The Faculty of Engineering has presented the government with a five-year plan aimed at improving the country's low innovation score.
This was in reaction to the low rating Malta obtained in the EU innovation scoreboard.
According to Maurice Grech, dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Malta, the performance can only improve if the number of postgraduate students increases and the students then spread to the various sectors of industry.
Another necessary ingredient is for the government to fund joint projects between the university and industry.
Prof. Grech was speaking during the opening of the annual engineering exhibition organised by the faculty and which this year incorporates IT, with the collaboration of the board of IT.
The exhibition, opened by IT Minister Austin Gatt, was the first public event at the university to be attended by the new rector, IT specialist Juanito Camilleri.
The aim of the exhibition is to bring to the attention of industry and the public the top-notch projects undertaken by the students and the research areas being addressed.
While appreciating the fact that in spite of the country's financial deficit, the government still allocated Lm300,000 for research, Prof. Grech said the faculty took this as a symbolic gesture of appreciation and augured that more funds will be dedicated to research as from this year.
"Industry needs the seed money to encourage it to take the first step and participate in research programmes with the university as a partner. Programmes such as Eureka are promising and we do hope that industry takes advantage of the opportunity being offered.
"The university will definitely support such activities but it desperately needs funds to finance research and to attract and maintain valid researchers," Prof. Grech said.
The Faculty of Engineering, the Faculty of Science and the board of IT have an important role to play in the structuring of the country's economy and in maintaining industry's competitive edge, he added. In spite of this, Prof. Grech said there are times when industry shows scant confidence in Malta's researchers and this is in contrast to the trust expressed by the researchers' peers on an international level.
"For our country to flourish, the faculties at the university, industry and the government have to appreciate the urgency of working hand in hand," he noted.
The path towards such collaboration could be made smoother if the Faculty of Engineering and the university were to embark on a PR exercise to raise greater awareness about the extremely valuable research going on at the university.
"The university must improve its image. Most academics work extremely hard but they are not appreciated, and this hurts us, to say the least," Prof. Grech admitted.
The projects exhibition at the Engineering Building, Tal-Qroqq, will be open to the public today and tomorrow between 5 and 8 p.m. and between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturday.