UEFISCDI was established in July 2010, based on the Governmental Ordinance nr. 74/2010 by merging three organisations with responsibilities for the management and administration of various programs, in the field of higher education, research, development and innovation.

UEFISCDI plays the role of executive agency for several advisory councils of the MECS with responsibilities in the fields of higher education, research, development and innovation. UEFISCDI, as Programme Manager, implements, under the supervision of its advisory councils, five out of the six programmes of the National Plan for Research, Development and Innovation 2007-2014 (PN II), i.e.: Human Resources (exploratory research), Ideas (exploratory research), Capacities (research infrastructure), Partnerships in Priority S&T Areas (applied research), Innovation (innovation and technology transfer).