| National debates often point to intellectual property (IP) rights regimes as a critical framework condition for the public research system and the private sector to work together, e.g. to effectively commercialise or licence public research results or facilitate co-ownership of research outputs. | |
| The largest share of policy initiatives supports collaborative research and innovation, promoting partnerships or other forms of collaborative projects between the public and private sectors. Accordingly, initiatives jointly target public research organisations and firms. | |
| Knowledge intermediaries, such as technology transfer offices, are also frequently targeted by policies. At times initiatives try to leverage them to establish or strengthen technology clusters. | |
| Countries use a heterogeneous mix of policy instruments to promote joint research, establish networks coordinating on R&D activities, support technology extension services and regulate and incentivise the use of IP. |
Countries indicated the main policy debates around government support to Science-industry knowledge transfer and sharing in their response to the 2019 EC-OECD STIP survey (raw data included below in Annex A). A number of salient patterns can be identified from these responses:
Various European countries highlight knowledge transfer as a core goal of within some of their national strategies, agendas and plans. The United Kingdom’s Industrial Strategy, for example, considers increasing university-business collaboration as critical to raise R&D intensity to 2.4% of GDP by 2027. Discussions around Portugal's Strategy Portugal 2030 included the development of scientific knowledge for different business segments and mobilising actors for research and innovation impact, among other topics related to knowledge transfer. Estonia’s new R&D and Innovation (RDI) strategy places strong focus on building the capacity of knowledge transfer and on improving business-university linkages, including strengthening the technology transfer offices in universities, developing innovation services and providing additional funding schemes for technology-intensive start-ups. In developing its new Research, Technology and Innovation (RTI) 2030 strategy, Austria tasked one of five thematic working groups with the topic of applied research and impact on economy and society, indicating that knowledge transfer will be an important component of the strategy. Moreover, the European Union’s Horizon Europe will give emphasis to the exploitation and valorisation of research results by introducing associated criteria in the rules for participating in and implementing the framework programme.
A few countries, including Korea, Brazil, and Slovak Republic, stressed a mismatch between supply and demand of knowledge as an important obstacle for science-industry technology transfer. Besides this, the main framework condition cited in national debates as critical to improve knowledge transfer is the intellectual property (IP) rights regime. In particular, whether it facilitates public research organisations and firms to conduct joint research, and if it suppors the co-ownership, commercialisation or licencing of public research results. Various countries, such as Norway, Sweden and South Africa recognise deficiencies in their IP regimes, whereas others point towards major initiatives seeking to strengthen them. Canada’s Intellectual Property Strategy, for example, will launch a number of IP resources and legislation that is expected to make it easier for business to look for university-owned IP. Ireland’s Innovation 2020 strategy supports the creation of an intellectual property regime that encourages the creation of proprietary knowledge and its diffusion. China aims to promote mixed ownership of IP stemming from joint scientific and technological achievements.
Countries also promote the adoption of open innovation, open science and enhanced access to research data as a means to foster knowledge transfer. For instance, one of Germany’s 12 missions of the High-Tech Strategy 2025 is about new sources for new knowledge, focusing on opportunities offered by open access, open science, open data and open innovation. In Austria, open innovation is a cross-sectional topic in its new RTI strategy, whereas its 2016 Open Innovation Strategy provides a vision towards opening up the innovation system (including science-industry links). Canada’s 2018-2020 National Action Plan on Open Government implements open science initiatives encouraging greater scientific openness and research accessibility for the benefit of society at large. In Norway, by contrast, there have been concerns around the requirement for articles funded by its Research Council to be published with open access as of 2020. Critics argue that this hinders researchers from publishing in the most prestigious journals, with negative consequences for research quality.
In parallel to setting up strategies and improving framework conditions, countries also debate the promotion of knowledge transfer using public investment. Two main types of measures can be identified from the responses submitted by countries: (i) setting up and strengthening knowledge intermediaries and (ii) funding science-industry collaborative research.
Regarding knowledge intermediaries, most countries refer to supporting science and technology parks, incubators, accelerators and, particularly, technology transfer offices (TTOs). Hungary, for instance, established the Science, Innovation, Technology and Industrial Park Network in order to achieve fully integrated cooperation between industry, research and academia. Thailand continues to support its science parks as a bridge between public research organisations and industry leveraging an established R&D infrastructure, business acceleration programs and supporting mechanisms such as IP legal services and market access services. China’s National Technology Transfer Demonstration Agency continues to explore new mechanisms and new models of technology transfer services based on market demand. Several countries, including Estonia, Israel and Slovenia identify a need strengthen their TTO ecosystem and developing related services (e.g. project management, IP support). Lithuania created the Research and Technology Organisation, an association with the country’s leading research centres that seeks to consolidate the country’s potential in applied research. Argentina and Portugal highlight the launch of web-based platforms that enable directories of research actors and allow easy access to their competence profiles, outputs and activities.
Concerning funding science-industry collaborative research, countries often support this type of applied research in a number of ways. Australia and Estonia have added knowledge transfer metrics into their formulas for calculating the basic (block) funding of public research organisations. Austria has added similar criteria and conditions to performance agreements. Other countries fund specific projects, the majority of which through joint research grants or by supporting academic spin-offs (these are discussed in more detail below in Section 3).
Addressing the topic of human resources, Norway and Portugal emphasised the need for a highly qualified labour force, capable to lead interactions between research and companies, commercialise research results and adopt new technologies. In this regard, other responses raised researcher insertion in the private sector as an important policy objective. Finland, France, Italy and South Africa, among others, have established industrial PhD programmes or identified a need to increase the insertion of graduates to businesses.
It is noteworthy that countries at times orient these programmes towards specific business sectors and technologies. Greece, for example, launched a number of initiatives in Aquaculture, New Industrial Materials and Cultural Heritage, which are considered strategic for its economy. Thailand’s Food Innopolis is a platform promoting knowledge transfer in the local food and food-related sectors through a package of measures. France, Germany and Italy have initiated trilateral cooperation to promote the digitisation of the manufacturing sector and to support the European Union's efforts in this area. The cooperation brings together the implementing bodies of the national strategies for Industry 4.0 in the three countries: Plattform Industrie 4.0 for Germany, Alliance Industrie du Futur for France, and the Piano Impresa 4.0 for Italy. Israel’s Bioconvergence Strategic Plan, aims to reinforce incentives for university researchers to engage in applicative research that may benefit the industry in the biotechnology and nanotechnology sectors.
Within the Science-industry knowledge transfer and sharing policy area, the largest share of reported policies address three themes (Figure 1). Collaborative research and innovation is the one most recurrently addressed, gathering programmes that promote partnerships or other forms of collaborative projects between the public and private sectors. Secondly is the Cluster policies theme, including initiatives supporting thematic and/or place-based clusters (e.g. provision and implementation of networking infrastructures and financial support or incentives). The third most frequent theme is Commercialisation of public research results, which includes policies supporting the transfer of academic inventions via the sale, transfer or licensing of intellectual property, often on an exclusive basis, to existing firms or new ventures.
Figure 2 shows that science-industry policies have similar numbers of public research organisations and firms as target groups. Private R&D labs are addressed by relatively a lower number of policies (by almost half). Besides organisations and firms, individual public research actors are also frequently cited, i.e. Established researchers and Post-docs and other early-career researchers for their roles in knowledge transfer and commercialisation policies (see keywords by hovering the corresponding bars with the mouse). These actors, together with Entrepreneurs are also often addressed in academic spin-off policies. Several policies also target intermediaries, which support science-industry linkages, such as Incubators, accelerators, science parks and techno parks, Technology transfer offices and Industry associations. These are often highlighted by smart specialisation strategies.
Science-industry knowledge transfer and sharing policies are delivered through a heterogeneous mix of policy instruments (Figure 3). Grants are often allocated for firms or public research organisations, with science-industry collaboration as a requirement. Similarly, policies set public-private Networking and collaborative platforms to promote regional or thematic innovation clusters. Technology extension and business advisory services are frequently used to support knowledge transfer, research commercialisation and academic spin-offs. The figure also shows Intellectual property regulation and incentives is used with relatively high frequency (unlike in other policy areas). This instrument regulates and promotes the adoption of intellectual property (IP) rights and practices. It is often used by policies seeking to increase the capability for public research organisations to register and license IP.
Initiatives within the Science-industry knowledge transfer and sharing policy area reporting budget data are more numerous within the 1M-5M and 5M-20M EUR yearly expenditures (Figure 4). There is little meaningful variation in the keywords across the figure's different budget ranges. It is noteworthy that initiatives with yearly expenditures of 100M EUR or higher often address societal challenges. More information and analysis on initiatives addressing these challenges is available in the Research and innovation for society policy area.
