Carmen Vela Olmo © Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness
Spain’s two-step plan for Horizon 2020
Spain’s successes under FP7 are clear – it ranked fifth amongst EU member states in the share of funding awarded and the number of ‘participants signed contracts’ and, according to the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, received an estimated 8.3% of total EU funding, up from 6.5% under FP6.
Consequently, Spain is optimistic about its participation under Horizon 2020 and has aligned its Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation and the related State Plan for Technical and Scientific Research and Innovation with Horizon 2020. Yet with a high unemployment rate (the second worst in the EU) along with a moderate innovation scoreboard result and limited scientific mobility, the country faces some tough challenges during the next seven years.
Carmen Vela Olmo is the Secretary of State for Research, Development and Innovation in the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and outlined how Spain hopes to achieve new successes in the face of difficulty in the next framework programme.
What is the role of the Strategy and the Plan in Spain’s Horizon 2020 vision?
Our commitment to Europe is very strong and we want our researchers and institutions to be at the centre. The Strategy and corresponding State Plan are very much inspired by Horizon 2020 and our priorities and goals are shared in excellence in science, business leadership and a resolution of the major global challenges for our society.
This is the first time that research, development and innovation are in a single plan, providing funding from the core idea to the market, one of the main focuses of Horizon 2020 and is a clear objective for the Strategy. For many years, we have worked in research and innovation and we have tried to build bridges between both. We have not always been successful so we have decided to place research, development and innovation in the same ‘box’ to generate excellent knowledge and ideas as well as to resolve the problems of our citizens in a short and rapid manner.
We have the advantage of the Strategy and the Plan being in place one year before the start of Horizon 2020. The European Commission aims to improve excellence in science and promote strong industrial leadership, which are both extremely important to us. Our main weakness is the public funding of science, which is close to the European average, and the participation of our private sector is not really reaching the European standard. Horizon 2020 promotes industrial leadership and it is important to include this objective in the Strategy. Tackling social challenges is also very relevant and it is important to support the different sectors in developing technologies and knowledge to resolve these problems.
In addition to these three objectives, we have included another topic very relevant and important to us – ‘talent, promotion and employability’. Human capital is very important to the technological competitiveness of a country, particularly Spain where the rate of unemployment is very high.
To what extent will research/innovation policy making and government investment suffer following the move of the science and research responsibilities to the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness?
We have always said that we are suffering budget reductions and this is due to our country unfortunately suffering a strong economic crisis; all government departments are suffering. It is relatively common in Europe that the level of innovation depends on a minister’s portfolio – many economic ministers take on the responsibility of research and innovation. This is the first time for Spain to have this setup and we feel comfortable in the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.
What reforms is the government undertaking to encourage greater entrepreneurship and more high-tech innovation in Spain?
One of the problems is Spanish companies not having the same percentage of funding for research compared to other European companies. There are many reasons for this, but within the Strategy, the topics relating to industrial leadership are also included in Horizon 2020 and this is very important for Spain and we are working to stimulate business, the promotion of the Key Enabling Technologies and encouraging the collaboration in the EU.
In our Plan and Strategy, we are working to boost business leadership and to enhance public private partnerships. PPPs are very helpful, particularly to the SMEs and we know that one of the best ways to achieve this is through encouraging the training and expertise of people in R&D and to create and develop our industrial base in collaboration with the universities.
Spain has very limited employee mobility. We need to help increase the entrepreneurship of high-tech companies and to encourage the mobility of people between the public and the private sectors, nationally and internationally. We also have limited venture capitalism and we are working to encourage more public private funding to encourage more of these kinds of innovation. We also need to develop an annual plan to help develop new tools and instruments to better encourage business leadership.
How will the government define success for Spain in Horizon 2020?
We are very much optimistic regarding Horizon 2020. We are working in close collaboration with the Commission on Spain’s participation in the framework programme and we are having many meetings with scientists and institutions. The next period is very crucial for the Spanish scientific and technological community because our science base needs to be more internationalised and therefore we have decided to push the Spain participation in Horizon 2020. We are also launching a special promotional plan to help our scientists, companies, universities and organisations to participate in Horizon 2020. This plan will support the collaborative participation of researchers and institutions with extra funding.
To keep people working, particularly young people, is very important. We have really talented scientists, so one of our major challenges is to keep these people working in Spain. The situation is definitely very difficult and in the Plan, 30% of the total budget is dedicated to hiring new people. We consider this a major value for science and technology in Spain.
Carmen Vela Olmo