This article first appeared in Contact International Business Voice no 2/07 (78) - Summer 2007
The Minister gave an overview of the government’s policy in the
research and development (R&D) area. “There are three key areas of
focus: increase in funds for scientific research; developing
co-operation between business and science, and making R&D an
important part of our foreign policy”, he said.
“There has been significant increase in the state budget for research.
The incease in 2006 was 15% compared to 2005, when funding was very low
and this year it will be a further 8% compared to 2006. This year,
there is some €1 billion in the budget for scientific research. There
will be another €5.5 billion in EU funds available for the research
sector in various 2007-2013 operational programmes. So annually,
science has at its disposal some 6 billion zlotys for R&D, even if
the state budget spending were not to be increased further. This is an
unprecedented leap in public finances for science. However, the money
needs to be spent wisely, with a priority on development,” said Prof.
Seweryński.
Science and business
“My major task is to stimulate co-operation between science
and business,” stated the Minister. “Until recently there was no
tradition of such co-operation. Today the market economy enforces the
need for synergy between the two parties.” The Ministry has implemented
an information programme promoting co-operation. “Such partnerships
will be supported and co-financed by the government,”.
To achieve long-term success, changes in Poland’s research system are
needed, so that the sector can absorb all the funds available. In this,
“we are drawing from the experience of developed countries, where
science has become an engine of economic development,” said Prof.
Seweryński. The restructuring includes development of technological
parks and enterprise incubators. “Here we would like to use some
solutions from other countries, inviting investors with know-how of the
sector, those who are familiar with the financial tools. We hope that
the involvement of international investors becomes a catalyst in the
rapid transformation of science in Poland,”.
“The government will co-finance valuable projects which eventually
arise from such partnerships,” he declared. “There are many Polish
enterprises which would be interested in co-operating with science, but
are simply short of capital. We are prepared to support them but we
would like to avoid spending funds in a rush or on irrational
projects.” said the Minister.
National Centre for Research and Development
To ensure the best organisation of contracting procedures and effective
distribution of funds, the government is planning to establish a
National Centre for Research and Development (Narodowe Centrum Badań i
Rozwoju) – NCBR.
The NCBR will operate on the same model applied in the developed
economies. The institution will organise and finance scientific
research, in a competitive selection process, which finds the research
projects. “In this process, we wish to use the expertise of
international experts,” said Prof. Seweryński. “The novelty is that the
agency’s main objective is to help both business and science implement
and commercialise the results of their research.”
“The objective is to encourage close working relations between academia
and economy, but the process of financing the organisation of research
must be apolitical and free from bureaucracy,” said Prof. Seweryński.
“We want scholars and business circles to decide how funds for research
are allocated.” Another new agency to be set up is the Agency for
Frontier Research. It is to ensure that research not directly related
to the market is not neglected. This agency will have a separate
budget.
The NCBR concept is simple: if a company presents a good innovative
project, it stands a chance to be fully or partly financed by the
Centre, even if the company has no scientific partner. There is PLN
300m in the 2007 budget to support technological innovation, especially
those developed by SMEs. (It’s worth noting that in Poland there are
relatively few SMEs in the European sense – as the average business in
the Polish private sector employs only four-five people, while 25% of
the country’s GDP remains in the public sector.)
Science partners for business in Poland
Prof. Seweryński emphasised that 70% of research potential lies within
Poland’s universities. Other partners include research institutes of
the Polish Academy of Science (PAN) and research and industrial
development institutes, associated mainly with the Ministry of Economy.
The Ministry of Science and Higher Education plans a major
restructuring here, to take full advantage of the research potential.
The government would also like to encourage development of private
research sector, therefore “private research enterprises will be
treated on equal terms with the public sector. Every entity engaged in
research projects will be eligible to apply to NCBR for grants; these
will be awarded on a competitive selection basis.”
Internationalising research
The Ministry of Science and Higher Education wants to encourage
partners from abroad to get engaged in shaping and executing innovation
policy in Poland. “We are especially interested in co-operation with
experts with know-how of establishing and managing technology and
science parks,” said Prof. Seweryński. Foreign academics would also be
invited to join research teams in Poland. “International research
teams, consisting of Polish and foreign academics will be will be given
preference. Polish research teams also will be supported within the EU
7th Framework Programme, which is especially preferential for
international projects.”
Another element of internationalisation will be inviting foreign
experts to sit on the committees for competitive selection of research
projects. Positions within research institutes will be now open for
foreigners, although a competition rule will still be in place. “We
want the institutes to be headed by the best experts with international
practice of managing scientific research,” said Prof. Seweryński. “We
are aware that Poland has not yet educated enough specialists in the
area of science management, hence we want to invite foreign candidates
to take part in competitions for the positions,” concluded the
Minister.
The address was followed with a panel discussion focused on best practice in implementing and managing innovation.
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Jeremy Phillips, managing director of J4B plc, shared
his company’s experience in providing innovative solutions to
management of EU Funds and science-business partnerships promotion.