Figure 5 shows that the United Kingdom has reported the largest number of initiatives in this policy area, followed by Ireland, Germany and Austria. The chart shows only the number of policy initiatives reported by countries and gives no indication of their scale or scope. The figure should therefore be interpreted with care. Clicking on a given bar in the chart will bring you to the corresponding country dashboard for Science-industry knowledge transfer and sharing policies.
Table 1 contains the answers provided by countries (and other entities) to the following question: Briefly, what are the main ongoing policy debates around national policy for science-industry knowledge transfer and sharing? You may use the table's search box to filter the data by country or keyword. You may also dowload the data in Excel format.
Table 1. Policy debates in the Science-industry knowledge transfer and sharing policy area
| Response | |
|---|---|
| Argentina | As in other countries, there are two main concerns that structure current debates: 1) the increased speed of transition to a globalized and highly competitive knowledge-based economy, which also means shorter product cycles and hence shorter time horizons for private sector to invest in R&D; and 2) budgetary constraints faced by governments and their impact on the funding of university research, in a context in which research and development costs are higher. To addresss these challenges MINCYT developed Innovation Argentina (http://www.innovacionargentina.gob.ar/), a web platform that that seeks to enhance synergies between relevant actors of the National System of Science, Technology and Innovation and the private sector, by exchanging ideas, information and available resources in relation to their capabilities and needs of technological innovation. This Project was strategically designed in four main courses of action: 1) the Platform for Demands and Technological Transfer (PDTT), a network of institutions from the academic, scientific-technological, governmental and business sector, which carry out a survey of innovation demands and publish those demands online to increase visibility and generate a prompt response; 2) the Support to the Productive Sector (ASEP), that provides guidance and assistance on available financing tools for entrepreneurship, applied research and the addition of value to the national production; 3) the Strengthening Program for Technology Transfer Offices (OVTT), aiming to back these interface units that facilitate the interaction between the generation of knowledge and its application, providing guidance on project management, financing tools and intellectual property rights; 4) the Support Program for the Study of Technological Demands (PAR), which seeks to develop the work of human resources highly specialized in technology transfer, particularly their efforts to generate future projects that will contribute to meeting demands disclosed by the PDTT. |
| Australia | Over the past two years, the government has maintained a strong focus on the knowledge-transfer system and considerations on how to raise the level of business expenditure in research and development (BERD) are becoming increasingly prominent. The Australian Government supports knowledge transfer between the publicly funded research sector and business through a variety of programs. Some programs are large and have been in place for many years, e.g. the Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Program, the Rural R&D Corporations, the Australian Research Council (ARC) Industrial Transformation Research Program, as well as activities undertaken by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRIO). Other programs, such as the Innovation Connections element of the Entrepreneurs’ Programme, are small in comparison but proving to deliver valuable outcomes in bridging the gap between university researchers and small and medium businesses. Another key government policy is the Industry Growth Centres Initiative. A main objective of the Initiative is to improve engagement and linkages between research and industry, as well as within industry, to achieve stronger commercialisation outcomes in Australia’s key sectors. The most significant changes to government policy on research-industry linkages have pertained to universities. The Australian Government provides substantial support to universities through block-grant funding. In recent years, it has increased the degree to which it allocates this funding based on the income universities receive from industry. These changes in incentive structures have started delivering real results, with universities more conscious of their need to engage with industry participants to successfully translate their research. |
| Austria | Universities, universities of applied sciences and non-university research organisations generate a broad spectrum of knowledge from very different fields of research on a daily basis. They are playing an increasingly important role in maintaining competitiveness and solving societal challenges in advanced economies where knowledge has become the most important factor of production. Therefore, it is of crucial importance to identify any valuable know how as quickly as possible in order to link researchers with potential co-operators and to foster knowledge transfer through networks, project partnerships, and exploitation of IP, licenses, patents and the founding of new enterprises. An important instrument for strengthening knowledge and technology transfer are the performance agreements. Therefore, universities and research organizations have established and institutionalized strategic knowledge and technology transfer by implementing their intellectual property rights and exploitation strategies. Austria has a long and internationally recognized tradition of “organised interfaces” between basic science and other actors and promotes knowledge transfer between universities, other research organisations and the private sector through knowledge-transfer centres. Technology-transfer coordinators at the universities act as contact persons for universities, non-university research institutes and companies. They provide an overview of all current research projects and appraise their commercial potential. All the public universities are participating. A national contact point has been designated at the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research to address the European Commission’s IP Recommendation. One of its tasks is to co-ordinate measures to foster knowledge transfer between public research organisations and the private sector. This includes tackling transnational issues, in liaison with similar contact points in other Member States. In cooperation with AWS (Austria Wirtschaftsservice), a working group organised by Austrian universities has drawn up an Intellectual Property Agreement Guide containing modular units on agreements covering co-operative ventures between universities and businesses. The Guide considers novel aspects of the law on service inventions, cartel law, the block-exemption regulation for technology transfer, and EU regulations for government funding of RTI (http://www.ipag.at/). Academic spin-offs are another essential element in the effective transfer of academic knowledge. By founding spin-offs from universities and public-sector research institutions, young innovative entrepreneurs help ensure that the global market is kept supplied with fresh ideas and better solutions. Therefore, the “Spin-off Fellowships Programme” of the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research aims to step in at a very early stage: It enables researchers to concentrate exclusively on the further development of their research results and to exploit them in the form of a business start-up. They are supported for up to 18 months and receive a maximum subsidy of € 500.000. Since the beginning of the programme 24 projects have already started. The Fellowships Programme is endowed with € 15M and is coordinated and handled by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG). (https://www.ffg.at/en/node/52752). To develop a new RTI strategy until 2030, five thematic working groups have been established; one of them is dealing with the topic "applied research and impact on economy and society", which indicates that knowledge transfer will be an important part of the new RTI strategy. Furthermore, "open innovation" is a cross-sectional topic in the new RTI strategy, and the "Open Innovation Strategy for Austria", established in 2016, gives a clear vision regarding opening up the innovation system also between science and industry/business. When it comes to cooperation between science and industry, the OECD review of innovation reports Austria to be the leading country (2012-14). Numerous funding programmes (e.g. COMET) and associations (e.g. Christian Doppler Research Association) incentivize businesses to collaborate on innovation with higher education or research institutions. COMET centres and Christian Doppler labs account for the largest share of public investments in collaborative science-industry structures. As suggested in the OECD review of Austria's innovation policy, new ways of developing the COMET model further will be explored. |
| Belgium (Brussels authority) | The Regional Innovation Plan of the Brussels Region (PRI, 2016-2020) has put an important emphasis on various actions that stimulate the transfer of technology and knowledge from academia to industry (or the business sector at large). The plan has stimulated the strengthening of knowledge transfer offices in Brussels higher education institutes, including in university colleges. The plan further includes, for instance, actions related to the secondment of researchers in SMEs (ready to be launched) and the reform of the applied PHD program (operational). This latter programme incorporates an important knowledge transfer dimension by funding doctoral projects that are partly carried out in a company (or in a public administration). As clearly shown in the general policy declaration of the new Brussels government (2019-2024), cooperation between academic researchers, businesses, and the non-profit sector remains an important priority for the region. After all, cooperation spurs knowledge transfer and valorisation of research results. It is to be expected that funding programmes that stress collaborations and the transfer of knowledge – such as Innoviris’ Joint R&D project call, Co-Creation, or Experimental Platforms – will be continued and, most likely, become ever more important in the future. The above-mentioned general policy declaration also suggests a number of new initiatives that would promote knowledge sharing in specific sectors, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) or health. With regard to the former, the declaration launches the idea to create, in collaboration with digital industry and academia, an integrated research centre focused on AI. Regarding the latter, the declaration mentions the creation of an internationally renowned cancer research hub at the Erasmus campus in Brussels where researchers, hospitals, and start-ups interact, flourish, and take important steps forward in the fight against cancer. |
| Belgium (Federal Government authority) | Science policy in Belgium is a mixed competence between the federal and the regional levels. This poses particular challenges and requires good coordination between the different levels. For space matters, the competence is almost entirely in the hands of the federal authority. Belgium is an ESA member. Thanks to this membership, many Belgian enterprises/research groups take part in ESA programmes. For knowledge transfer and sharing, the ESA rules are followed. These provide a good balance between industrial property rights and the effective use and spread of the high technology that has been developed through ESA programmes. |
