Polish voice on the subject of EU research funding
More money for small and medium-sized enterprises, infrastructure enchancement, long-term planning and the promotion of "diffusion of innovation" are the proposals of Polish experts on future EU research and innovation funding.
EC Modifications wants to prepare programs supporting innovation based
on the opinions of those concerned within the Member States. For this
purpose, it released a Green Paper, a document containing 27 questions
on practical ways to support research and innovation in the economy.
20
May was the closing day of the consultation. According to the EC, key
challenges included the health of Europeans, population aging, climate
change, food safety and dwindling natural resources. Therefore, in the
next financial perspective, the EU considers allocating more resources
to research aimed at solving these problems.
"In our opinion, the
EC rightly emphasizes the great challenges. But it unclear whether, for
example, the energy challenges that there of most importance everywhere
would also include coal power industry. This document seems to refer
only to renewable energy sources. Meanwhile, from the Polish perspective
coal-fired power generation is also a very big challenge, obviously
cleaner than it is, but still existing, because we're forced to use it"-
said President of the Polish Academy of Sciences Prof. Michal Kleiber.
He added that in the next financial
perspective the system of applying for funds should be consolidated and
simplified, because bureaucratic procedures are the most common barrier
to their acquisition. In his opinion, the EU system needs better
coordination of framework programmes with other research support tools,
including national systems of financing science.
"Open topis, and a very
interesting one, is the proposal to open 10 percent of national budgets
in each country to competition across the European Union. 10 percent
may seem a small amount, but 10 percent of research budgets in all
countries would be three times as much as the Framework Programme has
today. At the same time, bearing the Polish interest in mind, I would
say that if this happened, it should be subject to a condition that the
money can be made available to persons outside the country provided that
the project also involves partners in that country. The point is to
involve Polish teams in interesting projects" - added the president of
PAS.
Prof. Kleiber also said that he would hope that in the next
financial perspective Poland would establish a research infrastructure
of international significance, several of which exists or is planned in
the EU. "It so happens that none of them is formed in so-called new
member states. We think that we can already entrust one of these
countries with operating such great physical or medical infrastructure" -
he said.
Kleiber also considers the question of the method of
evaluating the effectiveness of spending one of the key issues contained
in the Green Paper. "There are many projects carried out for years in
the EU, which have not led to any spectacular success, and yet they are
continued. I believe that without a reliable system of evaluation of the
results it will be very difficult to continue present operations. It is
not easy, but it can be done" - said Prof. Kleiber.
According to
Dr. Stanisław Kubielas from the Faculty of Economic Sciences,
University of Warsaw, from a perspective of businesses in Poland and
other countries in our region the support should include not only
completely original technologies, but also the so-called diffusion of
innovation. "In the countries of Central Europe will have a problem with
the structural funds, which will be cut. Therefore, in my opinion,
remaining funds should be used to support the use of new products and
technologies already existing in other markets" - Kubielas told.
He
added that even the use of an innovation of others often poses
problems. "Diffusion always occurs, only not always to a sufficient
extent. Here, the barrier is that companies that have the potential to
implement these new technologies often do not have staff members who
know well enough what is happening in the industry in the world.
Developed countries financially support the employment of persons with
doctorates or simply experts in the technology, thereby stimulating the
uptake of innovation" - he emphasised.
Polish experts pointed out
that developed countries need different innovation strategies than
those who want to join them, among them Poland. Above all, we must make
up for the underdevelopment of investment. "Until we have greater
investment in infrastructure, the problems will be very large. It's not
just about the hard investment, but, for instance, also high-speed
internet connection" - emphasized in an interview with from Dr. Elżbieta
Soszyńska from the Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
She
added that in Poland there is no tradition of cooperation of businesses
with universities and research institutions, so the key is to use
incentives such as tax relief that would encourage companies to take the
risks of investing in research. "We must remember that research may not
ultimately result in profits, and if it does, it's certainly will not
happen overnight. Companies focus on quick profits" - she said.
All
the experts emphasised the need to reduce bureaucratic barriers.
Complicated procedures benefit only companies that specialize in filling
and submitting applications for funding. Dr. Elżbieta Szymańska of the
Faculty of Management, Białystok University of Technology, believes it
to be unfair. "Every entrepreneur should be able to prepare such
application and be able to account for the money" - she emphasised. (PAP)
last modification: 2011-06-08
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