Final Report Summary - I-SEEMOB (Intersectoral mobility of researchers in south-eastern Europe)
During the last period of the I-SEEMOB project (1 January 2012 - 30 June 2012) and in accordance with its main goals, the consortium has fulfilled a series of tasks that have concluded to the following results:
1. Related to work package (WP) 1 (management activities):
1.1. (D1.2) Organisation of the 5th Steering Committee (SC) Meeting in Nis and the 6th SC Meeting in Ankara and completion of respective minutes of the meetings.
1.2. (D1.3) Organisation of national advisory group meetings and completion of respective minutes of the meetings.
2. WP2: Mapping exercise on the current state of affairs regarding industrial research and development (R&D) representation in South-Eastern Europe. This WP has been completed during the last period.
3. WP3: Legislation gap analysis. This WP has been completed during the last period.
4. Related to WP4: Policy guidelines for the promotion of intersectoral mobility policy issues in South-Eastern European countries.
4.1. (D4.1) Preparation of eight national guidelines for the promotion of inter-sectoral mobility policy issues.
4.2. (D4.2) Preparation of a synthesis report.
5. WP5: I-SEEMOB portal. This WP has been completed during the last period.
6. Related to WP6: Promotion and dissemination activities
6.1. (D6.4) Organisation of the final dissemination event
6.2. (D6.5) Establishment of an exploitation plan.
7. Related to WP7: Exploration of synergies with other networks or initiatives in SEE and EU.
As a consequence, all deliverables foreseen in the Grant Agreement were realised on time and all obligations were fulfilled.
Project context and objectives:
The main goal of the I-SEEMOB project is to contribute to the enhancement of the career development of R&D personnel in ERA by examining the existing legal and research policy gaps hampering the intersectoral mobility of R&D personnel in the South-Eastern European countries participating in the consortium and, accordingly, provide recommendations and guidelines to the respective governments so as to raise the remaining obstacles and promote intersectoral mobility and the career development of researchers. Towards the accomplishment of the above mentioned objectives, the consortium carried out successfully a series of activities that support existing national and European intersectoral mobility policies. The activities that were carried out are the following:
- a mapping exercise on the current state of industrial representation on R&D sector in South-Eastern European and its respective needs; %l - a legislation gap analysis which examined the legislative framework for career development of researchers in SEE;
- development of policy guidelines for the formulation of common research policies for enhancing the inter-sectoral mobility of researchers and; finally
- establishment of a set of networking initiatives with other relevant national and European networks.
Project results:
Integral element of the I-SEEMOB project was to display the contemporary state of affairs on the issues of inter-sectoral mobility and career development of researchers in the South-Eastern European countries participating in the consortium, so as to have in the future a better understanding of the problems and obstacles still existing.
Thus, in order to provide a better understanding of the current state-of-affairs on the topic industry-academia collaboration in the eight countries of the consortium, the partners worked towards the following targets:
- creating of a database with industries operating R&D departments in the eight consortium countries (WP2);
- implementing a survey on identifying industry needs for R&D personnel in terms of skills and competences (WP2);
- conducting a survey on identifying existing support tools (policy initiatives, fellowship programmes, national funding schemes etc.) for intersectoral mobility (WP2);
- implementing a legislation gap analysis examining the national legal framework for the career development of researchers so as to identify problematic points and / or good practices always in reference to European Commission (EC)'s priorities, recommendations, and communications (WP3);
- developing a set of policy recommendations and guidelines to the governments for the solution of the main identified inter-sectoral mobility obstacles hindering the career development of researchers at the eight I-SEEMOB countries (WP4).
In the framework of WP2 activities, the main exploitable results include:
a) the database with industries operating R&D departments; and
b) the results of the survey on the additional skills and competences (i.e. communication skills, awareness of intellectual property right (IPR) issues, research management training, how to communicate research results, how to build successful spin-offs etc.) that university graduates and researchers need to acquire in order to be more attractive to employers in the industrial sector.
The industry database includes 562 contacts. The database is available at the I-SEEMOB website (see http://www.iseemob.eu/sitegenius/topic.php?id=313 online) and only companies' public data is publicly available. For each country a priority industrial sector (or sectors) was chosen. The priority sectors by country are the following:
Greece
1. Information and communication technologies (ICT)
2. Food industry
3. Pharmacy
4. Chemical industry
5. Materials.
Turkey
1.Biotechnology
2.Electronics
3.Materials
4. ICT.
Bulgary
All industrial sectors
Republic of Serbia
1. ICT
2. Energy industry
3. Biotechnology
4. Materials
5. Civil engineering industry (construction).
Croatia
All industrial sectors.
FYROM
1. Biotechnology
2. Pharmacy
3. Metallurgy
4. Energy industry
5. Information technologies (IT)
6. Construction.
Romani
1. IT
2. Agriculture
3. Biotechnology
4. Healthcare and pharmaceutical
5. Security and defence industry.
Bosnia and Herzegowina
All industrial sectors.
Additionally, the number of industry contacts per country is provided in the following table:
Greece: 122 contacts
Turkey: 49 contacts
Romania; 51 contacts
Bulgaria: 30 contacts
FYROM: 54 contacts
Republic of Serbia: 130 contacts
Croatia: 48 contacts
Bosnia and Herzegowina: 85 contacts.
It is considered that the industry database is an important exploitable asset of the project, since it offers an open list, even though non-exhaustive, of important private sector companies conducting R&D activities in the eight countries of the consortium whose public data (mainly contact details and website addresses) is available to everybody. The database can be used as a partner search tool for all those interested to collaborate with companies abroad, but do not have any liaison links to those countries. Furthermore, the available contact details may be also used by interested parties in future surveys.
The survey implemented in the framework of WP2 focused on identifying:
a)the additional skills and competences that university graduates and researchers need to acquire in order to be more attractive to employers in the industrial sector, and b)both sectors' opinion on remaining barriers to inter-sectoral mobility. In total, 188 respondents from industry and 519 respondents from academia filled out the survey. The regional results offer some clear indications. They show that companies performing research and development activities very often cooperate with other actors - other companies or public research organisations (usually universities). The respondents covered industry subjects of all sizes, 78 % of which confirmed that they run a specialised R&D department. In almost two-thirds (64 %) of those companies which have an R&D department, the company employs less than 10 researchers. The results indicate some distrust between the two sectors; however, most respondents who have experienced inter-sectoral cooperation and / or personal mobility report satisfaction with that experience. Both sectors agree that the industry should take the lead for a better cooperation, but also that tax breaks would stimulate this cooperation. Finally, both sectors agree that several additional skills would make researchers better equipped to work in industry, in particular innovative thinking; they also agree that these skills are under-represented in current national education systems. In general, the results point to a more sceptical attitude of the academic community towards inter-sectoral cooperation - whilst they are interested in cooperation, they perceive more barriers than their counterparts in the private sector.