| Belgium (Flanders authority) | In its policy memorandum 2019-2024, the VARIO (Flemish Advisory Council for Innovation and Entrepreneurship) underlines the importance of cooperation between the Flemish R&D&I-actors in achieving value creation, where it sees an important role for the Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship Agency (VLAIO) to attract new companies into the innovation pool. In order to offer companies access to knowledge and to valorize innovation economically, Flanders continues to invest in the Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship Agency (VLAIO) set of instruments for co-operation and knowledge sharing between companies and knowledge institutions, and between companies themselves. The cluster policy (spearhead clusters: Catalisti, Flux 50, Strategic Materials Initiative, Flemish Innovation Platform Logistics, Flanders' Food and the Blue Cluster) will be continued. The feasibility of a spearhead cluster in the field of personalized medicine will be evaluated. Flanders will strengthen the interaction between knowledge institutions and Flemish industry with regard to industrial research agendas, to eliminate the 'knowledge mismatch' between what Flemish universities produce and what Flemish industry demands. Flanders will investigate how it can strengthen the involvement of Flemish companies in strategic basic research, Technology Transfer Offices (TTO’s) and research infrastructure. In the last few years, at the request of or in consultation with economic and social actors, important initiatives have been started as part of a more mission-oriented innovation policy. This includes the Moonshot (transition to a carbon-smart economy), the transition priorities, and the policy agendas for artificial intelligence and cyber security. Within regular innovation and cluster policy, resources are also needed for this type of research, linked to major societal challenges such as climate, digitisation, aging, etc. Flanders also intends to support higher TRLs (Technology Readiness Levels) and develop a framework for supporting pilot and demonstration plants. |
| Belgium (Wallonia authority) | The Walloon regional government has undertaken efforts in recent years to promote more collaboratios between the research and innovation actors in Wallonia: - Supporting partnerships between the scientific community and firms: through measures such as the Competitive Poles, or research programmes such as CWALity, Win2Wal, FIRST, etc. - Strengthening technology transfers: financing academic Knowledge Transfer Offices (KTOs) and the LIEU network (“Liaison Entreprises-Universités”, i.e. “link firms-universities”); - Networking the operators of scientific and technologic intermediation; and - Better protection of IP in R&D projects based on partnerships. |
| Brazil | The main ongoing policy debates around Brazil’s national policy for science-industry knowledge transfer and sharing are: (i) upgrading the intellectual property framework; (ii) science-industry links; and, (iii) talent availability. Upgrading the intellectual property framework This debate regards how up to date is the Brazilian intellectual property framework so that it is able to stimulate, support and accelerate the creation of knowledge, and its codification as intellectual property assets, throughout the public research system; and the transference and sharing of knowledge to the industry through intellectual property assets. Science-industry links Brazil’s public research system needs to be further linked with the private sector, particularly by better addressing its needs and opportunities. There should be an increase in the number of public research system-private sector interactions, collaborations and partnerships. This could be fostered throughout the public research system’s governance and operations. Talent availability This debate explores whether the talent needed to achieve the potential for business innovation and innovative entrepreneurship initiatives is available in Brazil. Particular emphasis is given to how public sector education and the research system can better prepare and develop these talents. This includes embedding the necessary innovation and entrepreneurship skills and the specialization in prioritized scientific areas. |
| Bulgaria | The government has opened a national science portal, including information about its research programmes, research infrastructures, and researchers. Furthermore, in early 2019, the government has started to elaborate a National Open Science Portal and national repository. Key to promoting the commercialisation of research results and to fostering collaboration between academia and business are Competence Centers and Centers of Excellence, which are currently being developed and modernised with the support of the OP “Science and education for smart growth” 2014-2020. The centers will create the necessary conditions to attract highly qualified scientists to conduct research at the highest European level and will significantly improve the potential for applied research, experimental development and innovation in the regions, within the thematic areas of the Bulgarian Innovation strategy for Smart Specialization: Mechatronics and Clean Technologies, Informatics and ICT, Industry and healthcare and biotechnologies in the Creative and Recreative industries. All projects are prepared and implemented in partnership between different scientific organisations, incl. universities, academic institutes, structures of national institutions, etc.) and aim to improve the existing scientific infrastructure to facilitate the implementation of research and development, the transfer of knowledge and technology, the dissemination of research results, and the provision of research business services. The Decree of the Council of Ministers on the establishment and functioning of a Mechanism for the awarding and implementation of scientific consultations by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences has been adopted. The main objective of the mechanism is to provide timely high quality and independent scientific expertise for the benefit of executive authorities of the Republic of Bulgaria on issues of strategic importance in formulating policies and instruments for the implementation of state policy, as well as in the transposition of European Union Directives in Bulgarian legislation. The mechanism aims to strengthen evidence-based policy-making in view of the new challenges connected with the increasing interdisciplinary nature of policies (such as in the spheres of climate, energy, transport, artificial intelligence, bioeconomy). The Council of Ministers adopted a report submitted by the Vice-Prime minister on November 2019 for increasing the quality of the policies and the management of the research and innovation system. The report proposes the establishment of a State agency for research and innovation. An inter-institutional core team was established and held its first meeting in mid-December 2019. During 2020 the team will draft the preparation and realization of Agency which will incorporate an integrated approach of the policy process related to applied research and innovation development and will ensure the long-term planning and sustainability of financial resources for policymaking. |
| Canada | Beyond fostering and nurturing the generation of knowledge, one policy debate revolves around the balance between the rights of knowledge creators and opportunities for the knowledge users. On this front, Canada recently unveiled its Intellectual Property Strategy: over the next five years, the Government of Canada will be making sure that Canadian businesses, creators, entrepreneurs and innovators have access to the best possible IP resources through IP awareness, education and advice; strategic IP tools for growth; and IP legislation. Among others, the Intellectual Property Strategy is expected to make it easier for business to look for university-owned IP and associated opportunities. In parallel, the Government continues to make progress on promoting, developing and implementing Open Science under the 2018-2020 National Action Plan on Open Government. These Open Science initiatives encourage greater scientific openness and research accessibility for the benefit of Canadians. It has also been noted that the largest intellectual property and technology transfers from academia to Canadian companies occur when one of these innovative companies hires well-trained graduating students (testimony to the House of Commons Standing committee on Industry Science and Technology). However, in order to integrate the private sector, graduate students must be networked into the broader innovation ecosystem in order to do design work, proof of concept and prototyping. For this reason, the government supports a wide range of initiatives aimed at promoting work-integrated learning, collaborations and partnerships. |
| Chile | Within the innovation ecosystem, the need to create a pilot program to foster science- and technology-based enterprises is being discussed, as well as to continue strengthening hubs and Offices of Technology Licensing (OTLs). There is a low number of scientifically based technological research. Research projects seldom manage to reach markets (e.g. as academic spin-offs). The results for 2016 of the OTLs in "training and consolidation programs" show that the net number of technology-based enterprises was 8, very low in relation to the number of OTLs that existed in the country (29 OTLs) and also compared with international evidence. The average number of spinoffs in Chile per OTL was only 0.28 in 2016. Meanwhile, in Europe the average number of spin-offs created was 1.6 per OTL for that same year. |
| China | In view of problems in the knowledge transfer and sharing system, it is necessary to implement and improve the policies for transforming scientific and technological achievements as soon as possible so that scientific and technological achievements can be allocated according to economic needs. The following measures are required: 1) Break down regional barriers, reduce administrative intervention, and form a nationally unified, internally and externally integrated transfer and transformation market, so that scientific and technological achievements can flow freely in the market. 2) Promote the reform of mixed ownership of scientific and technological achievements, promoting the joint ownership of property rights of scientific and technological achievements with those individuals or teams responsible, through agreed methods. 3) Strengthen the specialisation of labour around the value chain of knowledge flows, fostering a group of specialised knowledge-operation institutions, and promoting the deep integration of technology and capital, and technology and industry. Also improve over-the-counter trading channels such as personnel mobility, education and training, in order to promote the transfer of tacit knowledge. 4) Beyond state-owned asset preservation and appreciation, conduct classified management assessment based on the properties of intangible assets, simplify the existing management process of scientific and technological intangible assets and strengthen the implementation and connection of policies for the transfer of scientific and technological achievements, such as technology shares and personnel incentives. In 2018, the National Technology Transfer Demonstration Agency continued to explore new mechanisms and new models of technology transfer services based on market demand. The government provides enterprises with technology, talents, and financial services through new organisations such as the Industrial Technology Research Institute and the Industrial Alliance. With the continuous deepening of technology transfer services, the demonstration institutions have put more emphasis on common technology research and development and achievement transformation, accelerating the industrialisation process of technological achievements. They also put more emphasis on supporting market-oriented mechanisms, full-chain services, capitalisation approaches, network support, and internationalisation. |
