The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense…" With an annual budget of about $6.06 billion, we are the funding source for approximately 20 percent of all federally supported basic research conducted by America's colleges and universities. In many fields such as mathematics, computer science and the social sciences, NSF is the major source of federal backing.

The ARC is a statutory authority within the Australian Government's Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (IISR) portfolio. Its mission is to deliver policy and programs that advance Australian research and innovation globally and benefit the community.

In seeking to achieve its mission, the ARC provides advice to the Government on research matters and manages the National Competitive Grants Program (NCGP), a significant component of Australia's investment in research and development.

Through the NCGP, the ARC supports the highest-quality fundamental and applied research and research training through national competition across all disciplines, with the exception of clinical medicine and dentistry.

The National Research Council (NRC) is the Government of Canada's premier organization for research and development. We have been active since 1916.

Our Mandate

NRC is a Government of Canada organization. Our mandate is set out in the National Research Council Act (NRC Act).

Under the NRC Act, NRC is responsible for:

• undertaking, assisting or promoting scientific and industrial research in different fields of importance to Canada;
• establishing, operating and maintaining a national science library;
• publishing and selling or otherwise distributing such scientific and technical information as the Council deems necessary;
• investigating standards and methods of measurement;
• working on the standardization and certification of scientific and technical apparatus and instruments and materials used or usable by Canadian industry;
• operating and administering any astronomical observatories established or maintained by the Government of Canada;
• administering NRC's research and development activities, including grants and contributions used to support a number of international activities and providing vital scientific and technological services to the research and industrial communities. 

The National Research Foundation (NRF) was set up on 1 January 2006 as a department under the Prime Minister's Office. It was set up to perform the following:

a. To provide secretariat support to the Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council (RIEC), chaired by the Prime Minister;

b.To coordinate the research of different agencies within the larger national framework in order to provide a coherent strategic overview and direction;

c. To develop policies and plans to implement the five strategic thrusts for the national R&D agenda; and

To implement national research, innovation and enterprise strategies approved by the RIEC, and to allocate funding to programmes that meet NRF's strategic objectives.

The DNR Foundation works at strengthening Danish research through larger-scale investment in long term basic research endeavours. The main strategy of the Foundation is to establish and fund Centres of Excellence. Since 1991, the Foundation has committed itself to support the Danish research environments with a total of 3.8 billion DKK.

The Danish National Research Foundation is an independent foundation, which works at strengthening Danish basic research within all research fields.

The Foundation was established in 1991 with a capital of 2 billion DKK. In later years, the Government has furthermore allocated annual budget means to the Foundation to augment the funding distribution.

The Foundation’s main working method is to set up and fund research centres of the highest international standing – Centres of Excellence – for periods of 5-10 years.

Over the years, 68 Centres of Excellence have been established. The Foundation has committed itself to support the Danish research environments with a total of 3.8 billion DKK.

The Foundation annually distributes 300 million DKK. This corresponds to approximately 2 % of the annual public research expenditure.

As a supplement to the Centres of Excellence, the Foundation experiments with various other programs, particularly with a view to strengthening the internationalisation of Danish research. In later years the Foundation has invested in six internationally recognised visiting professors and funded the recruitment of three outstanding professors to Danish research environments for a five-year period.

The effect of these investments is clearly visible, i.e. in the exceptional quality of the research output, the high degree of international cooperation, the extensive PhD production, the number of prestigious prizes and honours, and in the ability to attract external funding from abroad.

In July 2007, the Foundation posted a call for outline proposals for new centres of excellence. After this round of applications, the Foundation will in reality have disposed its entire capital. It is therefore imperative that new capital is injected into the Foundation in the years to come.

The Danish National Research Foundation is governed by a board consisting of a chairman (Professor Klaus Bock) and eight members. The administration is headed by the director of the Foundation, Professor Thomas Sinkjær

The Swedish Research Council is a government agency that provides funding for basic research of the highest scientific quality in all disciplinary domains.

Besides research funding, the agency works with strategy, analysis, and research communication.

The objective is for Sweden to be a leading research nation.

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation) is the central, self-governing research funding organization that promotes research at universities and other publicly financed research institutions in Germany.

The DFG serves all branches of science and the humanities by funding research projects and facilitating cooperation among researchers.

Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) is a key organisation in the implementation of the NDP 2007-2013 and the Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation 2006-2013.  A sum of €8.2 billion has been allocated for scientific research under the NDP and SSTI of which SFI has responsibility to invest €1.4 billion.  SFI will continue to invest in academic researchers and research teams who are most likely to generate new knowledge, leading edge technologies and competitive enterprises in the fields of science and engineering underpinning three broad areas: Biotechnology; Information and communications technology; Sustainable energy and energy-efficient technologies

In addition, the Research Frontiers Programme supports the very best research in a broad range of disciplines in Science, Mathematics and Engineering. SFI makes grants based upon the merit review of distinguished scientists. SFI also advances co-operative efforts among education, government, and industry that support its fields of emphasis and promotes Ireland’s ensuing achievements around the world.