The study also shows several gaps in the education of young researchers and their preparation for work in or with the private sectors.
Survey respondents by country
The survey results can serve as indicators towards concerted regional and national efforts in order to create and foster a better environment for inter-sectoral cooperation. Furthermore, it can be used as a basis for future surveys on the topic of industry-academia collaboration.
In the framework of WP3, the results of the legislation gap analysis are the main exploitable asset. Although similar issues challenge South-Eastern European countries participating in the I-SEEMOB project, every country has an individual approach to science and technology (S&T) policy-making which also affects the overall organisation of the research and innovation system. In most countries, the R&D structure is mainly dependant on the responsible ministry. However, those state bodies have as priority to implement the national educational policies, considering research as part of them, and only few promote research policies, independently, as driving forces of innovation and sustainable growth. In the last years, the South-Eastern European governments were / still are concentrated on secondary education structural reforms and few of them brought education and research on the same planning track.
Furthermore, in the I-SEEMOB countries, the biggest challenge for research policy, up to 2013 and beyond, is the steady growth of R&D public financing, as well as increasing the private funding from industry to research and innovation. For this purposes, most of the countries set ambitious strategy plans for reaching the 1 %-1.5 % of the gross domestic product (GDP) for research till 2013. In all of the countries, there are legal acts regulating research and innovation in different aspects, including organisation of funding structures, budget, programming, as well as definition of the main characteristics of research and innovation (R&I). Moreover, in all of the countries, regulations, strategies and action plans have been developed and certain amendments of the legal framework have been done in the light of the goals set by Europe 2020, clearly leaving an insight that concrete steps and particular attempts have been undertaken in the direction of promoting human resources (HR) development.
Meantime, most of the countries implement crisis measures towards the decrease of public expenditures, which mostly hits the R&D sector. In the context of Europe 2020 and the initiative on innovation union, the priorities of the South-Eastern European countries are designed in a way to foster integration into the ERA and to open the national research systems towards innovation and competitiveness. The human resources play an important and specific role in this context as the South-Eastern Europe region is still suffering from the consequences of the brain-drain phenomenon while the current years of European and global economic crisis will cost another loss of talents and skilled personnel in all economic sectors. Towards this direction, few governments are planning special measures for capacity development and improvement of the research working environment for young researchers, but in the most of the South-Eastern European countries the whole R&I system is so fragile that the policies are still targeting basic factors for reaching research excellence and innovation without taking into consideration on first place human resources and especially fostering the mobility of researchers between industry and academia. This fact does not make them less ambitious but points out the significant differences among regions (with less and more expenditures for research and innovation) in Europe on planning and implementation of R&I. Of course, it is evident that bigger research infrastructures and highly developed R&I systems require even more funding for keeping the pace to growth and world competitiveness. While for the most of the countries situated in the South-Eastern Europe expenditures for R&I are increasing very slowly due to ongoing structural reforms in education, less developed research infrastructure and lack or slowly developing local industries.
In general, common legislation gaps that inhibit the intersectoral mobility of researchers in the I-SEEMOB countries include:
- insufficient incentives for increasing the private R&D expenditures;
- lack of tools (of institutional or funding nature) supporting the cooperation between industry and academia in terms of transfer of knowledge;
- lack of common ground for a unique definition of the researcher and his / her employment status and working conditions in the public and private sector;
- lack of clear and comprehensive policies / strategies / visions and / or incoherence between the national industry and research policies;
- insufficient innovation activities and poorly developed entrepreneurial environment;
- unsustainable channelling and coordination of national R&D funds with the Cohesion and Structural Funds of the EU and with other European programmes, and non portability of research grants.
WP 4 provided for the development of policy guidelines for the promotion of intersectoral mobility policy issues in the I-SEEMOB countries, as being the main outcome of the I-SEEMOB project.
Tubitak, as WP4 leader, completed all tasks within the WP4 (tasks 4.1; 4.2); respectively the coordination of the preparation of national guidelines for the promotion of inter-sectoral mobility policy issues and completed the synthesis report; which is the main deliverable of the I-SEEMOB project. The results were sent to the coordinator and all project partners.
The main objectives of the WP4 were:
- to contribute to the enhancement of the career development of R&D personnel in ERA by examining the existing legal and research policy gaps hampering the intersectoral mobility of R&D personnel in the South-Eastern European countries;
- to provide recommendations and guidelines to the respective governments so as to raise the remaining obstacles and promote intersectoral mobility and the career development of researchers.
Two main deliverables in WP4 were completed and submitted to the coordinator and the project partners in time; and shared in the final conference with attendants:
- Deliverable of task 4.1: Submission of the eight national guidelines: delivery of the main deliverable of the I-SEEMOB project;
- Deliverable of task 4.2: Submission of the synthesis report: delivery of an up-to-date document containing the latest information about common inter-sectoral mobility challenges faced in South-Eastern European countries that could be used by national governments and EC for finding solutions to the remaining obstacles.
Task 4.1. Preparation of national guidelines for the promotion of inter-sectoral mobility policy issues
Each partner was responsible for the development of a national guidelines based on the conclusions obtained in WP2 and the legislative gap analysis results carried out in WP3 within T4.1 and within T4.2. All partners prepared eight national guidelines (one per country) in accordance with the report template including the structure and methodology for the guidelines provided by Tubitak as the WP leader. The national guidelines included the main conclusions of the mapping exercise carried out in WP2 and the legislative gap analysis results conducted in WP3.
The guidelines included the main headings below:
1. Introduction:
1.1. The main conclusions obtained from mapping exercise on the current state of industrial R&D in (country name)
1.2. The main conclusions obtained from the legislation gap analysis in (country name)
2. The Inter-sectoral mobility obstacles in (country name)
3. The cooperation among sectors in (country name)
4. Conclusions
4.1. The overall consideration and recommendations of the national advisory group.
Task 4.2. Synthesis report
The synthesis report benefited from the national guidelines to be prepared under the Task 4.1 and the works of the consortium during the sixth SC meeting in Ankara. The synthesis report included the main headings given below:
1. About the I-SEEMOB project
2. Introduction
3. The inter-sectoral mobility challenges in South-Eastern Europe
4. The consideration and recommendations of the national advisory groups
5. Conclusion
6. Annex 1 - Members of the national advisory groups.
The main results from the synthesis report are summarised below:
According to the consideration of the national advisory groups, the common inter-sectoral mobility obstacles for the South-Eastern Europena region, which should be primarily dealt with, are introduced below:
- unfavourable working conditions of the researcher;
-different perceptions of the academia and the industry and incompatibility between the needs and interests of the academia and the industry;
- lack of specific tools and / or funding schemes dedicated to promote inter-sectoral mobility;
- insufficient innovation activities at national level and poorly developed entrepreneurial environment;
- lack of clear and comprehensive policies / strategies / visions to encourage inter-sectoral mobility and / or incoherence between the national industry and research policies;
- insufficient participation in international R&D projects; especially in EU projects due to bureaucratic and time-consuming project management system and lack of adequate co-funding instruments for national participation in EU programmes;
- lack of definition of the 'researcher' and his / her employment status (recognition of profession) and regulation of secondment in national legislation;
- lack or insufficiency of qualified R&D personnel;
- low R&D investment by the industry;
- lack of confidence and interaction between the industry and the academia communities.