| Colombia | The current debates are oriented to the design and implementation of policy strategies boosting linkages between companies, universities and the public sector. This includes the design of financing programs and instruments and the consolidation of technology transfer offices and technologies for the productive and social sector. Other policy areas of attention are the design of international technology transfer programs for small and medium-sized enterprises and the commercialisation of intellectual property research results and products from university-business negotiation processes. |
| Costa Rica | The main ongoing debate has focused on how to improve the link between the academic sector (universities and other public and private research centres) and the private sector. Factors associated with the regulatory framework and institutional regulations of academia have hindered such links. Although in the past years all public universities had created technology transfer offices, the regulations established in these offices are not necessarily known by the academic community and even less so by industry actors. The Ministry of Science, Technology and Telecommunications (MICITT) is currently carrying out an analysis to allow characterising the barriers to technology transfer and commercialization in Costa Rica. This, with a view to implement pilot projects aiming to find alternatives that help resolve these obstacles. In parallel, the Export Promotion Agency of Costa Rica (PROCOMER) is conducting a study to map the available technological services and research infrastructure in the field of life sciences and medical devices. |
| Croatia | This text comes from the 2017 STIP Survey: The current debate on knowledge transfer relates to the sustainability of technology-transfer offices (TTOs), which are the most important links between academia and industry. A major problem is that TTOs experience a high turnover of skilled experts, which is the result of uncertain funding at both the national and institutional levels. |
| Cyprus | One of the strategic pillars of the Cyprus 2019-23 R&I Strategy Framework is Knowledge Transfer and Commercial Exploitation. The objective of this pillar is to enhance knowledge transfer among the science community, the public sector, the business sector and society as a whole. In particular, it will facilitate the commercial exploitation of new knowledge and technology, aiming at developing competitive and value-added products, services and processes and also support social innovation. The framework includes, inter alia, measures aiming to strengthen linkages and collaborations among the academia and the public and private sectors. Moreover, several programmes and schemes included in the Action Plan of the Cyprus’s Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3CY) seek to support linkages between research and businesses. These have been implemented by the Research and Innovation Foundation (RIF) via the RESTART 2016-20 Framework Programme. Furthermore, the establishment of a Central Knowledge Transfer Office is under preparation. Specialized Knowledge Transfer Offices (KTOs) typically support knowledge transfer in academic and research-performing organisations. KTOs are responsible for technology transfer and other aspects of the commercialization of research that takes place within the organisation. They engage in a variety of activities facilitating the process of bringing research findings to markets, often acting as a channel or ‘bridge’ between academia and industry. Within this context, KTOs establish collaboration channels with enterprises and the industry at the local and international level, aiming to perform a match between technologies developed at the research organisation and the real needs of the industry and to improve local SMEs’ access to innovation. The Research and Innovation Foundation (RIF) is developing a central Knowledge Transfer Office aiming to address the need for a fully-functional, established support facility in Cyprus to support academic and research-performing organisations in knowledge transfer activities. The objectives of the Office will be: (i) to stimulate cost-efficient and effective knowledge transfer across universities and main research-performing organisations; and, (ii) to catalyse the breakdown of barriers across the national innovation ecosystem. The development of the central Knowledge Transfer Office (KTO) will coordinate and enhance knowledge transfer activity in Cyprus and will facilitate achieving a critical mass of researchers and research outputs served by the facility, supporting sustainability and high-level services for the KTO. The University-Industry Liaison Offices Network has proved successful and thus it continues to enhance the employability of future graduates through internships in businesses. |
| Czech Republic | Despite significant increase in public and private spending on RDI and an increase in joint publications in recent years, there remains a lack of long-term cooperation between the research and application sectors in the Czech Republic compared with other EU Member States. Both sectors operate to a large extent separately and independently of one another. To improve the use of knowledge from public research in enterprise innovation, it is essential to streamline the dissemination and sharing of knowledge from research organisations, and to improve the operation of technology transfer centers operating in public research organisations, by increasing their efficiency. To enhance the effectiveness of cooperation between the academic and application spheres, it is also necessary to maximise the use of intellectual property rights tools. Research in enterprises in the Czech Republic is "pulled", especially by companies with foreign ownership. Domestic companies often act as subcontractors to foreign companies, and their research activities and the ability to innovate, in comparison to foreign enterprises, is typically limited. Domestic enterprises need to further develop their research and development activities so that their competitiveness is based not on cheap labour, but on the application of new knowledge and products that offer higher added value, especially in emerging technologies, such as nanotechnologies, information and communication technology, biotechnology, etc. The challenge for the future is the ability not only to discover and develop the knowledge and the product at home, but also to use and sell them in such a way that much of the value added would remain in the domestic economy. |
| Denmark | The policy debate is focused on how to build the most effective bridges between a strong research-based knowledge system and the application of this knowledge by business and society. One focus area is "Roles and collaboration" and how to support a knowledge-based innovation system in which multiple stakeholders with different roles work effectively and in close cooperation towards common overall objectives. |
| Estonia | Several policy initiatives support business-university links. For example, the algorithm of basic funding for research institutions rewards contract-based research, giving business sector contracts double weight compared to other contracts. A recent initiative, the proof-of-concept grant for researchers who would like to extend the business potential of their research, has also been launched. Programmes to develop research capacities in fields relevant for the Estonian economy are to be launched in 2019 and 2020, with a specific focus on ICT and natural research valorisation. However, as stated by the recent evaluation of Estonia's RDI system, elements of knowledge transfer within the Estonian RDI system are poorly developed. Estonian universities’ knowledge exchange activities appear decentralised and focus on the classic patenting and exploitation functions. There is a need to promote education and consulting of researchers and implementing proactive processes for routine disclosure of inventions and identification of commercial potential. There is also a shortage of funds for the first exploitation steps, i.e. the evaluation of IP, its usefulness to industry and the route to market. At the same time, Estonia also lacks an open system of ‘innovation intermediaries’ outside academia to support industrial innovation. The need remains to improve innovation services for companies, including intermediation of university-business cooperation. The new RDI strategy currently under development puts strong focus on building the capacity of knowledge transfer and improving business-university linkages, including strengthening the technology transfer offices of the universities, developing innovation services and providing additional funding schemes for technology intensive start-ups. |
| European Union | The EU Council’s conclusions on "Accelerating knowledge circulation in the EU", adopted on 29 May 2018 considers that the EU needs to make full use of the relevant scientific and technological knowledge it produces and ensure a more effective transfer of R&I projects results to society and industry. This, in the aims of maximising the impact of R&I investment and further amplifying the added value of the EU Framework Programme. The Council also acknowledged the crucial importance of circulation and transfer of knowledge for an efficient European Research Area. It invited Member States to step up efforts to examine and share best practices on knowledge transfer, e.g. by optimising access for innovators and citizens to national and regional R&I programmes and by fostering science-industry collaboration. It also called on the Commission to encourage the application of the principles and measures of its 2008 Recommendation on the management of intellectual property in knowledge transfer activities and the Code of practice for universities and other public research organisations. In 2018, the European Research Area Committee’s (ERAC) Standing Working Group on Open Science and Innovation (SWG OSI) delivered its Recommendations on Open Science and Innovation (ERAC 1216/18). These aim to support national and European policy on open science and open innovation. I also seeks to guide the implementation of priority 5 of the ERA Roadmap: optimal circulation, access to and transfer of scientific knowledge. The Commission proposal for Horizon Europe includes a broad range of activities supporting science-industry knowledge transfer and sharing, such as collaborative research, public-private partnerships, mobility programmes, the European Innovation Council and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology. Horizon Europe will put emphasis on the exploitation and valorisation of research results and innovation by introducing associated criteria in the rules for participating and implementing the strategy. |
| Finland | The focus of science-industry knowledge transfer has moved to strengthening public-private partnerships and ecosystems rather than aiming to support technology transfer or commercialisation of research-based inventions. Based on the new 2019-2023 government programme, the aim is to build internationally attractive centres of excellence and ecosystems. Measures are also taken to strengthen regional specialisation, the role of cities as development platforms of innovations and the building of internationally networked innovation clusters. Nokia still accounts for a significant bulk of private R&D expenses in Finland, but its smaller role has had an impact not only on conducted R&D per se, but also in the formation of cooperation and ecosystems. Now there is a need for co-creation instruments and collaborative open platforms. While universities of applied sciences have a wide regional spread and closely cooperate with businesses, their role in innovation system should be further developed. Other issues on the policy agenda are developing new instruments for the early-stage financing of research-oriented enterprises and a better utilisation of private equity funding. There is also an identified need to increase the mobility of experts between research and business (PhDs, post-docs and others), as current incentives and cultural values do not support this sufficiently. The practices of open science have advanced, but their significance for industry actors remain uncertain. New skills and resources for knowledge transfer and intellectual property rights in the science-industry interface need to be developed, including the usage, sharing and openness of data. |
