Science needs promotion and partnership with business

The challenges, as well as the importance of science for business and the socio-economic environment, were discussed by participants in the debate ‘Where are you heading, science?’.

Professor Henryk Skarżyński, director of the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, drew attention to the need to foster trust in science, and, for this to happen, it is necessary to be familiar with its achievements. Unfortunately, this is a great problem in Poland. 'Poles are not familiar with our scientific achievements, which impacts trust in science and scientists', he stressed.

He mentioned the work conducted in 2018 on a monograph of Polish scientific achievements, where, after detailed analyses, the 34 best achievements from different areas of science were selected from 1,500 proposals. Not many people are familiar with them.

Besides insufficient knowledge of the achievements by scientists, the low level of innovation in the economy is also a challenge. As Leszek Stypułkowski, member of the Management Board of Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK), reminded us, Poland ranks 25th in Europe in this area. It is true that we should be proud of this year's World Bank report, which lists Poland (along with South Korea and Chile) as one of the countries that have transformed from a low-developed to a developed economy in less than 25 years, but stresses that Poland's further development necessitates innovation.

Dariusz Wieczorek, Minister of Science and Higher Education, confirmed that the lack of awareness of the work and achievements of Polish scientific institutes is a problem which his ministry intends to tackle.

‘We definitely need to create a potential research database,’ he stressed, announcing that the Łukasiewicz Research Network is going to be mainly responsible for this project. According to the ministry's plans, the database is to be updated regularly, and once a quarter each institute shall report on its projects and achievements. The Ministry not only wants to receive information on the effects of the researchers' scientific work, it also wants to check what happens with them next, whether there is a chance to commercialise them. Dariusz Wieczorek also emphasised the need for partnerships between scientific centres.

A serious hindrance to science is the low level of investment in research and development, which in Poland amounts to only around 1.46% of the GDP (including business expenditure). In other countries it exceeds 3% of the GDP. As Minister Wieczorek pointed out, spending on science is an investment – because thanks to science the economy develops and the GDP grows.

This was confirmed by data brought up by Professor Piotr Wachowiak, rector of the Warsaw School of Economics. He stressed that one zloty invested in science brings an average of 8-11 zlotys in the GDP. 'Money spent on science is a very profitable investment', stressed the Warsaw School of Economics rector, emphasising the importance of partnership with business in three areas: strategic, educational and scientific.

As Iwona Kurz, Dean of the Faculty of Polish Studies at the University of Warsaw, pointed out, the impact of science on the GDP is an important, but is not the only factor in its assessment. Equally important is the impact of science on social well-being or the language we use to communicate. It is also important to remember the impact of universities on the social environment – especially because in many cities they are the largest employers.

During the debate, many critical remarks were made about the system of periodic evaluation of scientific activity in Poland. Iwona Kurz indicated that she is strongly against this system, as it hinders interdisciplinarity and does not take into account the particularities of different areas.

Leszek Stypułkowski also spoke about the need for change, stressing that science develops in the direction in which it is evaluated. Yet in recent years, the evaluation system has generally encouraged the publication of articles in foreign scientific journals. As a result, communication and partnership between science and the socio-economic environment has gradually started to disappear.

Changes should therefore be made to encourage scientists to look for research inspiration in the socio-economic environment, including businesses – so that research agendas are created based on the demand from the environment. Research partnerships with economic entities should be valued at least as much as publishing in leading scientific journals.

Leszek Stypułkowski proposed the 3x20 per cent rule, which would introduce a provision into the strategy of scientific institutions, according to which 20% of the funds of these institutions should ultimately come from partnerships with the business sector. To achieve this goal, 20% of the resources available to scientific institutions should be invested in developing partnerships with businesses. It would also be necessary to redirect 20% of the human resources available at the scientific institution to this area.

As announced by Dariusz Wieczorek, changes that may be revolutionary are to take place in the system of the evaluation of science. In his opinion, scientific centres should be evaluated for results, including implementations and partnership with business. The change in the Act on Higher Education planned by the ministry is intended to support this. The minister announced that the ministry is going to ask universities for suggestions for changes that should facilitate their activities, including partnership with business.

Aleksandra Cisłak-Wójcik, vice-rector for science at the SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, emphasised that predictability and the stability of funding is crucial in the scientific process – proper procedures for funding these processes, including the evaluation of high-risk ideas, are very important.

Dariusz Wieczorek also drew attention to the importance of efficiency in the use of science funding - at the moment we spend a large part of the money on equipment, but this is not always needed. Therefore, the ministry intends to create a nationwide equipment database, as sometimes we buy expensive apparatus that is already available in another department of the same university.

Foto: materiały prasowe