The Malta Council for Science and Technology yesterday presented its 2012 results and launched new projects and strategies during a business lunch organised at the Council’s Headquarters in Villa Bighi (Kalkara).
The MCST chairman, Dr Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, together with the MCST vice-chairman and CEO Dr Nicholas Sammut, Dr Alec Lapira and various other project leaders spoke during this event.
The main subjects discussed during this event were:
• The launch of the Health Research Strategy
• The launch of the Manufacturing Research Strategy
• The launch of the Research and Innovation (R&I) Fund in 2012
• The success of the COST Programme
• The results of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7)
• The Labs4MEMS Project
Dr Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando pointed out that “despite the limitations faced by the Maltese economy, the development of health research will have many positive effects in Malta”.
During the launch of the Health Research Strategy, Dr Alec Lapira, the chairman of the steering group of this strategy, said that the aim of the Health Research Strategy is to ensure that health research activity and innovation in healthcare is promoted and furthered in Malta. The Strategy promotes measures that help in bridging the gap between research and policy implementation.
The Strategy was approved by Cabinet in mid-December 2012.
The Strategy identifies the most prominent areas and opportunities for Health Research & Innovation, and the investments required to develop a vibrant health R&I environment.
Long-term sustainability in the health sector is also an important target; in fact, the main recommendation of this Strategy is the setting up of a National Health R&I Centre. Research here would focus on enhancing the effectiveness of processes, diagnoses, treatments and the delivery of healthcare services.
The Council also developed a national Manufacturing Research Strategy, which identified how R&I can be best used for economic growth in high value added manufacturing. The Strategy furthermore highlighted the steps to be taken to promote and facilitate R&I in the manufacturing sector. This Strategy was also approved by Cabinet in 2012.
Each year government finances a number of projects in support of the National Strategic Plan for Research and Innovation.
One of the main funding instruments is the Research and Innovation Programme, which has increased by a factor of 4.5 over the past years. This programme is coordinated by the Council through the National Funding Unit, led by Ing. Joseph Sammut who is the Council Director of R&I National Funding and Technology Commercialisation.
The main priority areas of this Programme are Environment and Energy Resources, ICT, Value-Added Manufacturing and Health and Biotechnology.
The funding for this Programme increased from €1.1m to €1.6m in 2012. A total of 46 proposals were received, requesting €8.3m in funding when compared with the €5.8m in 2011.
The screening of applications was performed in line with the evaluation criteria, by foreign experts. Thirty-seven applications were short-listed for the 2012 call for applications, of which eight projects were selected for funding.
During her presentation on the COST programme (the European Cooperation in Science and Technology programme), Nadine Castillo, director for Policy, Strategy and FP7 at the Council, said that this programme brings together researchers from various countries to promote transnational coordination of nationally funded research. In 2012 Malta began to participate in 38 new COST Actions with the new involvement of 56 researchers, bringing a total of 80 new Malta participants in COST Actions since 2010.
Researchers from Malta have also contributed to COST publications and to the organization of training schools and conferences. Malta was also host of three COST events in 2012.
During her presentation, Anthea Fabri, the FP7 National Coordinator, pointed out that the year 2012 saw the final and biggest ever set of FP7 calls for proposals. FP7 is the main financial tool through which the European Union supports Research and Development activities. By the end of 2012, Malta had a total of 125 FP7 projects since the conception of FP7, tapping into approximately €13m in funds.
The FP7 team within the Council organised several information sessions and workshops, including 300 one-to-one meetings in 2012. Furthermore, 22 researchers were supported by the Council to attend brokerage events in 2012.
The Lab4MEMS project presented by Ms Castillo aims to develop novel, innovative manufacturing devices called microelectromechanical systems.
The project involves 22 multinational partners receiving a total of €28m over the next 2.5 years. Lab4MEMS is coordinated by ST Microelectronics. The total cost for implementing part of the project in Malta is €4.5m.