends. So it makes sense that the current raises aren't big enough to make up the shortfall. They're aniticipatory in nature, with the assumption that the actual cuts will be a lot less crazy, and increases to take advantage of a talent exodus will take some time to ramp up.
ViscountPenguin 1y ago
Norway is a small (albeit wealthy) country. For conparables, you want to keep an eye on EU and Chinese science funding, and see if they're taking advantage of it. Norway is a good existence proof of countries reacting to this though.

foxglacier 1y ago

Yea that's practically nothing, even accounting for your population. It's $2/person compared to NASA's pre-cut budget of about $80/person/year. Where are all these other countries that might pick up the slack? Seems nobody else in the world wants to pay for science. They might complain about American science funding cuts but are happy to keep their already tiny science budgets tiny. Norway's overall science budget is $1 billion per year, or $200/person/year. US's was $200 billion/year or $600/person/year. So Norway isn't really pulling its weight.

magicalhippo 1y ago
Where did you get that $1 billion figure from? From what I can see[1][2], it's more like $4.6 billion? In that case it would be more like $920/person/year. [1]: https://www.fpol.no/det-norske-statsbudsjettet-2025-gir-en-nedgang-i-bevilgningene-til-fou/ https://www.fpol.no/det-norske-statsbudsjettet-2025-gir-en-n... [2]: https://nifu.brage.unit.no/nifu-xmlui/handle/11250/3166076 https://nifu.brage.unit.no/nifu-xmlui/handle/11250/3166076 (second page, first section)
- foxglacier 1y ago
  I've lost it now, some site said 10 billion NOKs. Maybe it's classified in different ways. Either way, Norway is spending more on science than typical countries. Surprising if it's more per capita than the US though.
  - magicalhippo 1y ago
    > Maybe it's classified in different ways. This was my leading thought as well. > Surprising if it's more per capita than the US though. Well we do have these pipes in the ocean that spew money... Our oil fund is currently contributing 25% of the national budget, despite being below the somewhat stringent self-imposed spending rule[1]. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_budgetary_rule https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_budgetary_rule

ted_dunning 1y ago

The NIH budget per capita was about $139, the NSF budget per capita was about $30. Total US government research budget is about $500/capita and private R&D comes to about four times that. You are talking about $2/capita for this Norwegian contribution. Also, this has to be set against the fact that Norwegian government has cut research funding recently in real terms. The US idiocy is massively stupid on a strategic level, but it is also simply massive. That makes it hard for the rest of the world to compensate.

ted_dunning 1y ago
Of course, to put all of this into context, the US spends about twice on the NFL (professional football) and the NBA (professional basketball) what it spends on the NSF. (well, spent historically. we'll see how silly that gets in the future)