GSO4SCHOOL Summer School 2020
A new bill on “Research, Technological Development and Innovation and other Provisions” was approved by the Greek Parliament, a few week before the national elections were announced. The new law aims to introduce reforms which have been anticipated for decades by the academia, the research community and the private sector in Greece.
The new law is considered to be fully aligned with the European Policy for Research and Innovation and aims to strengthen the position of Greece in the European Research Area. According to the Greek General Secretariat for Research and Technology (GSRT), the new legislation promotes research excellence and transparency at all levels and responds to the needs of the country for economic development through research and innovation. It also sets the conditions for the establishment of a new national research “ecosystem” friendly to innovation and entrepreneurship. GSRT will be the main governmental body responsible for planning, funding, coordinating, implementing and monitoring the Greek Research and Innovation policy activities. An Agency also responsible for the implementation of Research activities (EYDE-ETAK), supervised by GSRT, will be launching and managing a great number of the calls for proposals in accordance to GSRT strategy.
The new law aims to establish a link between the research centres & universities and the industry; the law facilitates the mobility of the researchers and academicians across the research organisations and enterprises. Furthermore, more favourable conditions are secured so that the participation of the private sector in research and technological development is also strengthened, thus attracting new investments and jobs.
In addition, the new law establishes three new Regional Research Centres (in Western Greece, Central Greece and Eastern Macedonia-Thrace) based on existing infrastructures, that are expected to contribute to the economic development of the Greek regions.
Within the new law GSRT shaped up a new National Strategy for Research and Innovation and a regularly updated seven-year Action Plan of concrete targets and budget, which describes all priorities for basic and applied research, as well as the relevant financial tools. The National Council for Research and Innovation is expanded with the participation of representatives from the regions and the private sector. Furthermore, the new law aims to simplify the procedures for subsidizing the Research Centres and to improve the potential for flexibility and exploitation of their sourcesd. The evaluation of the national research and innovation activities, in accordance to the indicators of the Innovation Union, the 5-year evaluation of the Research Institutes, as well as the 3-year evaluation of GSRT set up the conditions for excellence and effectiveness on research.
According to GSRT, the new law sets the conditions so that research and innovation become the basic pillars for new economic growth and development in the post-financial-crisis era.
Related posts