In accordance with these most common inter-sectoral mobility obstacles, the national advisory groups also bring up a set of recommendations to improve the inter-sectoral mobility of researchers which are examined in detail at national level within the synthesis report, and are consolidated at regional level under the following main-headings:
Revision of the education system
- improve the curriculums to increase the rate of transversal skills of researchers;
- rstablish inter-sectoral mobility schemes for students (undergraduate and postgraduate) in industry;
- trigger innovation and entrepreneurship in universities as a whole.
Increasing financial / technical support
- provide and diversify tax incentives;
- increase the overall R&D support.
Enhancing coordination between actors
- set up a coordinating mechanism / forum;
- organise joint info days and events;
- stress the inter-sectoral mobility within national policy documents and ensure the coherence among these policies;
- minimise procedures and the bureaucracy;
- establish infrastructures for common use of sectors.
Improving the working conditions of researchers
- build up a supportive environment and enhance the social / economic facilities.
Potential impact:
The consortium of ISEEMOB developed a set of policy recommendations and guidelines to the governments for the solution of the main identified inter-sectoral mobility obstacles hindering the career development of researchers at the eight I-SEEMOB countries (see above in S&T results).
The project, under WP6 activities, includes 'Promotion and dissemination activities'. Its objectives are to ensure the widest promotion of the project's objectives, to guarantee the maximum visibility of activities and results at national and European level, and to assess the outcomes of the project.
During the last reporting period (1 January 2012 - 30 June 2012), the main activities implemented in the framework of WP6 are the two I-SEEMOB promotional events (D6.3 D6.4) and the development of the I-SEEMOB exploitation plan (D6.5). Additionally, the partners promoted the I-SEEMOB project and its results to a number of national and international events:
List of promotional activities
- Bulgarian Academy of Scoences 2020 - Roadmap to Excellence Achievement
14 February 2012, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
Promotion of the I-SEEMOB project (SU-NIS)
- Problems of Bulgarian researchers concerning participations in European programmes
23 February 2012, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
Promotion of the I-SEEMOB project (SU-NIS)
- European programmes - Challenges and Opportunities
9 March 2012, Medical University, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Promotion of the I-SEEMOB project (SU-NIS)
- Enterprise Europe Network - Opportunities and services supporting applied research
16 May 2012, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
Promotion of the I-SEEMOB project (SU-NIS)
- Opportunities and practical guidelines for career development and mobility of post docs and young scientists
13 June 2012, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
Promotion of the I-SEEMOB project (SU-NIS)
- Opportunities and practical guidelines for career development and mobility of post docs and young scientists
25 June 2012, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
Promotion of the I-SEEMOB project (SU-NIS)
- Yearly meeting of the Euro Info Networks in Bulgaria
4 July 2012, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Promotion of the I-SEEMOB project (SU-NIS)
- I-SEEMOB conference - Fostering inter-Sectoral mobility of researchers in South-Eastern Europe: Challenges and driving forces
16 March 2012, CERTH, Thessaloniki, Greece
Presentation of the WP2 survey results (AMEUP)
- I-SEEMOB final conference
27-28 June 2012, Tubitak, Ankara, Turkey
Presentation of the WP2 survey results (AMEUP)
- Meeting with the Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Sports and with representatives of OECD, Topic: Preparation of the national strategy on innovation
19 June 2012, Zagreb, Croatia
Presentation of the project's results, especially regarding the national results (AMEUP)
- Info day Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) Joint Programme
4 April 2012, Bucharest, Romania
Presentation of the project results, leaflets (UEFISCDI)
- Bologna process / EHEA Ministerial Conference
26 - 27 April 2012, Bucharest, Romania
leaflets (UEFISCDI)
- Seventh Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES Conference)
5 July 2012, Ohrid, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
leaflets (MASA)
- Info day, Thematic priority HEALTH
24 April 2012, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
leaflets and presentations (MCA)
- Infoday MOBILITY
10 May 2012, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
leaflets and presentations (MCA)
- Info day 'Possibilities for participation in FP7'
22 May 2012, Banja Luka, Bosnia-Herzegovina
leaflets and presentations (MCA)
- Meeting with NCPs and focal points
25 May 2012, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
leaflets (MCA)
- Joint Research Centre (JRC) Info day
5 June 2012, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
leaflets and presentations (MCA)
- ICT Info day
25 June 2012, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
leaflets and presentations (MCA)
- Info day - Possibilities for participation in FP7
5 July 2012, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
leaflets and presentations (MCA)
- Workshop - HEALTH
9 July 2012, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
leaflets and presentations (MCA)
- Info day - 'Mobility and methods of project proposals preparation'
10 July 2012, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
leaflets and presentations (MCA)
- OECD CSTP RIHR Meeting
26 - 27 April 2012
Presenting information on the I-SEEMOB project and inter-sectoral mobility issues within the scope of the presentation of the science, technology human resources strategy and action plan (Tubitak)
- Briefing on 'the science, technology human resources strategy and action plan' for the assistant experts in the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology
8 May 2012, Ankara, Turkey
Presenting information on the I-SEEMOB project and inter-sectoral mobility issues within the scope of the presentation of the science, technology human resources strategy and action plan (Tubitak)
- EU SGHRM Meeting
23 May 2012
Presenting information on the I-SEEMOB project and inter-sectoral mobility issues within the scope of the presentation of the science, technology human resources strategy and action plan (Tubitak)
- Briefing on ' science, technology human resources strategy and action plan' for the Ministry of Labour and Social Security
26 June 2012, Ankara, Turkey
Presenting information on the I-SEEMOB project and inter-sectoral mobility issues within the scope of the presentation of the science, technology human resources strategy and action plan (Tubitak)
- I-SEEMOB final conference
27-28 June 2012, Ankara, Turkey
Presentation of the main results from the synthesis report
Dissemination of leaflets and poster: posters and brochures of the project have been published and sent to the related ministries and actors (i.e. Ministry of EU Affairs, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Development, the Council of Higher Education, Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology, Middle East Technical University etc.)
