International Conference European Research Infrastructure for Innovation
15/16 January 2009, Wroclaw, Poland
Conclusion remarks
1. Poland is a country of huge potential regarding young, well educated people. It is also well a country of many excellent academic and research institutes. Its role in European Research Area does not sufficiently reflect this potential. One important barrier is the lack of a modern research infrastructure whereas few of them are dispersed between many research institutions being of only limited availability for ambitious, young scientists.
2. Poland is very advanced and highly motivated in using Structure Fond 2008-2013 for the development of Knowledge Based Economy and for strengthening its innovation and competitiveness potential in united Europe. Operational Programme Innovative Economy with almost 10 bln EUR is an important tool for achieving these ambitious goals. There are also many regional initiatives aimed at creating the innovation networks/systems, supported by regional or city municipalities.
3. A key issue on the way to optimize the use of Structure Fond for creation of Knowledge Based Economy in Poland will be its concentration in the biggest Polish metropolis in order to establish there large scaled research centres integrating the huge academic and research potential on the local scale.
4. It is necessary to establish clear regional S&T priorities in the strongest Polish centres. Research investments should then follow these priorities leading to creation of a few strong excellence centres able to achieve "critical mass" for performing large research programmes, to apply for EU and domestic strategic projects, to attract the best academics and to enable collaboration with innovative industry.
5. Conference contributions show several examples of such concentration in Poland. Katowice with Clean Coal Technology Centre, Krakow with its biomedical research programme and Poznan with "Chemistry and ICT technologies" are such examples. However, other regional initiatives concerning the establishment of large scale infrastructure still needs identification of the potential strengths in the S&T society. This should be defined via further discussion between the centres, Ministry of Science and Higher Education as well as by establishing strategic international cooperation with the best EU centres.
6. Poland is thus far low in experience in establishment, development, management, and finance of large scale research infrastructure. Transfer of knowledge in this sector between Polish institutions and leading EU centres is for that reason of great importance in coming years and will have a large impact on the final success of Polish R&D investment projects.
7. Conference contributions and discussions showed that many different ways are possible to achieve success. Therefore each region can choose its unique way to test different centre models of management. This should also provide an opportunity for the Polish government to check different existing solutions or new Polish solutions during the implementation of the science and high school sector reform. The Gdansk and Wroclaw model based on a company created by high schools and regional/city municipalities can be an interesting tool for bridging academia with industry.
8. Some participant institutions showed interest in the preparation of joint projects concerning the management of research infrastructure, implementation of innovative tools for transfer of knowledge between R&D and industry sectors, financing of research and others. Wrocław Research Centre EIT+ will ask potential project partners for their interest and will coordinate project preparation.
9. Conference participants agreed about the necessity of continuation of contacts between research centres in "old" and "new" EU countries in the future. It is of importance with regard to the search for best practices in Europe, dissemination of ESFRI programme as well as for presenting the national roadmaps for research infrastructure in EU countries. This will also be an important forum for contact exchange between European research centres and obtaining information on priority research areas in different EU regions and cities. Before end of March 2009 Wrocław Research Center EIT+ will prepare the first draft of the conference concept. It is proposed that the conference in 2010 be held in Wroclaw. All institutions present at the meeting 2009 will be invited for 2010. Research centres from new EU countries will also be identified and invited. Other agencies promoting development of research investment in Europe (EIB, Jaspers) will be important partners in the preparation of the conference.
