Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/849592
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 16 JULY 2017 News 13 laggard in funding for science research governments have lacked the po- litical will to invest sufficiently and sustain a national research pro- gramme". It was also pointed out by Duca, that the fact that the government seems to have removed the term research from the title of any cabi- net member did not bode well for the cause. Rather than remove the term, he said a stakeholder working group should be set up, tasked with "re- inventing the local environment" to encourage growth, since poli- cies have so far failed to encourage research-based entrepreneurship. An example of this, he said, was the high tax rate on ventures based on "local innovative ideas". Xuereb was more optimistic, not- ing that both parties had pledged to at least double government in- vestment in their manifesto before the last election. "It thus seems that we're on the right track to achieving investment of at least 1.6% of GDP," he said, adding however that there were several issues to be dealt with first. Xuereb said a substantial amount of funds needed to be set aside for fundamental research, since Eu- ropean funding tended to become available only at the commerciali- sation stage. Moreover, he said more incen- tives were needed for students to read for a PhD in Malta. "I know of several cases where students lived off an annual sti- pend of €2,500 whilst reading for a PhD. Compare this to the stand- ard case elsewhere, where PhD students are treated as bona fide researchers," he said, again sug- gesting a publicly-funded scheme for supporting PhD students. The NSO also found that 80% of invested funds originated in Malta, coming mainly from the private sector, while the remaining 20% in foreign derived funds came from the European Commission. Asked if attracting established foreign 'research companies' to Malta, should be prioritised over local investment, Felice pointed out that such companies differ from other enterprises in that they rarely move from one country to another. He said that without ex- cluding foreign partnerships, "the larger contribution should be ex- pected from home-bred research and business development". This, he said, could be accom- plished through an investment worth 2% of GDP, in national funds open to all research institu- tions. Xuereb highlighted the fact that foreign and local investment could not be easily separated. "Google recently bought an en- tire group of scientists and their lab from the University of Califor- nia," he said. "The best incentive government could give research companies would be giving aca- demic institutions in Malta the tools, financial and otherwise, to grow and maintain world-class re- search labs." One possibility for addressing a number of the concerns raised would be to direct funds towards better paying PhD programmes focused on areas of particular rel- evance to the government policy- making. Xuereb said that while he did not necessarily believe in prioritising one area over the other, it made sense to tap into the "substantial pool" of scientific know-how for better-informed policy-making. If it were up to him, Duca said he would create "multiple fund- ing streams" and would leave some open to research ideas from all sectors, while setting aside another batch of funding for "priority areas for Malta to excel and compete on a world level". "Critically, these funds should be tied to effective public engagement of the research generated, so that Maltese society is involved in the research progress," he said. ypace@mediatoday.com.mt TOTAL R&D SPENDING BY SECTOR in 000s 2013 2014 2015 Government Sector (GOV) 5,628 6,042 11,803 Business Enterprise Sector (BES) 30,544 33,460 36,729 Higher Education Sector (HES) 22,883 21,037 22,960 Total R&D expenditure 59,055 60,539 71,491 % of GDP* 0.77 0.72 0.7 R&D IN MALTA VITAL DATA The most money that gets invested in is engineering and technology, and specifically by the business sector 20m euros The government's main spend in R&D is in medical sciences 8.6m euros The business sector remains the most important source of local R&D funding in 2015 32m euros The University of Malta provides the second largest sum for R&D 17.4m euros The European Commission is the main source for foreign R&D funds 12m euros Total employees in R&D in 2015 2,375 Of these, the government's total workforce in R&D is only 72 Source: National Statistics Office, Malta Operational Programme I – European Structural and Investment Funds 2014-2020 "Fostering a competitive and sustainable economy to meet our challenges" Advert part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund Co-financing rate: 80% European Union; 20% National Funds Notice on Call for Project Proposal Submissions under Call V Information Sessions for prospective Applicants submitting project proposals under Priority Axis 1 The Planning and Priorities Coordination Division (PPCD) within the Ministry for European Affairs and Equality would like to inform prospective applicants of Priority Axis 1 (PA1) Investing in research, technological development and innovation that over and above the Information Sessions announced with the Launch of this Call, an additional session will be organised on 7 th August 2017. Furthermore, the Managing Authrority would like to inform prosective applicants that on the 4 th August prospective applicants for projects under PA 1 will have the opportunity to attend one-to-one consultancy/advisory meetings with the European Investment Bank on the application being prepared. Applicants are invited to submit their interest not later than 31 st July 2017 by sending an email on rachel.fenech-gonzi@gov.mt or contacting Ms Rachel Fenech Gonzi on 2200 1138. In summary, the Information Sessions related to this Call will be as follows: 21 st July - Generic Overview; 24 th /25 th /26 th July - How to Apply Online – Workshop; 4 th August – one-to-one consultancy/advisory meetings with EIB; 7 th August – Planning a Project & FA/FFS/CBAs for Applicants.