Information on the final conference and the project in general has been published on various websites. As can be seen as a promotional contribution, the information on the final conference and the project in general has been published also on:
i. the website of Tubitak Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Department
(please see http://www.tubitak.gov.tr/sid/468/pid/0/cid/27847/index.htm and http://www.tubitak.gov.tr/sid/2400/pid/2400/cid/27848/index.htm online)
ii. the EURAXESS Turkey portal
(please see http://euraxess.tubitak.gov.tr/i-seemob-final-conference-to-be-held-on-27-28-june-2012 online)
iii. FP7 portal (please see http://www.fp7.org.tr/home.do?ot=5&rt=10&sid=3360&pid=0&cid=24392 online)
along with the bulletins of EURAXESS Turkey and FP7 (Tubitak).
- Raising awareness on the project via e-mail
June 2012
Receivers:
Middle East Technical University researchers e-mail groups;
Contact points for the human resources strategy and action plan in Ministry of EU Affairs, Ministry of Development, Ministry of Economics, Council of Higher Education, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organisation, Turkish Patent Institute, Tubitak employees etc. (Tubitak).
- I-SEEMOB promotional event, 16 March 2012
The I-SEEMOB promotional event (D6.3) was to be organised by month 32. Due to the delivery delay of some activities related to WP2 and WP3 which would be significant to promote at the event, the partners decided to delay the organisation of the event. Thus, the event entitled 'Fostering inter-sectoral mobility of researchers in South-Eastern Europe: Challenges and driving forces' was organised on Friday, 16 March 2012 at the premises of CERTH in Thessaloniki, Greece.
The aim of the event was to foster a policy dialogue on the topics of inter-sectoral cooperation and inter-sectoral mobility of researchers as demonstrated in the eight South-Eastern European countries (Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Republic of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Romania) participating at the I-SEEMOB consortium. The main target group of the event was policy makers, either from the public (representatives of ministries, regional and local public authorities, representatives of public academic and research institutions etc.) or from the private sector (i.e. industry associations, chambers etc.) so as to have feedback for the elaboration / development of the synthesis report (D.4.2) from the discussion / dialogue that occurred during the event.
For this reason, the conference programme included two sessions: the first one acting as an introduction to the topic of 'intersectoral cooperation' and 'intersectoral mobility of researchers', where our project results (WP2 and WP3 results) were also presented, while the second session was dedicated to roundtable discussion where invited country officials discussed about country-specific developments on research policy, inter-sectoral cooperation, and inter-sectoral mobility obstacles (legal, administrative, funding-related etc.) and were asked to provide recommendations.
During the organisation phase of the event, each partner was requested to invite and bring along one country official (ministry officials, representatives from chambers, researchers' associations, academies etc.) so as to participate at the roundtable discussion. The selection of the country official was based on the criterion of inviting a person who has extensive knowledge of the national research policy framework and especially on those issues raised by inter-sectoral cooperation and on inter-sectoral mobility obstacles so as to give his / her perspective. Thus, seven country representatives participated at the conference. These are the following:
Greece: Mrs Vasiliki Pletsa, International S&T Cooperation Directorate, General Secretariat for Research & Technology
Turkey: Mrs Ayegül Günel, Scientific Programmes Expert, Tubitak
Croatia: Mr Dalibor Marijanovic, General Manager of The Business Innovation Center of Croatia (BICRO) Ltd
Republic of Serbia: Prof. Dr Vera Dondur, President of the National Council for Science and Technological Development
Bulgaria: Prof. Antoni Slavinski, Head of Board of Trustees, New Bulgarian University
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: Mrs Violeta Atanasovska, National FP7 Coordinator, Ministry of Education and Science
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Mr Ammar Miraija, National FP7 Coordinator, Ministry of Civil Affairs
External: Prof. Fulvio Esposito, University of Camerino, Chair of ERA Steering Group on Human Resources and Mobility.
The roundtable discussion was moderated by Dr Uwe Seidel, VDI / VDE Innovation + Technik GmbH, I-SEEMOB external expert, and was based on a list of questions Dr Seidel and WP6 leader developed together.
Fifty (50) people participated at the event which received wide promotion from local media (electronic and traditional media). During the first part of the conference, Prof. Fulvio Esposito, Chair of ERA Steering Group on Human Resources and Mobility, former Dean of the University of Camerino- Italy, elaborated on the importance of mobility for the career development of researchers in the framework of EUROPE 2020 strategy. Additionally, Dr Vasiliki Pletsa, Officer at the International S&T Cooperation Directorate, General Secretariat for Research and Technology, Greece, talked about the significant role that industry-academia cooperation plays for innovation and development and the Horizon 2020 strategy on the topic. Following, Dr Stella Bezergianni, researcher at the Laboratory of Environmental Fuels and Hydrocarbons, CPERI / CERTH, presented the point of view of academia for the cooperation with the private sector, the problems and challenges faced. On the other side, Mr Alexandros Litinas, Research, Development and Quality Control Manager of Elin Biofuels S.A described industry's perspective on the topic of industry-academia collaboration and the factors inhibiting this collaboration. Finally, during the first part of the conference, the results of the I-SEEMOB survey on remaining inter-sectoral mobility obstacles in the eight countries of the consortium, and the results of the current legal framework analysis and its impact on the topic of inter-sectoral mobility of researchers were, also, presented. During the second part of the conference, representatives from ministries, research institutions, business associations and other agencies from the countries participating in the consortium engaged in an interesting discussion about the remaining inter-sectoral mobility obstacles and the problems causing the limited levels of inter-sectoral cooperation in the region.
I-SEEMOB final conference, 16 March 2012
The I-SEEMOB final conference was organised on 27-28 June 2012 at the premises of Tubitak in Ankara, Turkey.
This final event brought together the partner countries as well as researchers, industry representatives and policy experts to discuss the results of the project and share recommendations to enhance industry-academia collaboration and promoting inter-sectoral mobility of researchers at the South Eastern Europe countries.
On the first day of the conference, there have been three sections held namely on political, research and industrial dimensions. Within the policy dimension session, distinguished policy makers have set their point of view; and the main policy recommendations from the final report of the I-SEEMOB project have been presented by the project consortium and discussed with the public. In the research and industrial sessions, distinguished representatives of both academia and industry have shared their real life experiences and make their suggestions to improve the inter-sectoral mobility of researchers among sectors.
On the second day, a round table session was carried out in which participating countries as well as researchers, industry representatives and policy experts had the opportunity to discuss the main results of the project more widely and put their opinions forward on how to better exploit these results and hence, contributing to the success of the project.
As a part of the organisation of the I-SEEMOB final conference, a poster for the event has been prepared by Tubitak and both posters and brochures of the project have been published and sent to the related ministries and actors (i.e. Ministry of EU Affairs, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Development, Council of Higher Education, Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology, Middle East Technical University etc.). As can be seen as a promotional contribution, the information on the final conference and the project in general has been published also on the website of Tubitak Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Department, EURAXESS Turkey Portal, FP7 portal along with the bulletins of EURAXESS Turkey and FP7.
The biggest problem faced during the organisation of the event was to 'book' the speakers. The organiser, with the help of all members of the consortium, identified many possible speakers, especially from the EC; however, they all had very busy schedules (June is generally a very hectic month) and were not be able to participate in the event.
