The total Norwegian research investment in 2003 was approximately NKr27 billion, which constituted 1.75 percent of the GNP. The average for the OECD member states in was approximately 2.3 percent. Norway’s research investment measured as a share of the GNP is thus considerably lower than for comparable industrialized countries. The government, however, covers a relatively high share of the national research investment. In 2001, government financing totalled circa NKr11 billion, or 44 percent of the total investment. Industry stood for approximately 50 percent, while the remaining 6 percent came from miscellaneous non-governmental public sources, idealistic organizations and from abroad.
The Norwegian system for research and higher education is such that the government is responsible for all education at the college and university levels. This is the purview of the Ministry of Education and Research, which also has responsibility for basic research, both by direct grants to the universities and by pure research programmes in the Research Council of Norway. The government’s responsibility and organization of applied, industry-oriented research is accomplished according to a type of sector principle. This entails that the Ministry of Trade and Industry tends to the branch-independent, industry-oriented research, innovation and industrial development, the Ministry of Fisheries looks after the fishery- and aquaculture-related research, and the Ministry of Agriculture attends to land- and forestry-related research, etc.
The Norwegian Ministry of Fisheries is a small ministry in terms of total manpower and annual budget, but relatively important regarding research and development. The annual grants for R&D amount to almost NKr 700 million, which constitutes about 40 percent of the department’s total budget. With the large sea areas over which Norway has control and international and self-imposed requirements for sustainable resource management, large investments directed towards research biology and the marine environment are necessary. More than half of research funds from the Ministry of Fisheries are therefore used for this type of research and for the operation of research vessels. There has always been broad agreement about this in Norway, even though such a prioritization has meant that funds from the Ministry of Fisheries for e.g. fishery-related marketing and product and process development have been rather modest.
The Norwegian seafood processing industry consists of a large number of small and medium-sized plants scattered along the long coastline. Although there has been a movement towards larger units for the last four to five years, there are still some 600 companies employing about 13 000 people, including the fishmeal, fish oil and marine biochemical production businesses. The large majority of companies have less than 25 employees. In Norway, as well as in most other European countries, a general condition for obtaining governmental financial support for applied research or industrial development projects is that a company or a group of companies takes the steering responsibility for the project and that they cover a share of the total project costs, normally 50 percent. Their financial share can in whole or in part be covered by giving the project access to equipment and premises, and by placing test materials, man-hours and operational services at the disposal of the project.
In the mid-1990s, there was a broad consensus within all branches of the fishery and aquaculture industry and the political authorities in Norway, that national R&D efforts should be strengthened. There was, however, no common opinion on the actions required to stimulate or to realize the desired growth. The industry demanded that the government increasee the grant provision in the National Budget, while the government declared that the industry itself had to match additional grants from the government by equity capital and its own efforts. A small company employing less than 50 people normally has neither the financial capability nor the human resources necessary to run projects on their own. Because of the small company structure of the Norwegian seafood industry, it was not realistic to expect a growth in R&D financed by the industry itself that would be sufficient for the future needs to maintain, not to mention strengthen, industry's competitive ability. In accordance with long Norwegian traditions, the idea of a levy on seafood production or exports earmarked for research and development was put forward. The levy would be used for the benefit of all branches of the industry: Fishermen and vessel owners, fish- and shellfish farmers, seafood producers and exporters, etc.
While fishermen and fish farmers were broadly in favour of introducing a "research levy", seafood producers and exporters in general did not applaud the idea. The obvious reason for this was that producers and exporters knew that they could never obtain 100 percent recompense from their customers for such additional costs, and that the "burden" would be shared between buyer and seller depending on the market’s price elasticity for the commodity in question. Furthermore, producers and exporters were afraid they would be given responsibility, and thereby further additional costs, for collecting the levy. However, seafood producers also realized the necessity for strengthening research, development and innovation. This recognition, the positive experiences and applicable results from the projects organized within the networks and not least the change to a more positive attitude towards research and "researchers", (which was one of the outcomes of their collaboration with scientists in the network programmes), were all factors contributing to why the Norwegian Seafood Federation ended up with a declaration of support for a research levy. However, the Federation, together with the Norwegian Fishermen's Association and the Norwegian Fish Farmers Association (which is now a branch of NSF), put forward the following conditions for their approval of introducing a levy:
The levy should be considered as the industry's own money.
Consequently, the levy should not be incorporated in the National Budget.
The industry itself, through its federations and labour unions, should have the absolute right to decide on the use of money collected.
The right to collect (and duty to pay) the levy should be regulated by law.
The organizations were emphatic that the scheme for a research levy should under no circumstances reduce future grants from the government. On the contrary, the organizations would expect an understanding from the government that governmental funding of fishery research should increase equivalently to the yearly sum of money raised from the levy.
The consensus reached by the main organizations of the fishery industry was in itself an historic event. Based on the framework the organizations had agreed upon, the government passed a law to create the legal basis for the fee. The law became effective from 1 January 2001. From this date a levy was collected equal to 0.3 percent of the export value of seafood from Norway. The annual sum collected totals approximately NKr90 million.
Norway exports 90 percnet of its seafood production. Collecting the levy on exports will not differ greatly from a system based on total catch and production, including domestic use. The Norwegian fishmeal industry is, however, exempt from the law, as almost 100 percent of the production is utilized for domestic fish feed.