The vision of NRF is "To support world-class research activities, and create an internationally competitive research environment and innovation system in the United Arab Emirates"

The outcomes of these research activities will enable UAE to become a source of intellectual property, ideas and knowledge, enable the businesses of UAE to be more competitive and enhance the lives of the citizens of UAE.

The mission of NRF is "To build an internationally competitive research capacity for the economic and social development of the United Arab Emirates"

The functions of NRF are to:

- provide research leadership in the country;

- advise the Minister of Higher Education & Scientific Research on all research matters;

- recommend the funding of centers, programs, institutions and individuals;

- administer the research initiatives, schemes and funding programs for which it has responsibility.

NRF Guiding Principles

The foundation is established with fundamental core values that influence everyone in the organization and support the mission. The guiding principles of NRF are:

Excellence: support high-quality and innovative research that is locally relevant and internationally recognized.

Strategic direction: support research in areas of national priority that delivers the greatest social and economic benefits to UAE.

Accountability: use transparent processes consistent with international best-practice.

Partnership: Encourage partnerships among universities, research institutes and centers, government, and industry at the local, national, and international level.

NRF's Objectives:

Maintaining objectives are essential to advancing NRF’s vision and the mission, they are:

Discovery: develop and maintain a solid foundation of world-class research across a range of nationally relevant disciplines. Linkage: encourage and extend cooperative approaches to research between universities, government and industry. Research Infrastructure: increase the level and quality of research infrastructure in UAE.

Innovation and entrepreneurship: contribute towards the building of an internationally competitive innovation system and culture of entrepreneurship in UAE.

Research education and training, and careers: contribute to high-quality research education and raining, and foster career opportunities for early career researchers, particularly UAE nationals.

Public engagement: increase public and government awareness and understanding of the benefits of national research and the important results from NRF funded projects.

Good governance: implement best-practice governance and organizational structures consistent with transparency and accountability. 

What is the ERC?

The European Research Council (ERC) is the first European funding body set up to support investigator-driven frontier research.

Its main aim is to stimulate scientific excellence by supporting and encouraging the very best, truly creative scientists, scholars and engineers to be adventurous and take risks in their research. The scientists are encouraged to go beyond established frontiers of knowledge and the boundaries of disciplines.

The ERC complements other funding activities in Europe such as those of the national research funding agencies, and is a flagship component of the 'Ideas Programme' of the European Union's Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7).

The ERC aims to:

• support the best of the best scientific efforts in Europe across all fields of science, scholarship and engineering.
• promote wholly investigator-driven, or 'bottom-up' frontier research.
• encourage the work of the established and next generation of independent top research leaders in Europe.
• reward innovative proposals by placing emphasis on the quality of the idea rather than the research area.
• harness the diversity of European research talent and channel funds into the most promising or distinguished researchers.
• raise the status and visibility of European frontier research and the very best researchers of today and tomorrow.

put excellence at the heart of European Research 

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) distributes public money for teaching and research to universities and colleges. In doing so, it aims to promote high quality education and research, within a financially healthy sector. The Council also plays a key role in ensuring accountability and promoting good practice.

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) distributes public money to universities and colleges in England that provide higher education. Most of this goes to the 130 universities and higher education colleges in England. We do not provide grants or loans for individual students. Information on the amount of funding we allocate is available under Finance & assurance.

Some HEFCE funds support higher education courses in 124 directly-funded further education colleges, but the main funding body for further education is the Learning and Skills Council. Grants for universities and colleges in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are allocated by their own funding bodies.

Our funds support four main areas of activity by universities and colleges, which are reflected in our strategic aims and in the Government's White Paper, 'The future of higher education'.

HEFCE was set up by the Government in 1992 as a 'non-departmental public body. This means that we work within a policy framework set by the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, but we are not part of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills – DIUS (formerly the Department for Education and Skills or DfES). We have distinct statutory duties that are free from direct political control.

The broad policy framework we work within is set out in the Management Statement between the DIUS and HEFCE. The terms and conditions under which the DIUS makes funds available to us so that we can carry out our duties is set out in the Financial Memorandum between DIUS and HEFCE. Both documents are revised periodically; the most recent versions can be downloaded below.

What we do - at a glance

• distribute money to universities and colleges for higher education teaching, research and related activities
• fund programmes to support the development of higher education
• monitor the financial and managerial health of universities and colleges
• ensure the quality of teaching is assessed
• provide money to further education colleges for their higher education programmes
• provide guidance on good practice. 

Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation (Teknologian kehittämiskeskus : Tekes)

Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology andInnovation is the main government financing and expert organisation for research and technological evelopment in Finland.

Tekes finances industrial R&D projects as well as projects in universities and research institutes. Tekes especially promotes innovative, risk-intensive projects.

The Research Council serves as strategic adviser, funding agency and network builder and bases its activities on national research policy and guidelines established by the norwegian Government.