Project website: http://www.iseemob.eu/sitegenius/index.php
1. Related to work package (WP) 1 (management activities):
1.1. (D1.2) Organisation of the 5th Steering Committee (SC) Meeting in Nis and the 6th SC Meeting in Ankara and completion of respective minutes of the meetings.
1.2. (D1.3) Organisation of national advisory group meetings and completion of respective minutes of the meetings.
2. WP2: Mapping exercise on the current state of affairs regarding industrial research and development (R&D) representation in South-Eastern Europe. This WP has been completed during the last period.
3. WP3: Legislation gap analysis. This WP has been completed during the last period.
4. Related to WP4: Policy guidelines for the promotion of intersectoral mobility policy issues in South-Eastern European countries.
4.1. (D4.1) Preparation of eight national guidelines for the promotion of inter-sectoral mobility policy issues.
4.2. (D4.2) Preparation of a synthesis report.
5. WP5: I-SEEMOB portal. This WP has been completed during the last period.
6. Related to WP6: Promotion and dissemination activities
6.1. (D6.4) Organisation of the final dissemination event
6.2. (D6.5) Establishment of an exploitation plan.
7. Related to WP7: Exploration of synergies with other networks or initiatives in SEE and EU.
As a consequence, all deliverables foreseen in the Grant Agreement were realised on time and all obligations were fulfilled.
Project context and objectives:
The main goal of the I-SEEMOB project is to contribute to the enhancement of the career development of R&D personnel in ERA by examining the existing legal and research policy gaps hampering the intersectoral mobility of R&D personnel in the South-Eastern European countries participating in the consortium and, accordingly, provide recommendations and guidelines to the respective governments so as to raise the remaining obstacles and promote intersectoral mobility and the career development of researchers. Towards the accomplishment of the above mentioned objectives, the consortium carried out successfully a series of activities that support existing national and European intersectoral mobility policies. The activities that were carried out are the following:
- a mapping exercise on the current state of industrial representation on R&D sector in South-Eastern European and its respective needs; %l - a legislation gap analysis which examined the legislative framework for career development of researchers in SEE;
- development of policy guidelines for the formulation of common research policies for enhancing the inter-sectoral mobility of researchers and; finally
- establishment of a set of networking initiatives with other relevant national and European networks.
Project results:
Integral element of the I-SEEMOB project was to display the contemporary state of affairs on the issues of inter-sectoral mobility and career development of researchers in the South-Eastern European countries participating in the consortium, so as to have in the future a better understanding of the problems and obstacles still existing.
Thus, in order to provide a better understanding of the current state-of-affairs on the topic industry-academia collaboration in the eight countries of the consortium, the partners worked towards the following targets:
- creating of a database with industries operating R&D departments in the eight consortium countries (WP2);
- implementing a survey on identifying industry needs for R&D personnel in terms of skills and competences (WP2);
- conducting a survey on identifying existing support tools (policy initiatives, fellowship programmes, national funding schemes etc.) for intersectoral mobility (WP2);
- implementing a legislation gap analysis examining the national legal framework for the career development of researchers so as to identify problematic points and / or good practices always in reference to European Commission (EC)'s priorities, recommendations, and communications (WP3);
- developing a set of policy recommendations and guidelines to the governments for the solution of the main identified inter-sectoral mobility obstacles hindering the career development of researchers at the eight I-SEEMOB countries (WP4).
In the framework of WP2 activities, the main exploitable results include:
a) the database with industries operating R&D departments; and
b) the results of the survey on the additional skills and competences (i.e. communication skills, awareness of intellectual property right (IPR) issues, research management training, how to communicate research results, how to build successful spin-offs etc.) that university graduates and researchers need to acquire in order to be more attractive to employers in the industrial sector.
The industry database includes 562 contacts. The database is available at the I-SEEMOB website (see http://www.iseemob.eu/sitegenius/topic.php?id=313 online) and only companies' public data is publicly available. For each country a priority industrial sector (or sectors) was chosen. The priority sectors by country are the following:
Greece
1. Information and communication technologies (ICT)
2. Food industry
3. Pharmacy
4. Chemical industry
5. Materials.
Turkey
1.Biotechnology
2.Electronics
3.Materials
4. ICT.
Bulgary
All industrial sectors
Republic of Serbia
1. ICT
2. Energy industry
3. Biotechnology
4. Materials
5. Civil engineering industry (construction).
Croatia
All industrial sectors.
FYROM
1. Biotechnology
2. Pharmacy
3. Metallurgy
4. Energy industry
5. Information technologies (IT)
6. Construction.
Romani
1. IT
2. Agriculture
3. Biotechnology
4. Healthcare and pharmaceutical
5. Security and defence industry.
Bosnia and Herzegowina
All industrial sectors.
Additionally, the number of industry contacts per country is provided in the following table:
Greece: 122 contacts
Turkey: 49 contacts
Romania; 51 contacts
Bulgaria: 30 contacts
FYROM: 54 contacts
Republic of Serbia: 130 contacts
Croatia: 48 contacts
Bosnia and Herzegowina: 85 contacts.
It is considered that the industry database is an important exploitable asset of the project, since it offers an open list, even though non-exhaustive, of important private sector companies conducting R&D activities in the eight countries of the consortium whose public data (mainly contact details and website addresses) is available to everybody. The database can be used as a partner search tool for all those interested to collaborate with companies abroad, but do not have any liaison links to those countries. Furthermore, the available contact details may be also used by interested parties in future surveys.
The survey implemented in the framework of WP2 focused on identifying:
a)the additional skills and competences that university graduates and researchers need to acquire in order to be more attractive to employers in the industrial sector, and b)both sectors' opinion on remaining barriers to inter-sectoral mobility. In total, 188 respondents from industry and 519 respondents from academia filled out the survey. The regional results offer some clear indications. They show that companies performing research and development activities very often cooperate with other actors - other companies or public research organisations (usually universities). The respondents covered industry subjects of all sizes, 78 % of which confirmed that they run a specialised R&D department. In almost two-thirds (64 %) of those companies which have an R&D department, the company employs less than 10 researchers. The results indicate some distrust between the two sectors; however, most respondents who have experienced inter-sectoral cooperation and / or personal mobility report satisfaction with that experience. Both sectors agree that the industry should take the lead for a better cooperation, but also that tax breaks would stimulate this cooperation. Finally, both sectors agree that several additional skills would make researchers better equipped to work in industry, in particular innovative thinking; they also agree that these skills are under-represented in current national education systems. In general, the results point to a more sceptical attitude of the academic community towards inter-sectoral cooperation - whilst they are interested in cooperation, they perceive more barriers than their counterparts in the private sector.
The study also shows several gaps in the education of young researchers and their preparation for work in or with the private sectors.
