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Julian Manduca
While the CEO of the Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST) Wilfred Kennely told MaltaToday that the much vaunted fund for research and development that the government had promised for this year have been delayed and would be paid within the coming months, applicants for the Lm300,000 fund were told that the government has withdrawn its funds for this year. MaltaToday asked education Minister Loius Galea whether the funds have been withdrawn or simply delayed, but the minister did not reply by the time of going to press. The applicants to the fund are furious and were even more on edge when they read what Competitiveness Minister Censu Galea said about the government’s commitment to R&D last week.
Minister Galea told the EU Competitiveness Council in Brussels last week that “Malta is committed to upgrade and strengthen the national research and innovation base in a bid to attract new investment,” and that “the National RTDI Programme earlier this year has attracted a high level of proposals from local companies.” But companies that applied for the funds, who are under the impression that no funds will now be made available, are livid and told MaltaToday they could not understand how the minister had the gumption to speak in that manner.
When MaltaToday asked minister Galea whether he felt his comments were misplaced in the light of recent developments, the minister replied that his statements were confirmed as correct by the Ministry of Education, and that: “There have in fact been many submissions for proposals under the National RTDI programme. These are being evaluated and those selected will be eligible to participate in the funds that are being allocated for this purpose.”
Galea failed to state when the funds will be made available, and while many applicants have given up hope, Kennely, who is also a member on the Programme Management Committee that manages the fund told this newspaper the committee was discussing the funding with the ministries of education and finance and that to date there was no official reply as to when the funds would be made available. “In the worst case scenario, I expect the funds to be made available by 1 January 2005 which means that the applicants would be paid a few months late, but the money could well be made available before that date,” Kennely said, however, applicants have been informed by another member of the committee that the fund for this year has been withdrawn.
The National RTDI Programme is aimed at stimulating and building a culture for sustained scientific research and innovation activity by providing financial support for scientific research, ranging from basic and applied research to near-to-market innovation. Its importance cannot be underestimated given how far Malta lags behind other countries in research and development. Cyprus and the Czech Republic for example are already geared with all the right structures to implement research and development programmes and the only one in Malta, now seems to have come to a grinding halt.
Outstanding response
On 9 July 2004 it The Times reported the “Outstanding response,” to the call for applications and said the: “MCST received almost 100 proposals, for a total requested budget of Lm3,000,000.”
“A third of the proposals are coordinated by small and medium enterprises involved in technological research and business development, accounting for a total of Lm1,000,000 requested funds and private direct investment of Lm250,000. 25 different private companies are participating in these proposals. This augers well for the competitiveness of local private companies, which, more than ever, lies in market-driven research and innovation.
“The remaining proposals include 10 from government agencies (for Lm400,000), 60 proposals from academic institutions (for Lm1,500,000) and two proposals from non-governmental organizations (Lm60,000). Interestingly enough, 7 applications were from Gozo-based organizations, requesting a combined budget of Lm500,000.”
Decisions on how the Lm300,000 was to be distributed to fund between 8 and 12 competitive and scientifically relevant projects were set to be taken by a committee in September/October of this year. During these months the consortia with provisionally accepted proposals were to be notified and contracts negotiated.
The EU has been making a point of emphasising the importance of R&D and during the Lisbon European Council held in March 2000, it set itself a strategic objective for the next decade: to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world. The Council went on to endorse a proposal recommending the creation of a European Research Area and the Barcelona summit held in March 2002 went even further and declared that direct investment in Research and Development (R&D) within the European Union should increase from 1.99 to 3 percent of GDP by 2010.
Brian St John a council member of the MCST wrote in March 2004 that “it is encouraging to note that a very significant thrust towards the attainment of this objective is being made by the Malta Council for Science and Technology.
“Additionally, the national 2004 financial estimates show a commitment of Lm300,000 towards the implementation of a Research Technology Development and Innovation (RTDI) programme. These efforts should be heartily commended, supported and maintained - but it is not enough.”
Evidently Malta was not even able to stick to its first commitment, at least in terms of providing the funds in time.
MaltaToday spoke to several of those who had applied for funds and while all of them preferred to remain anonymous, they were all angry about what has happened. The companies and individuals who have been informed that the funding has been withdrawn said they had involved several partners including foreign organisations in their applications, with some partners even prepared to co-finance research projects as they saw considerable potential in the research ideas.
One representative of a research company that attracted a quarter of a million Euros last year from foreign sources said he was livid at what has happened, “our company put at least 150 man hours into our proposals and we had a tough time convincing foreign and Maltese investors to pledge funds.”
Several meetings had been organised to explain the project and how to fill in the applications forms and now the applicants feel it has been all for nothing.
Several of the companies that this newspaper spoke to also said they were worried that their ideas included in their proposals could be usurped by others that had access to the applications. Although the applications are meant to be treated with confidentiality, applicants said that since they had no patents on their ideas they are worried that the ideas might get into the wrong hands.
Moreover, when asked, the applicants showed scepticism as to whether they will be willing to submit proposals in future calls.
One of the companies believes it has lost out was particularly concerned about what he called “this short-sighted decision,” that he said “will negatively affect the long term competitiveness of a nation that is already having to play catch-up with other new EU accession countries that have established funding mechanisms in the three main areas of innovation: proof of concept funds; research and development and commercialisation.”
He told this newspaper that: “we, as an SME, understand that fiscally the government does need to tighten its belt, but not at the expense of future generations.”
julian@newsworksltd.com
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