Closer ties for business and research
Last week, Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński introduced a government program called the "Technological Initiative," aimed at lowering barriers between research institutions and the business sector.
"Polish development faces obstacles which we need to overcome, such as inferior levels of innovation and budget expenditure," stated Kaczyński. The initiative aims to help scientists locate funds for research and help businessmen become more competitive by adopting new scientific developments.
Poland is not generally considered as important as India among emerging centers for new technologies, however the government is looking to step up development along this path with the two-step program.
The first element involves research centers and businesses, especially SMEs, which have the potential to win research grants for projects with practical economic applications. The amount of financial aid offered by the government will depend on the phase of the project, from 100 percent of costs for the research phase and around 90 percent for the practical-application phase.
The second part of the program is targeted at institutions - such as technology transfer centers and business incubators - that bring together researchers and entrepreneurs to enable them to forge partnerships and sign contracts that will help implement the results of research projects. This aspect of the Technological Initiative will allow the government to grant up to zł.10,000 per contract. The institutions are permitted to be involved in more than one contract at a time.
The government expects this program to foster closer cooperation between business and science in Poland and, subsequently, to increase Polish competitiveness.
"We hope that cooperation between the business and scientific communities will be more dynamic than it has been to date, and that scientific achievements will contribute in a greater extent to the economic development of Poland," said Michał Seweryński, the Minister of Science and Higher Education.