Survey respondents by country
The survey results can serve as indicators towards concerted regional and national efforts in order to create and foster a better environment for inter-sectoral cooperation. Furthermore, it can be used as a basis for future surveys on the topic of industry-academia collaboration.
In the framework of WP3, the results of the legislation gap analysis are the main exploitable asset. Although similar issues challenge South-Eastern European countries participating in the I-SEEMOB project, every country has an individual approach to science and technology (S&T) policy-making which also affects the overall organisation of the research and innovation system. In most countries, the R&D structure is mainly dependant on the responsible ministry. However, those state bodies have as priority to implement the national educational policies, considering research as part of them, and only few promote research policies, independently, as driving forces of innovation and sustainable growth. In the last years, the South-Eastern European governments were / still are concentrated on secondary education structural reforms and few of them brought education and research on the same planning track.
Furthermore, in the I-SEEMOB countries, the biggest challenge for research policy, up to 2013 and beyond, is the steady growth of R&D public financing, as well as increasing the private funding from industry to research and innovation. For this purposes, most of the countries set ambitious strategy plans for reaching the 1 %-1.5 % of the gross domestic product (GDP) for research till 2013. In all of the countries, there are legal acts regulating research and innovation in different aspects, including organisation of funding structures, budget, programming, as well as definition of the main characteristics of research and innovation (R&I). Moreover, in all of the countries, regulations, strategies and action plans have been developed and certain amendments of the legal framework have been done in the light of the goals set by Europe 2020, clearly leaving an insight that concrete steps and particular attempts have been undertaken in the direction of promoting human resources (HR) development.
Meantime, most of the countries implement crisis measures towards the decrease of public expenditures, which mostly hits the R&D sector. In the context of Europe 2020 and the initiative on innovation union, the priorities of the South-Eastern European countries are designed in a way to foster integration into the ERA and to open the national research systems towards innovation and competitiveness. The human resources play an important and specific role in this context as the South-Eastern Europe region is still suffering from the consequences of the brain-drain phenomenon while the current years of European and global economic crisis will cost another loss of talents and skilled personnel in all economic sectors. Towards this direction, few governments are planning special measures for capacity development and improvement of the research working environment for young researchers, but in the most of the South-Eastern European countries the whole R&I system is so fragile that the policies are still targeting basic factors for reaching research excellence and innovation without taking into consideration on first place human resources and especially fostering the mobility of researchers between industry and academia. This fact does not make them less ambitious but points out the significant differences among regions (with less and more expenditures for research and innovation) in Europe on planning and implementation of R&I. Of course, it is evident that bigger research infrastructures and highly developed R&I systems require even more funding for keeping the pace to growth and world competitiveness. While for the most of the countries situated in the South-Eastern Europe expenditures for R&I are increasing very slowly due to ongoing structural reforms in education, less developed research infrastructure and lack or slowly developing local industries.
In general, common legislation gaps that inhibit the intersectoral mobility of researchers in the I-SEEMOB countries include:
- insufficient incentives for increasing the private R&D expenditures;
- lack of tools (of institutional or funding nature) supporting the cooperation between industry and academia in terms of transfer of knowledge;
- lack of common ground for a unique definition of the researcher and his / her employment status and working conditions in the public and private sector;
- lack of clear and comprehensive policies / strategies / visions and / or incoherence between the national industry and research policies;
- insufficient innovation activities and poorly developed entrepreneurial environment;
- unsustainable channelling and coordination of national R&D funds with the Cohesion and Structural Funds of the EU and with other European programmes, and non portability of research grants.
WP 4 provided for the development of policy guidelines for the promotion of intersectoral mobility policy issues in the I-SEEMOB countries, as being the main outcome of the I-SEEMOB project.
Tubitak, as WP4 leader, completed all tasks within the WP4 (tasks 4.1; 4.2); respectively the coordination of the preparation of national guidelines for the promotion of inter-sectoral mobility policy issues and completed the synthesis report; which is the main deliverable of the I-SEEMOB project. The results were sent to the coordinator and all project partners.
The main objectives of the WP4 were:
- to contribute to the enhancement of the career development of R&D personnel in ERA by examining the existing legal and research policy gaps hampering the intersectoral mobility of R&D personnel in the South-Eastern European countries;
- to provide recommendations and guidelines to the respective governments so as to raise the remaining obstacles and promote intersectoral mobility and the career development of researchers.
Two main deliverables in WP4 were completed and submitted to the coordinator and the project partners in time; and shared in the final conference with attendants:
- Deliverable of task 4.1: Submission of the eight national guidelines: delivery of the main deliverable of the I-SEEMOB project;
- Deliverable of task 4.2: Submission of the synthesis report: delivery of an up-to-date document containing the latest information about common inter-sectoral mobility challenges faced in South-Eastern European countries that could be used by national governments and EC for finding solutions to the remaining obstacles.
Task 4.1. Preparation of national guidelines for the promotion of inter-sectoral mobility policy issues
Each partner was responsible for the development of a national guidelines based on the conclusions obtained in WP2 and the legislative gap analysis results carried out in WP3 within T4.1 and within T4.2. All partners prepared eight national guidelines (one per country) in accordance with the report template including the structure and methodology for the guidelines provided by Tubitak as the WP leader. The national guidelines included the main conclusions of the mapping exercise carried out in WP2 and the legislative gap analysis results conducted in WP3.
The guidelines included the main headings below:
1. Introduction:
1.1. The main conclusions obtained from mapping exercise on the current state of industrial R&D in (country name)
1.2. The main conclusions obtained from the legislation gap analysis in (country name)
2. The Inter-sectoral mobility obstacles in (country name)
3. The cooperation among sectors in (country name)
4. Conclusions
4.1. The overall consideration and recommendations of the national advisory group.
Task 4.2. Synthesis report
The synthesis report benefited from the national guidelines to be prepared under the Task 4.1 and the works of the consortium during the sixth SC meeting in Ankara. The synthesis report included the main headings given below:
1. About the I-SEEMOB project
2. Introduction
3. The inter-sectoral mobility challenges in South-Eastern Europe
4. The consideration and recommendations of the national advisory groups
5. Conclusion
6. Annex 1 - Members of the national advisory groups.
The main results from the synthesis report are summarised below:
According to the consideration of the national advisory groups, the common inter-sectoral mobility obstacles for the South-Eastern Europena region, which should be primarily dealt with, are introduced below:
- unfavourable working conditions of the researcher;
-different perceptions of the academia and the industry and incompatibility between the needs and interests of the academia and the industry;
- lack of specific tools and / or funding schemes dedicated to promote inter-sectoral mobility;
- insufficient innovation activities at national level and poorly developed entrepreneurial environment;
- lack of clear and comprehensive policies / strategies / visions to encourage inter-sectoral mobility and / or incoherence between the national industry and research policies;
- insufficient participation in international R&D projects; especially in EU projects due to bureaucratic and time-consuming project management system and lack of adequate co-funding instruments for national participation in EU programmes;
- lack of definition of the 'researcher' and his / her employment status (recognition of profession) and regulation of secondment in national legislation;
- lack or insufficiency of qualified R&D personnel;
- low R&D investment by the industry;
- lack of confidence and interaction between the industry and the academia communities.