Key policy documents

Norwegian research policy is laid down in Report No. 30 (2008-2009) to the Storting: Climate for Research, which identifies areas of research expected to play a crucial role in meeting key challenges facing society.

The report

• upholds the Government's long term ambition that total R&D expenditure will constitute 3 per cent of GDP
• emphasises the need to focus on major global challenges relating to energy, climate, poverty and health
• incorporates perspectives relating to the northern areas
• sets clear targets for the role of the public sector in industry-oriented research
• signals a desire to increase investment in basic research
• suggests a new funding model for infrastructure
• sets clear targets for increased recruitment
• advocates greater focus on internationalisation
• states that resource use throughout the research sector will be evaluated

Report on innovation

The Ministry of Trade and Industry presented Norway's first white paper on innovation, Report No. 7 (2008-2009) to the Storting - An Innovative and Sustainable Norway - in December 2008. The report was debated in the Storting in the spring of 2009.

Report on regional development

In Report No. 12 (2006-2007) to the Storting on regional development in Norway, the Government suggested a transfer of power and authority from the state to a new, regional level of the electoral government.

The Research Council has implemented activities designed to enhance the ability of the regions and regional players to qualify for participation in national and international competitive R&D arenas. The Research Council plays a key role in the ongoing effort to establish regional research funds.

The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) funds thousands of top researchers at universities and institutes and steers the course of Dutch science by means of subsidies and research programmes

The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) was a UK government department created on 28 June 2007 to take over some of the functions of the Department of Education and Skills and of the Department of Trade and Industry. In June 2009 it was merged into the newly formed Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. It was responsible for adult learning, some parts of further education, higher education, skills, science and innovation.

DIUS also had responsibility for a number of Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs). These included the Research Councils:

• Medical Research Council (Medical Research Council) 
• Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)
• Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
• The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) 
• The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
• The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
• The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)

Other NDPBs sponsored by DIUS were:

• The Technology Strategy Board 
• The Design Council 

In addition DIUS was the sponsor department for [NESTA] - the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts

Only some of DIUS's functions were UK-wide: it oversaw the science budget, provided through the Research Councils, for the UK as a whole. On the other hand, education is a devolved matter and there were corresponding departments in the Northern Ireland Executive, Scottish Government and Welsh Assembly Government.

The only Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills was the Rt Hon John Denham MP.

The first Permanent Secretary, Ian Watmore, moved to a new appointment, leading to the appointment of Sir Jon Shortridge.

The Department's role was to:

• Accelerate the commercial exploitation of creativity and knowledge, through innovation and research, to create wealth, grow the economy, build successful businesses and improve quality of life.
• Improve the skills of the population throughout their working lives to create a workforce capable of sustaining economic competitiveness, and enable individuals to thrive in the global economy.
• Build social and community cohesion through improved social justice, civic participation and economic opportunity by raising aspirations and broadening participation, progression and achievement in learning and skills.
• Pursue global excellence in research and knowledge, promote the benefits of science in society, and deliver science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills in line with employer demand.
• Strengthen the capacity, quality and reputation of the Further and Higher Education systems and institutions to support national economic and social needs.
• Encourage better use of science in Government, foster public service innovation, and support other Government objectives which depend on DIUS’ expertise and remit.

A number of education functions of the former DfES (largely those focussed on the 14 - 19 age group) were taken over by the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

The Global Forum for Health Research provides evidence, tools and discussion forums for decision-makers in research funding and policy to improve the health of poor populations through research for health

Vision

A world in which the potential of research and innovation is fully utilized to address the health problems of the poor.

Mission

To play a leadership role in catalysing global research applied to the health problems of the poor, through

1.     engaging current and future high-level decision-makers from high-, middle- and low-income countries;

2.     brokering coherence and partnerships between global players in research and innovation;

3.     promoting relevant research on health and health equity;

4.     advocating increased resources for relevant research and innovation by all sectors;

5.     encouraging the use of evidence in policy- and decision-making;

6.     stimulating the dissemination of research findings in ways that will enable their utilization.

Principles

Health as a right

Equity as a principle

Research as an indispensable tool

Ethical guidelines for working with the private sector 

The Arab Petroleum Research Center (APRC), founded in 1965, is an independent organization for studies and publications on the oil and gas industry covering the Middle East, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Caspian Sea region. APRC acts as consultant to Arab oil producing countries and international oil and gas companies.

Thanks to its long-established direct contacts with the main decision-makers in the national and international companies based in the leading oil and gas exporting countries, APRC provides subscribers to its five publications with independent and authoritative information they need regularly, a thorough analysis of events in the oil and gas sectors and an assessment of economic and political strategies.

Every information and statistic is rigorously checked before publication to support your critical business decision. We add value by outlining the background and interpreting what fresh news mean for the development of the oil and gas industry in the Arab countries, Iran, Africa and the Caspian Sea region.

APRC's publications feature interviews with top officials from oil and gas companies and international energy organizations, in-depth analytical studies, papers and articles by leading experts on various aspects of the oil, gas and petrochemical industries, detailed statistics and first-hand information on contracts, projects and tenders.