The Riigikogu, 16 January 2019 – Jüri Ratas who provided an overview of the situation of research and development and the activities of the government in the Riigikogu today highlighted that the contribution of the state in research and development has increased significantly and the state must share risks with businesses to encourage them to invest in development as well.
The prime minister said that while the share of the funds planned for research and development in the state budget was 175 million euros in the year before last, it was 206 million last year, and exceeds 220 million this year. “Thereat, basic funding of research and research grants have increased significantly, from 47 million in 2015 to 80 million euros in this year’s budget. The fact that the share of stable funding has increased is quite significant – from 19 percent to 49 percent within the same period of time,” said Ratas.
According to Ratas, the public sector funding of research and development must achieve a long-term goal – one percent of the gross domestic product. “Contributions are needed from all parties in the society to achieve this, hence political parties, researchers, and entrepreneurs also signed a respective research agreement in the presence of the President last December,” he stated.
According to Ratas, money plays the role of an important enabler, but in order to improve the cooperation between businesses and researchers, answers must also be found to questions concerning cooperation and priorities. “Those who wish to take their commercial undertakings to the highest levels of the value chain which guarantee higher incomes and smarter economy, are increasingly required to invest in research and development, among other things. The state must also provide assistance here,” said the prime minister.
The prime minister stated that the state is required to share with businesses such risks that are not feasible for one company to take up alone, but which would benefit the society as a whole. “When the government commenced working, they agreed to develop proposals on how to stimulate development activities undertaken by businesses and involve more funds from the private sector. For example, since September, Enterprise Estonia offers product development aid for industrial companies and the little experience gained so far proves that there is interest,” said Ratas.
One of the problems highlighted by him was that outcomes of research in Estonia are often not developed to a level of technological preparedness that would enable businesses to continue working with them in Estonia – investors deem the risks too high. “Many countries offer support for solving this problem. Based on the same principles, we will start issuing development grants to our researchers as soon as this spring in order to take the outcomes of research to a state which would attract interest among entrepreneurs or to test whether there are the required prerequisites for this,” he said.
Ratas stressed separately that despite the funding goals which have not yet achieved, the level of our research work is very high. “Based on the percentage of frequently cited articles, we have developed very rapidly in the last few years and are well above the European average. Our influence is based on a strong research community whose research work and discoveries take us forward. One good example is Ahto Buldas, professor at the Department of Software Science at the Tallinn University of Technology, whose role in the development of two top Estonian companies, Cybernetica and Guardtime, is hard to overestimate,” said Prime Minister Ratas.
Photos (Erik Peinar | The Riigikogu):
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/0fbfy7p1xbpcimp/AAAk65dre3c5FvjSkYCSHnOCa?dl=0
Full text of the speech (in Estonian): https://www.valitsus.ee/et/uudised/peaminister-juri-ratase-ulevaade-tead...
Extracts from the prime minister’s speech about the situation of research and development and the activities of the government:
Funding
• In the state budget of 2019, there is 220.2 million euros planned for research and development. In 2016 and 2017, the respective amount was 175 million euros, and in 2018, 206.2 million euros.
• In the state budget financing plan for 2019–2022, there are additional funds planned for higher education and for research and development in the field of the Ministry of Education and Research in the total amount of 60.4 million euros.
The levels of research and research institutions
• In 2016, 1659 high-quality articles were published per one million residents, by which the goal set in the strategy for research and development and innovation for 2020 was achieved.
• The Clarivate Analytics Web of Science has recognised over 6,000 natural and social scientists, among them 17 Estonian researches, in their list of most influential researchers of the last decade. Taking into account the population of Estonia, this is a great achievement.
• The excellent international competitiveness of Estonian universities has also been repeatedly proven. From 2018, the first place of the University of Tartu in the ranking of so-called new European universities compiled by Times Higher Education, a British journal, can be highlighted. In their rankings, the journal included the 53 best research universities from the 13 countries which have joined the European Union after 2004. As the second best Estonian university, Tallinn University of Technology was ranked 18th.
• Ahto Buldas, professor at the Department of Software Science at the Tallinn University of Technology, won the national research award for his remarkable discovery in the field of underlaying technologies of e-society in 2018. His research on creating attack-proof e-services and time stamp systems has formed the basis for the e-governance technologies used in Estonia. His role in the development of two top Estonian companies, Cybernetica and Guardtime, is hard to overestimate.
• Taking a look into the future, the increase in the number of those who have completed their doctoral studies in the last few years in encouraging. In 2017, there were 253 graduates, which is our highest number ever. For example, three years before, in 2015, there were 208 doctoral graduates.
Research and entrepreneurship
• The expenses of Estonian companies in research and development amounted to 143.6 million euros in 2017, which is merely 4–5 million more than in 2016.
• Based on the coalition agreement, proposals have been developed for stimulating the research and development work of our businesses and for more extensive involvement of private sector funds.
• In September, Enterprise Estonia started issuing product development grants to companies involved in the processing industry to encourage industrial undertakings to invest more in development.
• As part of encouraging foreign investment, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications has identified the areas of activity which have a high research competence, as well as very high business potential, and considerable probability of bringing investments to Estonia. This information will be used in the future when making value offers to potential investors.
• The problem is that outcomes of research in Estonia are mostly not developed to a high enough level of technological readiness to give businesses an economic incentive to develop them further. Investors deem the risks too high or unclear and the projects are left aside.
• Many countries use support payments to solve the problem. Based on the same principles, we will start issuing research grants to our researchers in the second half of 2019 for them to develop the outcomes of their research work to a phase in which they attract interest or for testing whether there are the required prerequisites for this.