| France | As part of preparations for the new multi-year programming law of research, a working group was set up to make proposals to strengthen innovation and collaborative research in France. On strengthening private-public research and innovation linkages, the working group pointed out: - the complexity and lack of clarity of public policy that supports collaborative research and innovation; - the insufficient structure of local innovation ecosystems; - the existence of barriers, or at the very least, the lack of incentives for PhD holders and public researchers to engage in collaborative research and innovation activities. To cope with these issues, measures have already been taken within the action plan for business growth and transformation (PACTE law promulgated in May 2019). The legislative and regulatory framework reinforces the principle of the "single agent" (mandataire unique), which allows companies to have a single point of contact when they wish to exploit innovative results from public research. This will facilitate pathways between labs and companies creating new services or products, and thus accelerate innovation. |
| Germany | With the 2018 High-Tech Strategy 2025, the transfer of knowledge has been addressed even more prominently. One of the 12 missions of the High-Tech Strategy 2025 is about new sources for new knowledge, focusing on opportunities offered by open access, open science, open data and open innovation. Central goals are to increase the proportion of open access publications in the scientific community and, with increased funding, significantly increase the number of new, more open forms of cooperation between companies, civil society stakeholders and scientific institutions. Regarding the funding initiative “Zukunftscluster-Initiative” (“Clusters4Future”) the transfer from basic research activities into application is being supported, based on cooperation between academia, industry and further intermediaries. |
| Greece | The weak linkages between enterprises and the research community have been identified as a major obstacle for innovation in the country. To tackle this failure, a continuous debate is centered on the establishment of long-term, strategic cooperation between industry and academia, as well as setting up appropriate intermediary organisations and mechanisms for the commercialisation of research results. A programme supporting Innovative Clusters was launched in September 2019. Furthermore, programmes for Technology Transfer Organisations (TTOs) in Higher Education Institutions and Research Centers, as well as for the establishment of Competence Centers are also under preparation. Debates on how to maximize the efficacy of such initiatives are at stake, together with state aid issues. In the context of the National Smart Specialization Strategy 2014-20, a participatory process for “entrepreneurial discovery” was followed through a combination of open and targeted consultation with the whole RDI ecosystem (academia, research and businesses). Consultation resulted in defining the thematic priorities of the two successive calls of the "Research - Create - Innovate" flagship programme, whose main component consists of industry-academia collaborative projects. However, despite a huge demand for the programme, there are concerns on whether or not it leads to long lasting cooperation rather than to partnerships of an opportunistic nature. Specific programmes for R&D collaborative projects were also launched following an intensive entrepreneurial discovery process in fields of major interest to the Greek economy: Aquaculture, New Industrial Materials and Cultural Heritage. |
| Hungary | The Hungarian Government has established the Science, Innovation, Technology and Industrial Park Network in order to achieve fully integrated cooperation between industry, research and academia. Future Science Parks will also include incubators, accelerators, venture capital funds and business angels. On the bases of the most recent policy debate on the move to a 3rd generation university model (i.e. the new role of universities in the frame of the knowledge triangle applied to the park network),the universities' main role in knowledge transfer is of high importance. This means the most important instrument in knowledge transfer and sharing is the programme to strengthen the innovation ecosystem at universities. In addition, the government is promoting market-oriented knowledge transfer projects with new calls for proposals for open innovation (focusing on vertical innovation capacity building), university ecosystem building (focusing on horizontal innovation capacity building), and the Competence Centres – Research Infrastructures development programme. Government policy also supports the use of soft instruments to promote knowledge transfer, e.g. participation in different mobility programmes, such as the Fulbright programme. The dissemination is encouraged by networking programmes organised by the National Research, Development and Innovation (NRDI) Office, e.g. the Regional Innovation Platform (TIP) programme. |
| Iceland | Iceland recently set up a technology transfer office, Auðna. (TTO Iceland). TTO Iceland is the national Technology and Knowledge Transfer Office for all universities and foremost public research organisations in Iceland. As a non-profit organisation, its mission is to support the scientific community in Iceland with advice on intellectual property protection, analyse market- and patent landscapes, connect inventions and innovative research projects with investors and industry, and enable science & technology to have more impact on society through commercialisation, both nationally and internationally. |
| Ireland | The updated national IP Protocol was published in 2019. More recently, Knowledge Transfer Ireland has published its Guidelines to State Aid considerations in Research, Development and Innovation. Knowledge Transfer Ireland helps business to benefit from access to Irish expertise and technology by making it simple to connect and engage with the research base in Ireland (https://www.knowledgetransferireland.com...). Innovation 2020 supports the creation of an intellectual property regime that encourages the creation of proprietary knowledge and its diffusion. It commits to strengthening knowledge transfer for innovation, promoting more extensive commercialisation of public research, seeking to improve IP exploitation by Irish enterprise and positioning Ireland’s IP framework to encourage innovation. Ireland’s targets for commercialisation of public research are on course and two are already exceeded. Ireland’s two main enterprise development agencies are Enterprise Ireland (EI) and IDA Ireland. EI is the State agency responsible for supporting the start-up and growth of world-class Irish companies targeting global markets. EI operates a range of programmes to foster entrepreneurship and drive innovation (https://enterprise-ireland.com/en/Resear...). IDA Ireland is Ireland's inward investment promotion agency. IDA Ireland promotes interaction between overseas and Irish companies in research collaboration, business development and skills, provides funding support for RDI projects and identifies support opportunities from partner organisations. (https://www.idaireland.com/doing-busines...). Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) funds research in STEM areas that promotes and assists the development and competitiveness of industry, enterprise and employment in Ireland (https://www.sfi.ie/funding/industry-coll...). Through focused investment in excellent and impactful scientific research and talented researchers, SFI ensures that Ireland leads the world in strategic research areas, has globally recognised SFI Research Centres, and is a hub for industry/academic research collaborations. The Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund, or DTIF, invests in the development and deployment of disruptive innovative technologies and applications, on a commercial basis, targeted at tackling national and global challenges (https://dbei.gov.ie/DTIF). |
| Israel | In Israel, science-industry knowledge transfer is carried out mainly through Tech Transfer Offices (at least in patentable research fields such as life sciences. In software there are more available channels). The applicative research institute model is much less common. Recently, many have expreseed doubts regarding the extent TTOs engage with the local industry, especially in young technological ecosystems in Israel, where it's easier for them to work with established foreign corporations compared to local startups. Therefore, the government has been working on re-designing incentives for TTOs in order to increase their engagement with the local industry and increase their outputs in general. A second and parallel issue is applicative or translational research in emerming technologies such as biotechnology, nanotechnology etc. This also affects the pipeline of innovation assets the TTOs are able to offer the industry, of course. It seems the incentives for university researchers to engage in applicative research that may benefit the industry are sub-optimal. This is an important debate especially in biotech for healthcare, as the Israeli academia has been producing world-leading research outputs, that are rarely translted to industrial innovation in Israel.The Bioconvergence strategic plan described in this survey deals will deal also with this issue. |
| Italy | Debate on science-industry knowledge transfer and sharing is active at national level, at bilateral and trilateral levels, and within international working groups in Italy. The Ministry of Economic Development has defined the “Impresa 4.0” National Plan (formerly Industry 4.0) to support companies, with the conditions that policy initiatives operate within a logic of technological neutrality; intervene with horizontal and not vertical or sectoral actions; and also act on enabling factors. All the effective measures have been strengthened and addressed according to this 4.0 logic, and new ones have been envisaged to fully respond to the emerging needs related to the NPR. See https://www.mise.gov.it/images/stories/d... In an effort to increase the dialogue between industry and science and technology, Italy has created the Technology Clusters, and the Industrial PhD programmes. Since 2017, France, Germany and Italy have initiated trilateral cooperation to promote the digitisation of the manufacturing sector and to support the European Union's efforts in this area. The cooperation brings together the implementing bodies of the national strategies for Industry 4.0 in the three countries: Plattform Industrie 4.0 for Germany, Alliance Industrie du Futur for France, and the Piano Impresa 4.0 for Italy, which signed a joint roadmap in Turin in June 2017. Within the G7 science initiative, Italy has, since 2018, co-chaired with Canada a Working Group on “Financing Science For Inclusive Growth”. The group aims to share expertise, exchange best practices and develop synergies on effective financial instruments and knowledge-transfer policies among the G7 economies, with a specific focus on their ability to improve and underline the crucial value of science and research for the prosperity of society. |
| Japan | The policy challenge is to strengthen industry-academia collaboration where the top management and headquarters of firms are actively involved. Recently, large-scale joint research, led by the top management of companies, and joint research courses in which research teams at companies set up laboratories in universities, have been conducted. It is necessary to continue to strengthen these efforts. In addition, since the National Research and Development Agency has a large number of one-of-a-kind research facilities, it is necessary to enhance the function of these facilities as a hub for innovation among industry, academia, and the government while sharing them with external organizations. |