In accordance with these most common inter-sectoral mobility obstacles, the national advisory groups also bring up a set of recommendations to improve the inter-sectoral mobility of researchers which are examined in detail at national level within the synthesis report, and are consolidated at regional level under the following main-headings:
Revision of the education system
- improve the curriculums to increase the rate of transversal skills of researchers;
- rstablish inter-sectoral mobility schemes for students (undergraduate and postgraduate) in industry;
- trigger innovation and entrepreneurship in universities as a whole.
Increasing financial / technical support
- provide and diversify tax incentives;
- increase the overall R&D support.
Enhancing coordination between actors
- set up a coordinating mechanism / forum;
- organise joint info days and events;
- stress the inter-sectoral mobility within national policy documents and ensure the coherence among these policies;
- minimise procedures and the bureaucracy;
- establish infrastructures for common use of sectors.
Improving the working conditions of researchers
- build up a supportive environment and enhance the social / economic facilities.
Potential impact:
The consortium of ISEEMOB developed a set of policy recommendations and guidelines to the governments for the solution of the main identified inter-sectoral mobility obstacles hindering the career development of researchers at the eight I-SEEMOB countries (see above in S&T results).
The project, under WP6 activities, includes 'Promotion and dissemination activities'. Its objectives are to ensure the widest promotion of the project's objectives, to guarantee the maximum visibility of activities and results at national and European level, and to assess the outcomes of the project.
During the last reporting period (1 January 2012 - 30 June 2012), the main activities implemented in the framework of WP6 are the two I-SEEMOB promotional events (D6.3 D6.4) and the development of the I-SEEMOB exploitation plan (D6.5). Additionally, the partners promoted the I-SEEMOB project and its results to a number of national and international events:
List of promotional activities
- Bulgarian Academy of Scoences 2020 - Roadmap to Excellence Achievement
14 February 2012, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
Promotion of the I-SEEMOB project (SU-NIS)
- Problems of Bulgarian researchers concerning participations in European programmes
23 February 2012, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
Promotion of the I-SEEMOB project (SU-NIS)
- European programmes - Challenges and Opportunities
9 March 2012, Medical University, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Promotion of the I-SEEMOB project (SU-NIS)
- Enterprise Europe Network - Opportunities and services supporting applied research
16 May 2012, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
Promotion of the I-SEEMOB project (SU-NIS)
- Opportunities and practical guidelines for career development and mobility of post docs and young scientists
13 June 2012, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
Promotion of the I-SEEMOB project (SU-NIS)
- Opportunities and practical guidelines for career development and mobility of post docs and young scientists
25 June 2012, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
Promotion of the I-SEEMOB project (SU-NIS)
- Yearly meeting of the Euro Info Networks in Bulgaria
4 July 2012, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Promotion of the I-SEEMOB project (SU-NIS)
- I-SEEMOB conference - Fostering inter-Sectoral mobility of researchers in South-Eastern Europe: Challenges and driving forces
16 March 2012, CERTH, Thessaloniki, Greece
Presentation of the WP2 survey results (AMEUP)
- I-SEEMOB final conference
27-28 June 2012, Tubitak, Ankara, Turkey
Presentation of the WP2 survey results (AMEUP)
- Meeting with the Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Sports and with representatives of OECD, Topic: Preparation of the national strategy on innovation
19 June 2012, Zagreb, Croatia
Presentation of the project's results, especially regarding the national results (AMEUP)
- Info day Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) Joint Programme
4 April 2012, Bucharest, Romania
Presentation of the project results, leaflets (UEFISCDI)
- Bologna process / EHEA Ministerial Conference
26 - 27 April 2012, Bucharest, Romania
leaflets (UEFISCDI)
- Seventh Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES Conference)
5 July 2012, Ohrid, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
leaflets (MASA)
- Info day, Thematic priority HEALTH
24 April 2012, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
leaflets and presentations (MCA)
- Infoday MOBILITY
10 May 2012, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
leaflets and presentations (MCA)
- Info day 'Possibilities for participation in FP7'
22 May 2012, Banja Luka, Bosnia-Herzegovina
leaflets and presentations (MCA)
- Meeting with NCPs and focal points
25 May 2012, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
leaflets (MCA)
- Joint Research Centre (JRC) Info day
5 June 2012, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
leaflets and presentations (MCA)
- ICT Info day
25 June 2012, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
leaflets and presentations (MCA)
- Info day - Possibilities for participation in FP7
5 July 2012, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
leaflets and presentations (MCA)
- Workshop - HEALTH
9 July 2012, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
leaflets and presentations (MCA)
- Info day - 'Mobility and methods of project proposals preparation'
10 July 2012, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
leaflets and presentations (MCA)
- OECD CSTP RIHR Meeting
26 - 27 April 2012
Presenting information on the I-SEEMOB project and inter-sectoral mobility issues within the scope of the presentation of the science, technology human resources strategy and action plan (Tubitak)
- Briefing on 'the science, technology human resources strategy and action plan' for the assistant experts in the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology
8 May 2012, Ankara, Turkey
Presenting information on the I-SEEMOB project and inter-sectoral mobility issues within the scope of the presentation of the science, technology human resources strategy and action plan (Tubitak)
- EU SGHRM Meeting
23 May 2012
Presenting information on the I-SEEMOB project and inter-sectoral mobility issues within the scope of the presentation of the science, technology human resources strategy and action plan (Tubitak)
- Briefing on ' science, technology human resources strategy and action plan' for the Ministry of Labour and Social Security
26 June 2012, Ankara, Turkey
Presenting information on the I-SEEMOB project and inter-sectoral mobility issues within the scope of the presentation of the science, technology human resources strategy and action plan (Tubitak)
- I-SEEMOB final conference
27-28 June 2012, Ankara, Turkey
Presentation of the main results from the synthesis report
Dissemination of leaflets and poster: posters and brochures of the project have been published and sent to the related ministries and actors (i.e. Ministry of EU Affairs, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Development, the Council of Higher Education, Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology, Middle East Technical University etc.)
Information on the final conference and the project in general has been published on various websites. As can be seen as a promotional contribution, the information on the final conference and the project in general has been published also on:
i. the website of Tubitak Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Department
(please see http://www.tubitak.gov.tr/sid/468/pid/0/cid/27847/index.htm and http://www.tubitak.gov.tr/sid/2400/pid/2400/cid/27848/index.htm online)
ii. the EURAXESS Turkey portal
(please see http://euraxess.tubitak.gov.tr/i-seemob-final-conference-to-be-held-on-27-28-june-2012 online)
iii. FP7 portal (please see http://www.fp7.org.tr/home.do?ot=5&rt=10&sid=3360&pid=0&cid=24392 online)
along with the bulletins of EURAXESS Turkey and FP7 (Tubitak).
