casimir workshop -- milano, june 30, 2003 european universities in the knowledge-based economy...

CASIMIR workshop -- Milano, June 30, 2003

European universities in theEuropean universities in theknowledge-based economyknowledge-based economy

Research & innovation aspects

European Commission – Research DGIr. Denis Dambois – European patent attorney

[email protected]

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Research DGEuropean Commission

Research & innovation in U/PROs

Innovation = interface between R&D and the actual exploitation of R&D results

Why does it matter ?– To address the “European paradox” (good science, poor exploitation)

– The purpose of R&D is not just to produce knowledge (paper) but also to have it exploited socio-economic benefits (new products, jobs, companies, …)

Expectations from :– universities (image, funding, proximity to market, incentives for researchers, …)

– industry, especially SMEs (core businesses / multidisciplinarity / ...)

– public authorities (ROI in publicly-funded research : local development, …)

The intention is NOT :

– to shift efforts/resources away from fundamental research

– the undermine academic independence

– to turn universities into commercial businesses

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Italy vs. other countries

R&D intensity (Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D -- GERD -- as a percentage of GDP),

against GDP per capita for year 1999.

R&D intensities span from 0.25% in Cyprus to 3.65% in Sweden (1999).

R&D intensity by source of fund : Gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) as a percentage of GDP by

source of fund : government, business sector, other national

sources and abroad

National R&D intensities vs. GDP per capita

S

FIN

D

SI

DKF

UK ANL

BEU

IRLI

P

CZ

E

CY

ELSK

PL

LT HU

EE

LV

0,0%

0,5%

1,0%

1,5%

2,0%

2,5%

3,0%

3,5%

4,0%

0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000

GDP per capita (current € PPS)

GERD/GDP

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

EL P E I IRL A UK B NL DK F D FIN S CY LV SK EE PL HU CZ SI EU US JP

%

Government Business Others Abroad 2.1

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Italy vs. other countries

Share of RSEs (research scientist & engineers) in population vs. number of

RSEs' annual growth

Share of R&D personnel in labour

force, by sector

CZ

PL

SK

SI

HU

IRLEL

P

E

B US

S

JP

FIN

I

A

NLDKEU

UK

F

D

-6

-4

-2

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Share of RSEs in population (per thousand)

Num

ber

of R

SE

s' a

vera

ge a

nnua

l gro

wth

ra

te (

%,fr

om 1

995)

7.1

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

P I IRL E EL A F B NL D DK S FIN UK EU

%

Total R&D personnel Business enterprise Government High education 8.1

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Contents

Political context (Lisbon strategy, …)

Recent Commission Communication on“The role of universities in the Europe of knowledge”

The 3 % initiative -- Recent Commission Communication on “Investing more in research : an action plan for Europe”

“Research & innovation” aspects in these Communications and in the 6th EC Framework Programme

Next steps

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Political context

Lisbon strategy : at the Lisbon European Council (2000), Heads of State and Government set the Union the goal of becoming "the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world" by 2010

Barcelona objective : at the Barcelona European Council (2002), Heads of State and Government agreed that investment in European R&D must be increased with the aim of approaching 3 % of GDP by 2010 (up from 1.9 % in 2000), with two-thirds of the total being invested by industry

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“The role of universitiesin the Europe of knowledge”

Commission Communication adopted on 5.2.2003 (COM(2003)58)

Main challenges -- both classical and new -- + questions

Debate to be started :

This Communication … invites responses to these questions from all those concerned with higher education, research and innovation

Next steps :

The Commission will review the state of the debate in the summer of 2003 and identify suitable initiatives, possibly in a further Communication

• for examination by the Education Ministers in the Education Council and the Research Ministers in the Competitiveness Council, as well as

• by the European Summit of Higher Education Ministers scheduled for 18-19 September 2003 in Berlin

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“Classical” challenges :

– financing (public, private, …)

– professional management

– excellence (interdisciplinarity, critical mass, capitalization of K, …)

– mobility of students and researchers (fellowships, visas, …)

– brain drain in some countries

– contribution to local needs and strategies

– ageing of faculty staff

– lifelong learning

– ...

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Emergence of the “knowledge society” :

– new challenges :• increased demand for new knowledge (by industry : R&D results, ...)

• rapid evolution (and depreciation) of the “state-of-the-art” knowledge increased demand for higher education

• fragmentation / heterogeneity of the European U landscape

• internationalisation / increased competition between Eur. universities

• increased socio-economic impact expected by national/local authorities

– new opportunities :• better awareness of the importance of knowledge by public authorities

• restructuring of the European U landscape (networking, etc.)