“The EU is focused on common actions to make Europe a knowledge-based
economy. Hence, there is plenty of EU funding available for Poland;
structural and infrastructural programmes to encourage this linkage and
the funding of research itself,” said Phillips. “The question is how
best to coordinate the distribution of these funds. You have many
academic institutions with brilliant ideas that never see the light of
day outside of academic fields, and it is vital that this expertise
becomes visible to the outside world.”
He presented an example of an academic portal created by J4B in Ireland
in co-operation with the Irish Universities Association. This now
involved some 6,000 experts and institutions across Ireland, north and
south. Information available there makes it easy for the outside world,
in particular American businesses, to see with whom they would like to
work. “Businesses are more likely to set up in areas which are rich in
expertise, with many post-graduates,” said Phillips.
He emphasised the importance of leadership in the successful
implementation of innovative projects. “In Ireland, there is a
prominent professor at a Dublin City University who really puts his
hands on this mission; the project would not be working were it not for
him driving and persuading his colleagues to get involved,” said
Phillips. A portal that J4B is launching with Poznań Science Park will,
he believes, achieve similar momentum. “This will be the first portal
of its kind in Poland, showing technology transfer opportunities by
providing information and academic expertise, and providing support to
small and large businesses that want to engage with universities and
innovative Polish academics,” he concluded.
Jolanta Jaworska, Governmental Programs Executive, IBM Polska
presented a case study of the IBM software Research&Development lab
set up in Kraków in 2005. She admitted that the hardest part in the
process was persuading the HQ that Poland is “not just a small dot on
the map and there are many skilled programmers, the best in the CEE
region.” Now the Kraków-based laboratory for Tivoli systems management
software employs 200 people and co-operates with 11 Polish
universities. “The co-operation is not only to make sure that we have
the best resources in our lab,” explained Jaworska. “We share with them
our know-how, products and technology. We are working with them on
development of Eclipse – a program platform which IBM released to open
standards some years ago.” The company also works closely with Polish
gymnasiums. “We believe that the best age to start with youngsters to
ensure we have the best IT experts is between 12 and 15.” The company
is also putting emphasis on educating girls, because “now only 7% of IT
students are female.”
IBM’s American Headquarters has come to appreciate the quality of
people and outstanding qualifications available in Poland. In the past
two years, some important innovations have been already developed in
the labs by its Polish employees. Polish programmers are winning top
prizes in international IT contests. “Our people receive decent
remunerations,” said Jaworska, “but the biggest motivation comes from
working in a company committed to development, the perspective of an
interesting career path and the opportunity to work in international
environment.”
Prof. Seweryński admitted that there are not enough
highly qualified young specialists in research. “In Poland there are
just 30,000 students at PhD level, but only a third of them receive a
scholarship,” he said. “We plan to spend EU funds on encouraging an
increase in the number of PhD students.” A system will also be
implemented to facilitate PhDs working in the industry in the field of
R&D. “We have drafted a special scholarship programme awarding PhD
students with an annual scholarship of 60,000 PLN, a lot for a young
researcher. This sum would be granted to an enterprise which is ready
to implement a post-doctorate research programme,” explained the
Minister.
Commenting on the patent registration procedures in force in Poland he
admitted, “the present law is not friendly to research programmes.
Procedures are too long and encourage institutions to open patent
procedures abroad. Once that happens, the innovation is lost for
Poland. Facilitating the procedures is an immediate priority.”
Anna Kozieł of Infarma, an union of innovative
pharmaceutical companies, gave an example of how industry can support
science by sharing know-how between the pharmaceutical industry and the
academic researchers. One example is the Innovation in Medicines
Initiative being developed by the European Commission asd EFPIA. Funds
expected for the projects are around €4m a year; half of the value will
come from EC and the other half is in kind contribution, coming from
pharmaceutical companies. “This should encourage academics, NGO’s to
develop their research projects with industry,” said Anna Kozieł. The
other opportunity for Poland is money from EU funds for health that
will help infrastructure and innovation, totalling some €1 billion over
the next seven years.
Prof. Seweryński agreed with the importance of creating an environment
that would encourage scientists to be engaged in industry. Clusters and
technology and science parks seem to be best way. Close co-operation
between business and science is a must, as is the continuous
development of education standards.
Relating to a question about the government’s commitment to developing
technological and science parks, he gave an example of the
newly-developed Technology Park in Warsaw. “My ministry has reserved in
its budget for the next eight years half a billion zlotys to support
this project,” he said.
Martin Oxley added: Running a science park is about managing a physical
asset and managing patentable ideas. These are two different issues,
which need to be separated in the business model. It is one thing to
find an operator of a building, quite another to get innovators to
develop their bright ideas. You need to create a friendly environment
for ideas to develop and be implemented. You need leadership; excellent
HR management; easy access to information; appropriate infrastructure
and an effective mechanism to optimise distribution of funds – these
are all crucial for sustainable success.
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