- Raising awareness on the project via e-mail
June 2012
Receivers:
Middle East Technical University researchers e-mail groups;
Contact points for the human resources strategy and action plan in Ministry of EU Affairs, Ministry of Development, Ministry of Economics, Council of Higher Education, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organisation, Turkish Patent Institute, Tubitak employees etc. (Tubitak).
- I-SEEMOB promotional event, 16 March 2012
The I-SEEMOB promotional event (D6.3) was to be organised by month 32. Due to the delivery delay of some activities related to WP2 and WP3 which would be significant to promote at the event, the partners decided to delay the organisation of the event. Thus, the event entitled 'Fostering inter-sectoral mobility of researchers in South-Eastern Europe: Challenges and driving forces' was organised on Friday, 16 March 2012 at the premises of CERTH in Thessaloniki, Greece.
The aim of the event was to foster a policy dialogue on the topics of inter-sectoral cooperation and inter-sectoral mobility of researchers as demonstrated in the eight South-Eastern European countries (Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Republic of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Romania) participating at the I-SEEMOB consortium. The main target group of the event was policy makers, either from the public (representatives of ministries, regional and local public authorities, representatives of public academic and research institutions etc.) or from the private sector (i.e. industry associations, chambers etc.) so as to have feedback for the elaboration / development of the synthesis report (D.4.2) from the discussion / dialogue that occurred during the event.
For this reason, the conference programme included two sessions: the first one acting as an introduction to the topic of 'intersectoral cooperation' and 'intersectoral mobility of researchers', where our project results (WP2 and WP3 results) were also presented, while the second session was dedicated to roundtable discussion where invited country officials discussed about country-specific developments on research policy, inter-sectoral cooperation, and inter-sectoral mobility obstacles (legal, administrative, funding-related etc.) and were asked to provide recommendations.
During the organisation phase of the event, each partner was requested to invite and bring along one country official (ministry officials, representatives from chambers, researchers' associations, academies etc.) so as to participate at the roundtable discussion. The selection of the country official was based on the criterion of inviting a person who has extensive knowledge of the national research policy framework and especially on those issues raised by inter-sectoral cooperation and on inter-sectoral mobility obstacles so as to give his / her perspective. Thus, seven country representatives participated at the conference. These are the following:
Greece: Mrs Vasiliki Pletsa, International S&T Cooperation Directorate, General Secretariat for Research & Technology
Turkey: Mrs Ayegül Günel, Scientific Programmes Expert, Tubitak
Croatia: Mr Dalibor Marijanovic, General Manager of The Business Innovation Center of Croatia (BICRO) Ltd
Republic of Serbia: Prof. Dr Vera Dondur, President of the National Council for Science and Technological Development
Bulgaria: Prof. Antoni Slavinski, Head of Board of Trustees, New Bulgarian University
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: Mrs Violeta Atanasovska, National FP7 Coordinator, Ministry of Education and Science
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Mr Ammar Miraija, National FP7 Coordinator, Ministry of Civil Affairs
External: Prof. Fulvio Esposito, University of Camerino, Chair of ERA Steering Group on Human Resources and Mobility.
The roundtable discussion was moderated by Dr Uwe Seidel, VDI / VDE Innovation + Technik GmbH, I-SEEMOB external expert, and was based on a list of questions Dr Seidel and WP6 leader developed together.
Fifty (50) people participated at the event which received wide promotion from local media (electronic and traditional media). During the first part of the conference, Prof. Fulvio Esposito, Chair of ERA Steering Group on Human Resources and Mobility, former Dean of the University of Camerino- Italy, elaborated on the importance of mobility for the career development of researchers in the framework of EUROPE 2020 strategy. Additionally, Dr Vasiliki Pletsa, Officer at the International S&T Cooperation Directorate, General Secretariat for Research and Technology, Greece, talked about the significant role that industry-academia cooperation plays for innovation and development and the Horizon 2020 strategy on the topic. Following, Dr Stella Bezergianni, researcher at the Laboratory of Environmental Fuels and Hydrocarbons, CPERI / CERTH, presented the point of view of academia for the cooperation with the private sector, the problems and challenges faced. On the other side, Mr Alexandros Litinas, Research, Development and Quality Control Manager of Elin Biofuels S.A described industry's perspective on the topic of industry-academia collaboration and the factors inhibiting this collaboration. Finally, during the first part of the conference, the results of the I-SEEMOB survey on remaining inter-sectoral mobility obstacles in the eight countries of the consortium, and the results of the current legal framework analysis and its impact on the topic of inter-sectoral mobility of researchers were, also, presented. During the second part of the conference, representatives from ministries, research institutions, business associations and other agencies from the countries participating in the consortium engaged in an interesting discussion about the remaining inter-sectoral mobility obstacles and the problems causing the limited levels of inter-sectoral cooperation in the region.
I-SEEMOB final conference, 16 March 2012
The I-SEEMOB final conference was organised on 27-28 June 2012 at the premises of Tubitak in Ankara, Turkey.
This final event brought together the partner countries as well as researchers, industry representatives and policy experts to discuss the results of the project and share recommendations to enhance industry-academia collaboration and promoting inter-sectoral mobility of researchers at the South Eastern Europe countries.
On the first day of the conference, there have been three sections held namely on political, research and industrial dimensions. Within the policy dimension session, distinguished policy makers have set their point of view; and the main policy recommendations from the final report of the I-SEEMOB project have been presented by the project consortium and discussed with the public. In the research and industrial sessions, distinguished representatives of both academia and industry have shared their real life experiences and make their suggestions to improve the inter-sectoral mobility of researchers among sectors.
On the second day, a round table session was carried out in which participating countries as well as researchers, industry representatives and policy experts had the opportunity to discuss the main results of the project more widely and put their opinions forward on how to better exploit these results and hence, contributing to the success of the project.
As a part of the organisation of the I-SEEMOB final conference, a poster for the event has been prepared by Tubitak and both posters and brochures of the project have been published and sent to the related ministries and actors (i.e. Ministry of EU Affairs, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Development, Council of Higher Education, Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology, Middle East Technical University etc.). As can be seen as a promotional contribution, the information on the final conference and the project in general has been published also on the website of Tubitak Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Department, EURAXESS Turkey Portal, FP7 portal along with the bulletins of EURAXESS Turkey and FP7.
The biggest problem faced during the organisation of the event was to 'book' the speakers. The organiser, with the help of all members of the consortium, identified many possible speakers, especially from the EC; however, they all had very busy schedules (June is generally a very hectic month) and were not be able to participate in the event.
Project website: http://www.iseemob.eu/sitegenius/index.php