Malta alone gives EU research programme a miss

Malta is the only EU member state not participating in a pan-European Research and Development (R&D) programme aimed at boosting the research capabilities of small and medium sized (SMEs) enterprises in Europe.

EU officials told The Times that the programme, known as Eurostars, provides a new, flexible and efficient tool specifically tailored to the needs of R&D intensive SMEs. The European Community has just approved an injection of €100 million from its research programme (FP7) into the Eurostars initiative.

All other EU member states, together with Iceland, Israel, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey have joined the programme, dedicating a total of €400 million to finance trans-national research partnerships between their SMEs.

Asked why Malta was not taking part, an EU official said it had not shown any interest in doing so, although it was not excluded from the programme in the future.

Malta is already involved in Eureka, an intergovernmental initiative aimed at supporting market-oriented R&D and innovation projects by industry, research centres and universities across all sectors.

In order to participate in programmes such as Eurostars, Malta would have to dedicate specific funds. Sources close to the Maltese business community told The Times that this may be one of the reasons for Malta's non-participation.

Malta Enterprise, the state agency responsible for attracting investment towards Malta, which took the decision not to take part, said past experience has shown that Maltese companies are not really keen on such projects. This was already clear in the Eureka programme, an official claimed.

"Though adequate finances were available, in many instances Maltese companies did not fully utilise these opportunities, resulting in surplus of funds.

"Based on this experience (in Eureka), I believe we should not join a new programme for the sake of joining or for statistics, but for the benefit of the industry. Being part of Eurostars means generating projects and not just being present in forums or discussions."

Over the past few years, the government has been harping on the need for more investment in research and development - deemed as one of the most important sectors of a forward looking economy.

In describing Eurostars, the European Commission said that research-performing SMEs are crucial to the economic success of Europe in the global knowledge economy. Malta is still considered to be a laggard in the EU when it comes to R&D investment.