Ministry of Science presented the Innovation White Paper
Innovation White Paper with proposals for solutions to help overcome the problems of innovation has been presented last Thursday by the Ministry of Science. Among the proposals is the introduction of the status of an innovative company, a portal connecting business and science, innovation competitions in schools.
The Innovation White Paper has been developed the Ministry of Science and Higher Education on behalf of the Innovation Council that coordinates the government's innovation policy. Proposals for changes, which are expected to contribute to solving the problems with the implementation of innovative solutions are presented from the perspective of: entrepreneurs, scientists, investors and government.
During the work on the Innovation White Paper, 340 proposals for changes were sent to the Ministry's e-mail box in one month. Most of them - 44 percent - came from the business community, and 30 percent from science. The book presents 58 proposals for solutions to specific problems. Changes may affect 15 laws.
"The White Paper is the starting point for a package of laws on innovation" - Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education Piotr Dardziński said on Thursday during a press conference. Some of the proposals submitted as part of the Innovation White Paper have been included in the first law on innovation, the legislative work on which is already underway in the parliament. The second law on innovation will be drafted on the basis of other proposals by the end of 2016. According to Dardziński, it may turn out, however, that some of the White Paper solutions will not be included in the large law on innovation, but only in separate amendments to laws or new legislation.
The proposals for business in the White Paper include: higher R&D incentives; indefinite exemption from income tax on the contribution of intellectual property; support for the development of innovative start-ups; introduction of the status of an innovative company; specialization of courts in the protection of intellectual property, infringement of patents and utility models.
The proposals for changes concerning the scientific community include: creation of organizational structures of scientific institutions that are better suited to fulfilling their mission and the reform of research institutes; change of the system of evaluation of research employees taking into account their achievements in the field of innovation; reduce the burden teaching of university staff involved in commercialising and implementations; the introduction of leave for the commercialisation of R&D results. The introduction of an industrial- implementation PhD is planned still in 2016, as is amending the system parametric evaluation of scientific units by increasing the importance of implementation, social impact and international outreach.
Proposals for investors include the idea of introducing tax breaks for investors who finance start-ups. Changes in the administration consist of the organization of innovation competitions in schools; raising the quality of teacher training, improving their ICT and e-learning skills.
Among the proposals is also creating an innovation portal that will connect entrepreneurs, scientists and investors. "Communication was one of the main themes emerging in consultation with all partners. We have a problem with the exchange of information between scientists and entrepreneurs. The portal is a solution that has nothing to do with legislation" - said Deputy Minister Dardziński.
Already this fall, the Ministry of Science in cooperation with 40 institutional university technology development centres will also launch the pilot "call a scientist" program. The project will to be modelled on the Contact Point for Entrepreneurs operating at Wroclaw University of Technology. "Entrepreneur will call or send an e-mail describing the problem that has, for example, with research infrastructure. We send this form to all technology transfer centres. They have 24 hours to check their resources and send us information. Then, within 24 hours we verify which of these responses has the greatest potential and pass the contact information to the entrepreneur" - described Dardziński. In the future, a similar solution could be created for scientists who seek cooperation with businesses.
The White Paper is consistent with the "Plan for responsible development" and the "Strategy for scientific excellence", whose purpose is to stimulate the economy and free Poland from the middle income trap. Implementation of selected postulates of the book is expected to contribute to the increase in investment in research and development (R&D) to 1.7 percent GDP in 2020 and the establishment of 1,500 start-ups in the next 7 years.
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Photo: PAP/ Tomasz Gzell 13.09.2016