| Kazakhstan | Kazakhstan faces challenges in providing incentives for businesses to fund research. Linkages between research institutions and business companies are still insufficient. The Government has launched several public support initiatives to enhance knowledge transfer, e.g. establishing TTOs at universities. However, most of them have tight resource constraints and struggle to attract businesses. Since 2017 a key strategic directive has been the provision of advisory services on state support for industrial and innovative activities. As part of this work, suggestions have been drawn up for system-wide measures in the area of technology and innovation development. These suggestions have been integrated in Kazakhstan’s 2018-2025 Strategic Development Plan. 2018 also saw the adoption of the law “On introducing amendments and additions to certain legislative acts on risk (venture) capital financing”. The main ongoing issues are: - involving the private sector in co-funding R&D projects (up to 50 %); - creating innovation clusters supported by technoparks, business incubators, centers for commercialization and technology transfer, venture funds, and engineering centers that work in close cooperation with relevant industries; - creating an ecosystem for academic spin-offs that provides access to capital and business advisory services (e.g. marketing and legal support) for young researchers who want to transform their ideas and technologies into start-ups; and - promoting research contracts that solve technological challenges set by industry actors. |
| Korea | Despite various policy measures for matching supply and demand for advanced technologies, considerable gaps (or mismatches) are still observed, which constitute major obstacles in technology transfer and sharing between science and industry. Excessive regulations in research and innovation (e.g. on the commercialisation of new technologies) are widely pointed out as one of the main obstacles. Diverse policy measures (including regulation sandboxes) are being discussed and experimentally installed to help alleviate such excessive regulations. |
| Latvia | Many of the major policies are currently under preparation. - Currently, the Ministry of Economics is working on the development of a national industrial policy for 2021-2027 and Smart specialisation strategy. The main focus will be on the key national industries with the highest development potential which leads towards the development of the strategic value chain ecosystems within each of the specialised areas. - The development of sustainable ecosystems will ensure productive knowledge transfer, as well as promote cooperation between the academic and private sectors. The Ministry of Education and Science is working on developing Guidelines on Science and Research policy for 2021-2027. In parallel, a new National development plan is being developed. |
| Lithuania | In Lithuania, private sector investments in R&D remain four times lower than the EU28 average. The share of researchers working in the business sector also stands at around 29%, well below the EU28 average (close to 51%). Topics in national debates on research policy include actions for expanding knowledge-intensive business sector, increasing the share of business investments in R&D and augmenting business R&D-absorptive capacities. In particular, targets being contemplated include increasing the number of R&D-intensive start-ups and spin-offs, raising joint activities with universities and institutes and the instruments to enhance collaboration between science and business, attracting international investment to the Lithuanian R&D sector and establishing industrial doctorate opportunities. The ongoing education and science reform in Lithuania will strengthen the public R&D system, thereby increasing co-operation with businesses. It covers a number of relevant policy changes, including the consolidation of public universities, actions to create and empower the Research and Technology Organisation, developing new funding models and a revamping of researchers careers. A two-stage assessment system and funding in R&D was introduced in 2017, focusing on research quality, social and economic impact, activities related to international R&D programmes and science-business cooperation. Innovation and technology transfer centres in higher education institutes play a key role for science-industry collaboration. Various schemes are established to promote R&D-based projects that are commercially promising and lead to results that could be tailored to market deployment and attract follow–up investments. Currently, ongoing discussions and ideas being explored for new aims and instruments include: - Developing the scientific knowledge base to increase the country's competitiveness and contribute to the solution of challenges faced in national, EU and global contexts. - Encouraging the development of business leveraging scientific knowledge and developing a culture of entrepreneurship at higher education institutes and research institutes. These plans, under discussion, will possibly shape the forthcoming National Progress Programme for 2021-2030. |
| Luxembourg | This text comes from the 2017 STIP Survey: The debate centres on how to best organise knowledge transfer between public research, the private sector and society at large. Although all stakeholders agree on the paramount importance of such a transfer, they are still discussing how to achieve it. One idea previously under serious consideration was the establishment of a common central structure dedicated to the transfer and commercialisation of knowledge developed by the University and public research institutes. This idea has now been superseded by the development of common principles and guidelines related to contractual frameworks and royalty attribution, with individual institutions retaining overall responsibility and activities for knowledge transfer and commercialisation. It bears repeating that knowledge-transfer activities go beyond patenting and licensing. In recent years, the FNR and Luxinnovation have set up further instruments to foster public-private collaborations. Inter-sectoral exchanges of human resources and knowledge provide a better understanding of demand and supply, and encourage the creation of absorptive capacities on all sides. |
| Malta | The current National R&I policy is highly focused on the importance of applied research and its commercialisation. The June 2019 PSF report recommended that more effort should be made to externalise ongoing research efforts to make them more generally accessible to the public. To this end a dedicated Knowledge Transfer Programme (KTP) is currently being developed. In addition, in July 2019, Malta embarked on an exercise supported by the EU's Policy Support Facility to develop a National Policy on Open Access, which should be finalised by end of the first quarter of 2020. |
| Mexico | This text comes from the 2017 STIP Survey: The main challenge is funding collaborative R&D projects, linking public research institutions, HEIs, research centres and companies. To this end, the CONACYT has promoted the creation of clusters and public-private consortia, to develop R&D projects at the sectoral and regional levels. |
| Morocco | This text comes from the 2017 STIP Survey: National universities and research centres engage in few activities related to technology transfer and opening up to the socio-economic environment. Despite recent efforts by public authorities and relevant institutions, many obstacles persist, such as the lack of appropriate structures for technology transfer to businesses; a limited supply of highly qualified human resources; and the absence of an adequate legislative and regulatory framework to facilitate and promote such activities. During the last decade, the national authority in charge of scientific research has implemented a set of instruments, including university-business interfaces, innovation cities, innovative-enterprise incubators, technology and innovation support centres, technology-diffusion networks, and industrial engineering networks. However, these structures cannot perform properly without an adequate legislative and regulatory framework. |
| Netherlands | Since the 1990's, each university has set up its own technology transfer office. Since fields like life sciences and nanotechnology require very specialised knowhow, e.g. on IPR, these offices now work together much more closely. Many teaching professors are part-timers funded by business, and they act as a bridge between universities and business. In the past, universities working with companies was seen as a “sell-out” to commerce. Attitudes have since changed and such cooperation is much in vogue. For example, groups of masters students (“dreamteams”) work with companies to develop new products, e.g. a solar electric car, hyperloop, fast tools for medical diagnosis, etc. |
| New Zealand | There are no current ongoing policy debates around science-industry knowledge transfer and sharing. |
| Norway | A white paper on labour market relevance in higher education will be put forward in early 2021. The transition from a resource-based economy to a more knowledge-based one, combined with technological development and increased globalisation, increase the demand for a highly qualified labour force. The white paper will concentrate on the cooperation between higher education and the labour market, focusing for instance on work based learning and how to strengthen innovation and entrepreneurial skills in higher education. Following a green paper on access to capital in 2018 (The Capital Access Commission, NOU 2018:5), there has also been a raised awareness and a discussion on how to better ensure that results from publicly funded R&D may result in more economic growth. The Government has an ambition to strengthen the work on turning results from publicly funded research into products that reach the market, and measures on how to better ensure this are under discussion. There has been public debate around policies for open access to publications, following the Research Council of Norway's participation in Plan S and requirement that funded articles should be published with open access from 2020. Critics argue that requirements for open access publishing hinder researchers from publishing in the most prestigious journals, with negative consequences for research quality. There has also been some debate regarding copyright and licensing issues, with claims that institutional requirements of open licensing conflict with the intellectual property rights of employees. The government has started a review of these questions. |
| Peru | This text comes from the 2017 STIP Survey: The Peruvian Government remains steadfast in its commitment to competitive funds. It promotes knowledge transfer through programmes such as Innovate Peru (Ministry of Production); CIENCIACTIVA (CONCYTEC); PNIPA (Ministry of Production); and the National Programme of Agrarian Innovation (Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation). CONCYTEC and the Ministry of Production are working together to intensify the links between government, academia and business. They are jointly organising a meeting between the leaders of companies and research centres, and public officers to reach a consensus on the country’s innovation mission. The Ministry of Production’s Research and Development Fund for Competitiveness (FIDECOM), created in the context of its Innovate Peru initiative, is endowed with a budget of PEN 200 million (Peruvian soles). FIDECOM seeks to help increase the countrys competitiveness by financing research and development projects; capacity building; and knowledge transfer for productive innovation and business management. In 2016, CONCYTEC approved the Special Programme for Technological Transfer, whose financial instruments are executed by CIENCIACTIVA. The Programme identified the factors preventing technology transfer from the research institutes, namely: insufficient linkages between research centres and the productive sector; low human capital specialising in technology transfer; a weak institutional framework for technology transfer; a weak innovation culture; and limited sources of financing for technology-transfer activities. The Programme seeks to generate the conditions for developing technology transfer in Peru by enhancing the linkages between research centres and the productive sector; generating the necessary human-resource capacities to ensure competent management of technology transfer; and promoting adequate mechanisms to ensure the institutional development of technology transfer, and the generation and promotion of the necessary capacities for exploiting research results. |