• development of cross-border attractiveness (for students and industry)

• closer university-industry relations

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Today’s 3 missions of European universities :

“they are situated at the crossroads of research, education and innovation”

“The knowledge economy and society stem from thecombination of four interdependent elements : ”

Production of K

Transmission of K

Dissemination of K

Use of K in technological innovation

Research

Education Innovation

Dissemination of KDissemination

Dissemination

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Develop effective and close co-operation between universities and industry

– innovation

– start-up of new companies

– licensing of university intellectual property

– promotion of effective university-industry relations

– better exploit the results of their knowledge in relationship with industry

– evaluation criteria for the performance of universities


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Commission Communication adopted in Sept. 2002 (COM(2002)499)

Second Communication “Investing in research : an action plan for Europe” adopted in April 2003 (COM(2003)226)

Wide range of policies to be mobilised in a coherent way

Limited number of actions to be implemented :– by the Commission– by the Member States and stakeholders

Open process of co-ordination :monitoring, reporting and benchmarking process which will :

– facilitate mutual learning between Member States in their actions to increase and improve R&D investment

– help increasing the effectiveness of these actions by ensuring, on a voluntary basis, greater consistency with each other and with related Community actions

“More research for EuropeTowards 3 % of GDP”

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The 3 % objective

Human resources implications :

– about 1.2 million additional research personnel, including 700 000 additional researchers, are considered necessary to attain the objective, on top of the expected replacement of the ageing workforce in research

– this will imply greater efforts in order :

• to attract a sufficient number of world-class researchers in Europe

• to make research more attractive to various categories of the population, especially women

• to reduce losses at the various stages of education and all along the career, including at the most experienced stage

• to increase the number of teachers

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The 3 % objective

Feedback concerning the first Communication (R&I aspects) :

Need to promote the actual exploitation of R&D results : “the transfer of the research results to the market place should be improved”

"need to provide appropriate channels to transform academic research into applied R&D and ultimately innovative and competitive products”

“Governments ought to look at ways to improve science-industry links. This needs to include increasing the use of research to meet industrial and social needs, …. In addition, it might include the promotion of a more entrepreneurial culture in universities …”

call for the “creation of more technology transfer offices”, and for “financial incentives for the creation of high-tech spin-offs”

– Need to promote awareness on entrepreneurship / tech transfer / …

– Need to take R&D exploitation into account in assessment processes

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The 3 % objective

Feedback concerning the first Communication (R&I aspects) :

– Need to promote awareness on entrepreneurship / tech transfer / … :

• "give researchers in academia and industry training in entrepreneurial skills”

• "provide public funding to selected business schools for developing curricula especially geared towards training of researchers in entrepreneurship"

• "In general, the European institutional awareness of technology transfer is less well-developed than in the US"

Need to take R&D exploitation into account in assessment processes : "the existing system of assessing and financing academic research mainly on the

basis of scientific output (publications, etc.)" is detrimental to industrial R&D, and it is important to "give researchers in academia proper recognition for cooperating with industry "

“evaluation ought to take into account a variety of outputs which recognise other university activities, such as knowledge transfer and links with industry, particularly SMEs, …”

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The 3 % action plan

Public research base and its links to industry (§ 4.2) :– Need to foster mobility between the academic world and industry

(on-going action mentioned in § 6.1 : “Use of existing instruments in the research framework programme to support temporary exchanges of technology transfer professionals between research organisations”)

– Increase the participation of industry and other stakeholders in the determination of priorities for public research

– Pursue or initiate necessary regulatory and administrative reforms to enable public research institutions to develop more effective links with industry, while safeguarding their public mission in education and fundamental research. Issues to address include notably the establishment of incubators, science parks, seed funds and new types of public-private partnerships, as well as the performance appraisal of researchers

– Benchmark at European and national level the achievements of public research institutions as regards patenting, licensing, spin-off activities and partnerships with industry, in order to share information and promote best practice

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The 3 % action plan

Public research base and its links to industry (cont’d) :– Develop European guidelines for the management and exploitation of intellectual

property rights in public research institutions and public-private partnerships. These guidelines will help public research institutions to develop and enforce, on a voluntary basis, charters setting out the main principles to be applied regarding e.g. the ownership and licensing of research results, the sharing of revenues, etc.

Intellectual property (§ 6.1) :

Develop guidelines to help Member States review – and, where appropriate, adapt – their national regimes governing the ownership, licensing and exploitation of IPR resulting from publicly-funded research

Support EU-wide coordinated IPR awareness and training activities targeting in particular the European research community

Ensure that before graduating, every student – especially from science, engineering and business schools – receives basic awareness/training regarding intellectual property and technology transfer

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The 3 % action plan

Shaping a common vision for the development and deployment of key technologies (§ 3.2) :

– European technology platforms will provide a means to foster effective public-private partnerships involving as appropriate public research, industry, financial institutions, users, regulatory authorities and policy-makers, and this will deliver the impetus to mobilise the research and innovation effort and facilitate the emergence of “lead markets” in Europe

– Commission Communication on Technology Platforms being prepared

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Innovation in the 6th Framework Programme

Participation rules :– Where knowledge is capable of industrial or commercial application, its owner shall

provide for its adequate and effective protection ...

