Scandinavia and Nordic Countries
The Nordic countries — Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland — share a regionally coordinated approach to open science infrastructure, with aligned national policies, shared investment in European research infrastructure, and a disproportionately large contribution to open neuroscience data relative to their population size. Nordic open science coordination operates through NordForsk (the Nordic Council of Ministers’ research funding body) and through a shared footprint in EBRAINS national nodes, ELIXIR national nodes, and BBMRI-ERIC national biobanks.
Regional Coordination
NordForsk funds transnational Nordic research initiatives and has a formal commitment to open science aligned with the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Open Science policy position. Nordic ELIXIR nodes (ELIXIR-SE via SciLifeLab, ELIXIR-FI via FIMM/CSC, ELIXIR-NO via ELIXIR Norway, ELIXIR-DK via DTU Biolib, and ELIXIR-IS via Bioinfo.is) form a well-integrated subgroup within the European ELIXIR federation. Nordic BBMRI-ERIC biobanks, including the Finnish biobanks coordinated by FINBB and Swedish biobanks under the Swedish Biobank Programme, are among Europe’s best-resourced population collections.
Norway
Open Science Policy
The Research Council of Norway (RCN) requires data management plans for all funded projects and has adopted the national Open Access policy mandating immediate open access to publicly funded research publications. Norway is a Horizon-associated country and Norwegian institutions are subject to EC Open Science Policy mandates for EU-funded work.
Neuroscience Infrastructure
NORBRAIN (Norwegian Brain Initiative) is the RCN-funded national neuroscience infrastructure programme running since 2011, coordinating advanced neurotechnology across three institutional hubs at NTNU, UiO, and UiB. NORBRAIN4 (2025–2027) established the EBRAINS Norway National Node, formally integrating Norwegian infrastructure into EBRAINS. The Norwegian INCF Node, operative since 2006 at UiO, is now operationally merged into the EBRAINS Norway structure under NORBRAIN4.
KISN (Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience) at NTNU Trondheim is the scientific director hub of NORBRAIN and one of the most significant sources of open electrophysiology data in the world. Grid cell datasets from KISN are among the earliest in vivo recordings ever released publicly in systems neuroscience, now formally archived on DANDI Archive in NWB format. KISN is a named partner of the BrainGlobe Initiative and an active collaborator in the Neuropixels development ecosystem.
Data Protection
Datatilsynet (the Norwegian Data Protection Authority) is the supervisory authority for GDPR and the Norwegian Personal Data Act in Norway. Norway aligns with European data protection standards as a member of the European Economic Area.
Sweden
Open Science Policy
The Swedish Research Council (VR, Vetenskapsrådet) has required open access to research publications since 2010 and expanded its mandate to include research data in 2019, requiring FAIR-aligned data management for all funded projects. The IMY (Integritetsskyddsmyndigheten) is Sweden’s data protection authority and an EDPB member. Sweden is an EU member state fully subject to EC Open Science Policy and EHDS requirements.
| Who | What is required | For whom | In force since |
|---|---|---|---|
| VR | Data management plan, FAIR data sharing, open access to publications | All VR-funded projects | 2019 (data), 2010 (publications) |
| EC Open Science Policy | DMP, FAIR deposit, open access | Swedish institutions in Horizon Europe | 2021 |
Infrastructure
SciLifeLab is Sweden’s national life science infrastructure, jointly operated by Karolinska Institutet, KTH, Stockholm University, and Uppsala University. It hosts the National Genomics Infrastructure (NGI), the National Bioinformatics Infrastructure Sweden (NBIS, Sweden’s ELIXIR node), and a Data Centre providing FAIR data management services. The SND (Swedish National Data Service), funded by the Swedish Research Council and nine universities, provides national research data deposit, discovery, and preservation infrastructure across all disciplines and is Sweden’s primary national data repository.
Human Protein Atlas (HPA) is a Swedish open-access resource mapping genome-wide protein expression in human tissues including brain, produced within the SciLifeLab ecosystem by KTH and Uppsala University. It is a designated ELIXIR Core Data Resource and the primary open reference for spatial protein expression in the human brain.
Data Protection
The IMY (Integritetsskyddsmyndigheten) is the Swedish Data Protection Authority, an EDPB member, responsible for GDPR enforcement for Swedish biobank and neuroscience data processing.
Finland
Open Science Policy
The Research Council of Finland (formerly Academy of Finland) operates an open access and open data mandate aligned with European standards, requiring data management plans and open access to publications for funded projects. CSC (IT Center for Science), the national HPC and research data infrastructure provider, operates Fairdata services for Finnish researchers including Qvain (metadata and dataset publication), Etsin (dataset discovery), and IDA (research data storage).
FinnGen
FinnGen is Finland’s flagship genomics programme, a public-private partnership coordinated by FIMM (Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki) with nine Finnish biobanks, major university hospitals, and thirteen pharmaceutical companies. With over 500,000 genotyped participants, FinnGen releases GWAS summary statistics for more than 2,400 disease endpoints openly after a twelve-month embargo. Neurological and psychiatric endpoints are extensively covered, and FinnGen summary statistics are among the most widely used open genomics resources globally for neurodegenerative disease genetics.
Data Protection
The Finnish Data Protection Ombudsman is Finland’s supervisory authority for the General Data Protection Regulation, overseeing all Finnish biobank and health data processing activities.
Denmark
Open Science Policy
The Independent Research Fund Denmark (DFF) and the Novo Nordisk Foundation both require open access and data management for funded projects. The Danish Data Protection Agency (Datatilsynet) is Denmark’s GDPR supervisory authority.
Neuroscience Infrastructure
The Neurobiology Research Unit (NRU) at Copenhagen University Hospital (Rigshospitalet) produced Public-nEUro, the GDPR-compliant European neuroimaging repository hosted in Denmark, and leads the OpenNeuroPET initiative, which developed the PET extension to BIDS and the PET2BIDS converter. The NRU is the institutional origin of Public-nEUro, Denmark’s primary contribution to open brain imaging infrastructure.
Iceland
deCODE genetics in Reykjavík has whole-genome sequenced over 60% of the Icelandic adult population, making Iceland one of the most densely genotyped national populations in the world. deCODE is now an Amgen subsidiary but operates as a research institute with its own wet laboratory, bioinformatics team, and publication track record. GWAS summary statistics for neurological and psychiatric phenotypes are openly shared, and variant data are deposited to EVA and dbSNP. deCODE contributed to the founding framework of the 1+MG initiative.
International Engagement
Nordic institutions are active participants in EBRAINS (Norway via NORBRAIN; Sweden has observer status; Finland via EBRAINS-FI), ELIXIR (all five Nordic countries have national nodes), and BBMRI-ERIC (Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark all operate national biobanks within the BBMRI network). KISN (Norway) and the SWC (UK) are named BrainGlobe Initiative partners. FinnGen summary statistics feed into ENIGMA Consortium meta-analyses. The Human Protein Atlas is cross-referenced with the Allen Institute for Brain Science brain atlas and single-cell portals including CELLxGENE.