FINMARI Strategy

Our Values

Excellence
     FINMARI strives for excellence in all its activities, services and products.

Collaboration
     The partners of FINMARI collaborate across disciplines and organizations. 
     FINMARI supports open science practices and offers access to its facilities and data.

Respect
     We respect the intrinsic value of nature, which should not be treated as a commodity
     or resource to be exploited and discarded.
     We respect our fellow humans.

Vision

     FINMARI is a leading marine research infrastructure, integrating the national
     service providers across research disciplines, and enabling internationally 
     cutting-edge marine science to address the issues facing marine ecosystems globally.

Mission

     FINMARI is a key asset for Finnish marine research, education and monitoring. 
     It combines major partners of the Finnish marine research community into an
     interdisciplinary, integrated and distributed research infrastructure.

     FINMARI enables excellent science and research mobility by providing access to
     observational and experimental marine research facilities, and by connecting
     Finnish marine research to European marine research infrastructures. 
     FINMARI develops open access to data, data products and services. 
     It facilitates the dialogue between science and policy makers in its focal themes:
     biodiversity loss, pollution, climate change, marine safety and security, and the
     green transition.

     The partner universities are responsible for marine university education in Finland.
     FINMARI has a broad impact on society beyond the scientific community.

Operational environment

    The global climate and biodiversity crises are inextricably linked, and our oceans and
     coastal seas are changing at an unprecedented rate. The Baltic Sea is under
     increasing impacts from these global changes, and the degradation of its ecosystems
     is catalyzed by eutrophication, pollution, land use and resource extraction. 
     At the  same time, increasing use of marine resources and space requires science-
     based guidance to promote their sustainability. 

     Marine safety and security sectors are searching for marine know-how, data,
     infrastructures, and strategic partnerships. Digitalization, open access data-portals
     and the overall requests of data FAIRness require new solutions.

     The Finnish Marine Research Strategy (published in 2024) identifies FINMARI as
     the key platform and enabler of long-term multidisciplinary cooperation in marine
     research and monitoring, to ensure a healthy marine environment generating
     wellbeing for society.

FINMARI in the environmental RI landscape

     The coordinated national marine RI enables effective participation in regional,
     European and global marine research and conservation processes, and gives Finland
     the opportunity to take on a key role in them. In the European marine RI landscape,
     FINMARI is well-positioned and esteemed, acting as a model of fluent and successful
     RI collaboration across domain boundaries.

     FINMARI is the only national marine RI in Finland and it ties together, on a national
     level, several European RIs, marine research organizations, networks and 
     data aggregators.

FINMARI builds its strategy on 7 cross-functional and inter-linked pillars

1. Science 

     FINMARI enables excellent, high-impact science by providing access to state-of-
     the-art research facilities and data, and by utilizing the interoperability and synergies
     of the consortium partnership.

2. Research, Development and Innovation

     FINMARI develops and promotes the use of novel technologies and user-driven
     applications for marine research and monitoring, shares expertise, and actively 
     disseminates results.

3. Data 

     FINMARI supports the production of marine data and data products. 
     It enhances the production and management of FAIR (Findable, Available,
     Interoperable and Re-usable) and AI/ML (Artificial Intelligence/ Machine Learning)
     compliant data in collaboration with other data producers and aggregators.

4. Education

     FINMARI educates at all levels of the society, including citizens, students and 
     young scientists. FINMARI creates and supports career-paths in marine research,
     communication and RI management.

5. Marine protection

     FINMARI is the key platform and enabler of long-term research and expert
     knowledge to combat the environmental triple crisis in the Baltic Sea: 
     climate change and biodiversity degradation and pollution.

6. Societal needs

     FINMARI promotes and co-creates services and solutions for marine safety 
     and security, green transition, and sustainable use of marine resources and spaces,
     in collaboration with multi-sectoral user communities.

7. Global partnerships 

     FINMARI actively develops and maintains internal, national and international
     collaborations and networks.

The strategy - in relation to the operational environment - is reviewed every two years by the Management Group and approved by the Board. The strategy also presented to the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) in annual meetings.