Norway provides blueprint for centres of excellence?
As discussions continue on the new centres and networks of excellence in the Sixth Framework programme continue, Norway has already forged ahead in establishing its own national centres of excellence. Working on the basis that Norway needed to improve its research and development (R&D) performance, the Norwegian government asked the Norwegian research council to formulate a means of creating centres of excellence. A parliamentary white paper published in 1998 stressed the need for 'quality in research'. It highlighted factors such as figures showing that Norway ranked as one of the countries in Europe in terms of both the number of science articles published per 1000 inhabitants and with the lowest level of citations of these articles, in the period 1996 to 2000. The research council set about identifying key characteristics that would help the newly proposed centres of excellence flourish. These included ensuring that they would receive a generous funding over at least 10 years, that they would involve research with an international dimension, that the research groups involved would be of a reasonable size, that there should be intense competition for 'centre of excellence status' and that they would also train researchers. The research council of Norway freely admits that much of this has been based on the Danish model, which has proved highly successful. With this brief, the research council aimed to see between 10 and 20 centres given centre of excellence status with an annual budget of between 10 and 20 million Norwegian krona (roughly 1.2 to 2.5 million euro). The centres can be hosted by universities, research institutes or even private sector research centres. The 129 applications for the status have largely come from universities (78 per cent) and research institutes (21 per cent) so far. The research council has not discounted the possibility of having virtual centres of excellence, which would help accommodate expertise spread out across the very large country. The priorities for research subjects in the centres of excellence will be long term basic research on a variety of areas, but particular emphasis will be given to marine research, medicine and health, ICT (information communication technologies), energy and the environment. So far most applications have focused on energy, industrial and science technology areas. 'The success of the centres will depend on their international element,' says Viggo Mohr, senior advisor in the science policy unit of the research council. 'Their international side will enhance quality and act as a showcase for Norwegian research.' The byproduct of this will be another area that the European Union is trying to encourage - increased mobility. 'The host institution will have to look into the practical problems of researchers,' says Mr Mohr. The final element in deciding which of the applicants will gain 'centre of excellence' status is evaluation. To make this process as transparent and objective as possible, the decision making process is taken on by a group of international peers. Once they have announced who is to host a centre of excellence, a further review of progress will take place after three and a half years. 'Every centre will survive if good enough,' says Mr Mohr.