– The contractors shall use or cause to be used the knowledge arising from the project, which they own, in accordance with their interests. The contractors shall set out the terms of use in a detailed and verifiable manner, notably in the plan for using and disseminating the knowledge ...

– If dissemination of knowledge would not adversely affect its protection or its use, the contractors shall ensure that it is disseminated within a period of two years after the end of the project .

“Integration” does not mean anything if knowledge is not integrated (i.e. properly managed, shared, … by all participants) revised IPR provisions

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Innovation-related evaluation criteria in FP6

Participation rules :“The proposals for indirect actions ...… shall be evaluated according to the following criteria, where applicable : …...

(e) quality of the plan for using and disseminating the knowledge, potential for promoting innovation, and clear plans for the management of intellectual property.”

More specific criteria : “Extent to which :• the innovation-related activities and exploitation and/or dissemination plans

are adequate to ensure optimal use of the project results ;

• the objectives represent clear progress beyond the current state-of-the-art ;

• the proposed S&T approach is likely to enable the project to achieve its objectives in research and innovation ;

• there is a satisfactory plan for the management of knowledge, of intellectual property and of other innovation-related activities.”

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Innovation-related activities in FP6

Purpose : promoting the dissemination and actual exploitation

of the projects’ results

Variable relevance for different types of projects

Examples : intellectual property protection and management dissemination activities (beyond the consortium) studies on socio-economic aspects

(impact, factors that could influence exploitation, …) activities promoting the exploitation of the results: “plan for using

and disseminating the knowledge”, feasibility studies, "take-up" activities (validation, …), analysis of potential hurdles (standards, third parties’ patents, …)

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Innovation & reporting in FP6

The indirect actions to which the Community contributes shall be periodically evaluated by the Commission on the basis of progress reports which shall also cover the implementation of the plan for the use or dissemination of knowledge submitted by the participants in accordance with the terms of the contract (Rules of participation, Art. 18.1)

The consortium shall submit the following reports to the Commission for each reporting period :

• a) a periodic activity report containing an overview of the activities carried out by the consortium during that period, … . An updated plan for using and disseminating the knowledge shall be included as a separate part of this report ; ...

Final reports shall additionally comprise: • … the final plan for using and disseminating the knowledge ...

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SMEs in FP6

2 specific types of projects (“instruments”) :– cooperative research projects (SMEs + RTD performers)

– collective research projects (enterprise groupings + RTD performers)(“enterprise grouping” means any legal entity made up for the most part of SMEs and representing their interests)

Particular IPR provisions :– usual RTD projects :

knowledge belongs to the participants which generated it– SME-specific projects :

• knowledge belongs to the SMEs / SME groupings• joint property, with a requirement to agree on the allocation and on the

terms of exercising the ownership of the knowledge(e.g. in a consortium agreement)

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Summary -- Next steps

Debate about the Communication on the role of universities identification of suitable initiatives (for discussion at the European Summit of Higher Education Ministers in September 2003, ...)

Implementation of the 3 % action plan (esp. issues relating to “Human resources” and to “Public research base and its links to industry”)

Implementation of FP6 Forthcoming Communications on :

– researcher careers– technology platforms– measures on the conditions of entry and stay of researchers from third countries

in the EU– ...

On-going and new activities : Proton network, expert group on the financing of universities, expert group on university-industry relations, ...

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Take-home messages

At universities, the exploitation of R&D results should be given the same importance as their publication

Universities and industry are natural partners,even if their goals and cultures are different

Professional management of knowledge and IPR isas important for universities as for companies

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Contribute to the debate on universities

http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/consultations/list_en.html

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Read more on the 3 % action plan

http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/era/3pct

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For more information / assistance

Various organisations offer support services which may be of use regarding innovation and intellectual property, including :

The IPR-Helpdesk (http://www.ipr-helpdesk.org)

The Cordis Marketplace (http://www.cordis.lu/marketplace)

The Gate2Growth project (http://www.gate2growth.com)

The Innovation Relay Centres network (http://irc.cordis.lu)

General information on FP6 may be found on Commission website : http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/fp6/index_en.html

http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/fp6/instruments_en.html

http://www.ipr-helpdesk.org/



http://www.cordis.lu/marketplace





http://www.gate2growth.com/

http://irc.cordis.lu/






http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/fp6/index_en.html


















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casimir workshop -- milano, june 30, 2003 european universities in the knowledge-based economy...

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