Facts and figures

The Kingdom of Norway is a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. Norway is known for its extensive coastline, fjords and mountains, and is a member of the European Economic Area and of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.¹ Norway invested revenue from its oil and gas fields in the North Sea over past decades in a national sovereign wealth fund – now the world’s largest and worth more than 1.5 trillion Euro in 2025. ² The Norwegian government encourages investment in R&D and has formal policies to promote large international collaboration in research across a wide variety of organizations and disciplines.³

There are 11 state-owned universities in Norway, along with other public and private higher education institutions.⁴ Around 56% of Norwegian adults attain a tertiary education.⁵

Norway has a highly developed research and innovation ecosystem with more than 54,700 people working in R&D in 2023. Gross expenditure on research and development (GERD) increased by 23 % between 2019 and 2023 to reach 94.5 billion Norwegian kroner or 1.85% of Gross Domestic Product. The main sectors financing GERD in 2022 were business enterprise, providing 44%, and government, with 45%. ⁶

The European Patent Office granted 399 patents to residents of Norway in 2024.⁷

Life scientists in Norway have access to funding from the national research council⁸ ,through Horizon Europe and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions⁹ as well as EMBO.