| Poland | In 2018, the “Constitution for Science”, also known as the “Law 2.0”, entered into force as a comprehensive reform of the Polish higher education and science system. Its adoption was preceded by a long process of dialogue among representatives of the government, science and the economy. The Ministry of Sciences and Higher Education led a lively dialogue and discussion with the communities of scientists and entrepreneurs, which resulted in the publication of the White Paper on innovation, which resulted in four new laws promoting innovation and science-industry knowledge transfer. These have recently entered into force and we can observe the first effects of their actions: - The so-called “First Innovation Act” (Ustawa z dnia 4 listopada 2016 r. o zmianie niektórych ustaw okre?laj?cych warunki prowadzenia dzia?alno?ci innowacyjnej (Dz.U., poz. 1933); - On the basis of the experience gained from this act, its amendment, called the “Second Innovation Act”: (Ustawa z dnia 9 listopada 2017 r. o zmianie niektórych ustaw w celu poprawy otoczenia prawnego dzia?alno?ci innowacyjnej (Dz.U. 2017 poz. 2201) - The Law on the ?ukasiewicz Research Network (ustawa o Sieci Badawczej ?ukasiewicz Dz.U. z 2019 r. poz. 534); - The law on supporting the scientific activities of the Polish Science Fund (ustawa z dnia 4 kwietnia 2019 r. o wspieraniu dzia?alno?ci naukowej z Funduszu Polskiej Nauki Dz.U. z 2019 poz. 823). |
| Portugal | Ongoing debates are focusing on the need for a further densification of intermediate links within the innovation cycle, i.e. where the processes of knowledge transfer and valorisation critically take place among public research, private companies and society. Important debates have occurred namely as part of the definition of the Strategy Portugal 2030. These targets are at the core of the Interface Program, ensuring the development of scientific knowledge for different business segments, mobilizing and raising awareness of actors for research and innovation impact, streamlining technological services, and supporting entrepreneurial qualification in order to enter international value chains. Fully taking advantage of the available excellence in research and innovation is crucial to address new challenges, develop new business and scientific areas and adopt new technologies for the circular economy, energy efficiency and industry 4.0 processes. In the remit of the National Agency for Innovation (ANI) the Accelerating Programme Born from Knowledge (BfK Rise) was launched to enable knowledge/technology transfer to the economic fabric and to society, with initial mentorship support at the regional level. Also, the new Innovation Platform is targeting better efficiency among all actors of the value chain by acting as a search engine for the R&I outcomes produced by the actors of the National Innovation Ecosystem, and visualising their competence profiles and activities. Also pertinent is the Programme for the Modernisation and Valorisation of Polytechnic Institutes, which further reinforces practice-based R&D activity oriented towards professional development, enabling local solutions. Other initiatives aiming to leverage research and innovation excellence include the updating of the National RoadMap of Research Infrastructures of Strategic Interest, with up to 12 new infrastructures for innovation and collaboration with academia and impact in knowledge transfer. These infrastructures tackle several scientific fields including cancer, environment (the AIR Atlantic Centre), advanced computing, food chain alliance, precision agriculture, water management, advanced systems of agro-industrial processing, circular economy, spatial infrastructures, advanced electronic microscopy for health and life Sciences, high enthalpy flows, ageing and biobanks . This process led to the establishment of the Portuguese Space Agency (PT Space). On international grounds, the role of national collaborations with ESA, namely the Portuguese participation in mandatory and optional programs, has led to an important process of knowledge transfer. Contributions to knowledge transfer from other initiatives are worth mentioning, in particular the recent launching of the PERIN network (Portugal – Europe Research and Innovation Network), which strives for the promotion of successful participation in the EU Framework Programmes for Research and Innovation (H2020 and Horizon Europe). The network also promotes digital transformation and the effective insertion of Portuguese policies in the European context following a convergence strategy for the “Europe of Knowledge by 2030", easing the implementation of the “Innovation Strategy for Portugal 2018-2030". This includes liaison elements for R&D activities that foster partnerships between public research actors and international organisations to promote European Programmes. Also, the initiative goPORTUGAL 2018-2030 has recently expanded the scope of international partnerships, namely with US Universities (now being expanded with the UK), stimulating scientific and economic development, creating value and new services, products and processes. These partnerships aim to attract qualified human resources to Portugal, create qualified employment, stimulate interactions between research and companies and the economic fabric, and broadening the UTEN (University Technology Enterprise Network). |
| Romania | Debates have been provoked by the country profiles revealed by the European Innovation Scoreboard and the 2018 Progress Report for the European Research Area. Deeper insights have been identified in the OECD report on entrepreneurship and innovation (available at https://heinnovate.eu/sites/default/file...), in the Romanian Academy study "Increasing the administrative capacity of the Ministry for Business, Trade and Entrepreneurship to implement the evidence-based public policy”, as well as in the annex „Analysis of factors that obstruct the diffusion of innovation, including digitization”. Under constraints of resource scarcity, opinions are divided regarding objective criteria to determine the appropriate share of budget allocation for experimental development against fundamental research. Pro arguments for the first rely on the expectations of quantifiable economic benefits, in line with the financing philosophy of a large part of European programmes, like Horizon Europe. A super deduction of 150% of RD expenses is in force for companies investing in applied research and experimental development (tax relief through a volume based RD tax allowance at an additional rate of 50%). This is not fully agreed by the research centres located in the Magurele area (e.g. Extreme Light Infrastructure) which consider fundamental research as a viable option. Another debate is on university research vs. national RD institutes: the latter do not behave as sources of knowledge / technology for the industrial sectors they serve. |
| Russian Federation | Ways to increase the effectiveness of academic-industry collaboration remains on the Russian STI policy agenda. One of the new government initiatives is the establishment of world-class scientific and educational centres in the regions. The centres are created in the form of consortia of R&D organisations, universities, and business enterprises, which are supported by regional authorities. Their main goals are to streamline technology transfer and increase sales of innovative and high-tech products. Another policy direction concerns support to the digital transformation of Russian industrial enterprises, as well as development and transfer of general purpose technologies in the sectors of the national economy. Particular policy tools in the form of grants and low-interest loans are under development. |
| Slovak Republic | Compared to the situation in more innovative economies, only a minor share of Slovak small enterprises considers the information from universities and public research institutions as important to their innovation activities. The situation is similar in medium-sized enterprises, where the most important sources of information for innovation are their customers or the environment in which the firms operate. In the case of large companies, when compared with more innovative countries, they attribute less importance to information from universities and public research institutions, as well as from consultants, commercial laboratories or private R&D. They attribute higher importance to suppliers of equipment, material, components or software. A contributing factor to firms’ not using universities and public research institutions is the insufficient quality and structure of the services they offer. |
| Slovenia | In the last two years, knowledge transfer and linkages were debated mostly within the preparation of the new law on research and innovation and through the support of an H2020 Policy Support Facility (PSF) exercise. Relevant stakeholders participated in working meeting leading to the law proposal and also at the PSF report presentation at the National Assembly, for the Parliamentary Committee for Education, Science, Sports and Youth. The main message arising from these debates was the necessity to strengthen the cooperation between universities, research institutes and the economy. Another prioritised area is improving national knowledge transfer capacities (a component embedded in EU structural funds). Here, the exchange of experiences, good practices, lessons and creating new common model are at the core of the debate. The aim of the activity is twofold, namely to create internal knowledge transfer capacities within institutions and secondly, to create a coherent knowledge transfer cross-institutional community in Slovenia. The Ministry of Education, Science and Sport finances transfer of knowledge and technology actions, which aims to strengthen and further develop knowledge transfer activities from the Slovene research institutes and universities to the industry and further consolidation of Technology Transfer Offices (TTO’s) and their human resources. |
| South Africa | One of the STI White Paper’s policy objectives stirring debate is strengthening the Government’s role as an enabler of innovation, including to address market failure and to encourage private sector investment. The role of Government to increase the geographic footprint of innovation in South Africa is also deemed crucial in this regard, with a specific focus on improved regional inclusiveness. The promotion of knowledge transfer and diffusion is also a policy priority in South Africa. Hence, pertinent policy debates address questions such as how best to support the commercialization of publicly funded intellectual property. Particularly pertinent is how to ensure that legislation on intellectual property rights from publicly financed research and development responds to the changing policy context. Given the imperative of harnessing STI for economic growth in South Africa, the national policy debate also explores possible policy interventions that harness news sources of growth. These include appropriate support for emerging industries, the greening of the economy and the role of digitization, especially within the context of the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution. Equal attention is given to the role of STI in revitalizing existing sectors. The White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation 2019 emphasizes the government’s commitment to enhance the spread of knowledge and encourage the sharing of ideas and research results by adopting an open science paradigm. Knowledge diffusion will also be improved through the enhanced coordination of STI activities across the NSI, which will facilitate the movement of researchers and knowledge between enterprises, universities, science councils and government. The increased absorption of PhD holders and other highly skilled workers into research-performing institutions will also enhance knowledge diffusion. Some of the mechanisms that will be used to achieve this are joint appointments and public-private partnerships. Also, the Government will support increased networking and the diffusion of knowledge by leveraging existing global partnerships and knowledge networks better, introducing specific programmes for the secondment of South African researchers to institutions in other countries, providing increased support for training abroad, and providing enhanced support for conferences and workshops. |
| Spain | The central themes that have dominated the debate on policy of knowledge transfer and links between the actors in the past two years in Spain include: a) The launch of a new economic incentive to build industry-science and society-science linkages through the recognition of a variety of research related activities. It acknowledges the activities of researchers of public research centres and professors to transfer knowledge to the private sector (patents, confidential agreements and consultancies), governments (policy making experience, advisory roles, ..) and to society. b) In late 2018, the Cervera Network came into operation, with the Cervera Programme of Technology Transfer, which finances the innovation of SMEs in collaboration with the technology centres and encourages the transfer of knowledge in Cervera priority technologies. Commitments of 140 million Euros were made in partially reimbursable grants in 2019. This programme follows a top-down approach with several technology priorities. |
| Sweden | Knowledge transfer between science and industry primarily occurs when industry employs scientists and other skilled labour. Furthermore, Vinnova funds collaborative projects between research at universities and industry. The system innovation programme (SIP) is one example, which joins different research fields in a strategic area. The ambition is to move towards renewal of earlier initiatives, with a view to generating increased mobility to address the SDGs. There is also a great need for better IPR services to serve innovative firms. The government is working to develop services to address this obstacle. Research infrastructures and test and demonstrator facilities are additional arenas for science-industry collaboration targeted by the government. |
| Switzerland | This text comes from the 2017 STIP Survey: With the exception of tax-policy measures, Swiss innovation policy rests almost exclusively on knowledge-transfer measures. To encourage innovation, the Federal Government has prioritised financial support for competence centres and technologies outside of the universities. These centres should represent bridges between academic research and industries. The government has also supported the creation of the Swiss Innovation Park, a platform with five locations across the country where domestic and international companies can further their research activities, in partnership with Swiss universities and higher education institutions (HEIs). |
| Thailand | At present, all intellectual property (IP) generated from public funding belongs to the government funding agency. This practice is an obstacle to the utilization of public-funded technology and innovation. In September 2018, the cabinet approved the draft Thai Bayh–Dole Act. Once the draft bill is approved by the National Assembly and signed by the King it will be published in the Royal Gazette. The Thai Bayh–Dole Act will grant ownership of inventions made with government funding to inventors. This long-awaited bill will greatly enrich the innovation ecosystem as it will (i) facilitate the commercialization of such inventions; (ii) encourage inventors to develop novel products or services to meet market demand; and, (iii) promote spin-offs and start-ups. Science parks continue to serve as a bridge between higher education institutes, public research agencies and industry through an established R&D infrastructure, business acceleration programs and supporting mechanisms, including legal and IP service for technology transfer activities from research organizations to industry and market access service. Currently, there are four science parks in operation. Thailand Science Park (located in the suburb of Bangkok) is the base of research laboratories (biotechnology, nanotechnology, materials technology and electronics and computer technology) and testing facilities of the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) and over 80 local and international technology companies. Three regional science parks have been established in the North, Northeast and the South with each of them functioning as a networking hub with universities and enterprises localised there and focusing on economically important industries specific to each region. To stimulate the new growth engine, the Eastern Economic Corridor of Innovation (EECi) is being built as an innovation hub designed with a complete elements of innovation ecosystem forging science-industry collaboration in Thailand’s S-curve industries (biofuels and biochemicals, digital technology, aviation and logistics, medical devices, and automation and robotics). Food Innopolis is an outstanding example of a fully-integrated platform promoting government-academia-industry collaboration and knowledge transfer. Built for enhancing the competitiveness of local food and food-related industry (one of the largest in Thailand), Food Innopolis serves as a food innovation hub to accelerate the development of food innovations. Its roles range from (i) supporting industry to develop new products through advanced technology and innovation; (ii) setting up one-stop service center and service platforms to provide a complete service on research, development, innovations and coordination with relevant companies and agencies; (iii) supporting infrastructure for standards, testing, and food safety; (iv) fostering collaboration between enterprises and research bodies and promoting start-ups; and, (v) attracting international companies or individuals to collaborate with Thai organizations and make investment in research and manpower development in Thailand. Since its inception, its one-stop service center has welcomed more than 200 companies. Food Innopolis is based at Thailand Science Park and will be one of the four platforms offered at the Eastern Economic Corridor of Innovation (EECi). Similar to Food Innopolis, Digital Park Thailand will serve as a platform for science-industry knowledge transfer focusing on digital technology and business. The project to establish Digital Park Thailand is spearheaded by the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (MDES). |
| Turkey | The Turkish government has increasingly emphasised enhancing the results and impact of its R&D investments. Various types of knowledge transfer channels are supported with the aim of facilitating interactions between science-industry actors. In particular, collaborative research, researcher mobility and networking facilities have been emphasised by recently released strategies, e.g. the 11th Development Plan, the Industry and Technology Strategy 2023 and the National Technology Movement. Regarding collaboration, recently launched initiatives focus on co-creation rather than traditional knowledge transfer or sharing channels (e.g. see the Technology Readiness Level policy initiative). Support mechanisms are being implemented to increase knowledge and technology transfer through the cooperation of universities, research infrastructures and the private sector. Public-Private Sector Partnerships (PPPs) are also highlighted in the newly released 11th Development Plan. Turkey's "National Technology Movement" vision provides a framework for initiatives fostering the employment of qualified academic staff in industrial sectors. The institutional capacity of collaborative infrastructures, which are independent or affiliated to ministries or universities, is being improved, while their effectiveness is being increasingly monitored through performance-based support system. In the new model, technology transfer offices (TTOs) submit their target proposals based on 14 performance indicators. TÜB?TAK assesses the feasibility of these proposals based on university level parameters such as the university’s age, the number of faculty members and its research budget. TTOs are expected to arrange their activities according to their specific targets. |
| United Kingdom | Research and innovation, increasing the contribution of UK universities and of university-business collaboration are considered critical to achieving the ambitions of UK’s Industrial Strategy in increasing productivity and earning power – both to achieving the commitment to raising R&D intensity to 2.4% of GDP by 2027, as well as those for skills, enhanced productivity and supporting the place agenda. Universities work with businesses in various ways, including through collaborative and contract research projects, providing access to facilities, equipment and Science Parks, spinning out companies, licensing IP, as well as providing entrepreneurial support for students and researchers. The UK Government aims to stimulate, enhance and grow even stronger strategic collaborations between business sectors and academic disciplines and institutions. The UK Government has a variety of levers at its disposal to support research collaboration and commercialisation activity. Research England (part of UK Research and Innovation – UKRI) provides funding to universities via the Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF) programme, to support and develop a broad range of knowledge-based interactions between universities and the wider world, which result in benefits to the economy and society. It is also implementing a new “Knowledge Exchange Framework” (KEF) to assess the effectiveness of English universities in collaborating with business and others, and at fostering knowledge exchange and research commercialisation. The KEF metrics have been developed with detailed consultation with the Higher Education sector and initially tested through a pilot exercise. The UK Government is further developing?its plans for achieving the 2.4% R&D intensity ambition and?a key aspect of this will be how to maximise the commercialisation?of research and support the growth of younger R&D-intensive firms. Primary responsibility for detailed operational policy on commercialisation is being taken forward by UKRI. Through UKRI, the UK Government has made a number of significant investments to support universities, charities and businesses to work together; and UKRI is also reviewing its suite of support for research commercialisation and collaborations between businesses and universities. |
| United States | This text comes from the 2017 STIP Survey: Recognising the cross-cutting nature of policies related to technology transfer, infrastructure utilisation, open data and workforce development, the OSTP has created a new NSTC Committee on the S&T Enterprise, which will be co-chaired by the directors of the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Undersecretary of Energy for Science. The Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies on the administrations R&D priority areas for FY 2019 states that US departments and agencies must prioritise funding basic and early-stage applied research which – supplemented by private-sector financing of later-stage R&D – can result in transformative commercial products and services. The Memorandum notes that strong partnerships with the private sector will be critical to maximising the efficacy of federal funding. |