Findata joined the FIRE infrastructure as an external member

Findata, the Finnish data permit authority for the secondary use of social and health data, has joined the Finnish Infrastructure for Register-Based Research (FIRE) as an external member. The collaboration strengthens opportunities to develop Finland’s register-based research ecosystem and facilitates the use of research data.

FIRE is a research infrastructure funded by the Research Council of Finland (2025–2028), which develops remote access, service, and training environments for register-based research. It builds on Statistics Finland’s FIONA remote access system and provides researchers with a secure and user-friendly environment for analysing register data.

Findata operates as the national data permit authority for social and health data. It grants permits for the secondary use of register data, compiles and preprocesses datasets, and provides a secure Kapseli remote access environment for data processing.

FIRE advances register-based research infrastructure in several ways: it improves the performance and usability of remote access systems, expands the range of datasets available to researchers, and provides support for research ethics and data permit processes. In addition, FIRE introduces new technologies, such as AI-based tools, which can accelerate research and lower the threshold for starting register-based research.

FIRE is led by the INVEST Research Flagship Centre at the University of Turku. Its core members include Statistics Finland, Aalto University, University of Helsinki, University of Eastern Finland, University of Jyväskylä, Tampere University, and the VATT Institute for Economic Research. In addition to Findata, external members include LUT University, the National Archives of Finland, and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare.