A vision for research and technology

The Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST) has a vision to place Research, Technology Development and Innovation (RTDI) at the heart of the Maltese economy for an enhanced quality of life. This vision will be achieved by securing a focused, yet significant contribution to economic health in a knowledge-based innovation-driven society using RTDI as an enabler for addressing national issues. The MCST's vision includes carving of a niche for enhanced technology and know-how exportation in the Mediterranean and the expansion of the human capital base in science, engineering and technology.

The University must play a central role in ensuring that the MCST's vision is achieved. A good measure to obtain some idea on the amount of research carried out at our University is by looking at the number of Ph.D. students. This rose from 31 in 2000 to 49 in 2005, with less than half studying in science-related areas. Therefore to increase research activity in our University, one needs to attract more Ph.D. students.

We have repeatedly said that University bureaucracy especially in registering students for post-graduate degrees is far from efficient. The application goes from one evaluating committee to another. Sometimes a whole year is needed to get approval of a research project. The national expenditure on Research and Development is no more than 0.5 per cent of the Gross National Product - the lowest in the European Union. However Malta has now been placed in the catching-up group.

A good pointer on the willingness of the Maltese to carry out research if funds are available comes from two major points. One is that there were 418 projects submitted for FP6 funding. About 70 projects obtained funding totalling some €8.5 million. This was only possible because of the constant support given to applicants by MCST, among others.

The second point is that there were 85 applications requesting Lm3 million, 60 of which were coming from the academia with 41 in the biological sciences for national RTDI funding. It is a pity that funds were made available for only a tenth of the amount requested when we are supposedly encouraging more interest in science and technology. What better attraction for students could there be other than that of example?

The MCST carried out a survey circulated to sectoral experts in academia, government and industry to assess the views on the economic and social environment benefits that could be obtained by focusing RTDI funds on specific areas on the merits of such criteria as the contribution to GDP, job creation, export growth, cost savings and proved industry competitiveness.

The questionnaire assessment criteria included questions on social and environmental aspects as perceived benefits on how a project could improve the quality of life and to reduce environmental damage. The feasibility of the projects were also examined with regards to infrastructure such as the existing local capacity in terms of Research institutions, laboratories, Industry and Technology and also on the availability of human resources namely the existing local capacity in terms of human resources with the required expertise.

MCST also held nine consultation sessions with over 100 participants. These included experts in biotechnology, ICT, electronics, energy, environment, transport, tourism, masonry and construction, nanotechnology and materials and manufacturing. A number of potential niche areas were identified.

MCST must be congratulated for bringing together stakeholders in academia, industry and government to discuss, very openly, the needs of Malta in science and technology and how these needs could be met. There is consensus that a significant amount of investment is needed to be allocated to the University and that one can hardly wait any longer for this allocation to be made as we are already lagging behind all EU countries in this area. It was heartbreaking to note that excellent projects proposed to be carried out jointly by the University with the local budding pharmaceutical industry in such promising areas as bioequivalence and X-Ray crystallography could not come to fruition because neither the University nor MCST could commit their financial part of the deal.