Finnra's Management Group adopted the 2003-2005 R&D program on January 20, 2003.
 
For the first year of the program, the budget as implemented was 5.79 million Euros. The program proceeded as planned, but a lack of personnel, both in the Road Administration and concerning consultants' and research institutions' project managers, still hamper several focal areas. However, 97% of the budget was utilised:

A significant characteristic of the year was the start of several programs: the strategic projects S13, Research programme for impact management, and S14, Economical maintenance of low-volume roads, had started in the autumn of 2002 and the research plan for the asset management focal area was adopted in January 2003. In all, these programs represent a quarter of the r&d activity.

The research plans for other focal areas were late. For road users requirements, a draft plan was produced. For working markets, the r&d research plan was included in development planning for procurement as a whole and specifying the r&d projects involved shifted to 2004. For information management, the basic processes' needs studies required were not ready by year's end and the structure of the focal area has to be redefined.

Research is implemented by universities, research institutions and consultants. In 2003, Finnra had 85 contract partners. Overall, the three largest contractors were responsible for 38% of all projects. For the themes, the corresponding percentage varied from 37% to 83%.

Finnra personnel input is directed at r&d management and implementing the results. For most of the personnel involved, this is a part-time activity. At the Technical Services department, 40 persons work with r&d, using an average of ¼ of their time for this task. Other personnel was also involved. In all,  Central Administration personnel and other internal costs for r&d are approximately 0.96 Million Euros.