Institutional Strategic Plan 2017-2020 for the Ministry for Research and Innovation

Institutional Strategic Plan 2017-2020 for the Ministry for Research and Innovation

Advisory Services Agreement on

Technical Assistance for Strengthening Planning and Budgeting Capacity and Supporting the Introduction of Performance Budgeting (P156889)

Output No. 3

Institutional Strategic Plan 2017-2020 for the Ministry for Research and Innovation

June 2017

Project co-financed from the European Social Fund through the Operational Programme Administrative Capacity 2014-2020

This report was delivered under the Advisory Services Agreement on Strengthening Planning and Budgeting Capacity and Supporting the Introduction of Performance Budgeting, signed between the General Secretariat of the Government and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development on June 8, 2016. This corresponds to Output No. 3 under the above-mentioned agreement.

Disclaimer

This report is a product of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / the World Bank. The findings, interpretation, and conclusions expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect the views of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work.

This report does not necessarily represent the position of the European Union or that of the Romanian Government.

Copyright Statement

The material in this publication is copyrighted. Copying and/or transmitting this work or portions of it without permission may be a violation of applicable laws.

For permission to photocopy or reprint any part of this work, please send a request with the complete information to either of the following institutions: (i) the General Secretariat of the Government (1 Victoriei Square, Bucharest, Romania); or (ii) the World Bank Group Romania (31 Vasile Lascăr Street, Et 6, Sector 2, Bucharest, Romania).

1

Table of Contents

List of Acronyms

List of figures

List of tables

List of boxes

I.Context

II.Mission and Vision

III. Strategic Objectives, Programmes, Measures, Indicators

Strategic Objective 1. Developing the capacity for scientific research and dissemination of research results

Strategic Objective 2. Increasing economic competitiveness through innovation

Strategic Objective 3. Improving administrative capacity

IV. Performance Monitoring and Evaluation System

V. Financial Resources

Annex 1a: Budgetary Objectives and Programmes 2017-2020 (thousand lei)

Annex 1b: Programmes, Measures, and related Budgets 2017-2020 (thousand RON)

Annex 2: Institutional Strategic Plan (summary table)

Annex 3: Programs and connected Measures, Output Indicators (Summary Table)

Annex 4: Institutional profile

List of Acronyms

BERD / Business Expenditure on Research and Development
CERN / European Organization for Nuclear Research
COP / Competitiveness Operational Programme
EIF / European Investment Fund
ELI / Extreme Light Infrastructure
ERA / European Research Area
ERDF / European Regional Development Fund
ERIC / European Research Infrastructure Consortium
ESA / European Space Agency
ESFRI / European Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructures
ESIF / European Structural and Investment Funds
EU / European Union
FAIR / Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research
FTE / Full-time equivalent (researchers)
G(E)O / Government (Emergency) Ordinance
GD / Government Decision
GDP / Gross Domestic Product
GEO / Government Emergency Ordinance
GERD / Gross Expenditure on Research and Development
GoR / Government of Romania
GSG / General Secretariat of the Government
IFA / Institute of Atomic Physics
INCD / National Research and Development Institute
IPR / Intellectual Property Rights
ISP / Institutional Strategic Plan
ITER / International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor
LDR / Less Developed Regions
MDR / More Developed Regions
MRI / Ministry for Research and Innovation
NASRI / National Authority for Scientific Research and Innovation
NP2 / National Plan for Research, Development, and Innovation, 2007-2013
NP3 / National Plan for Research, Development, and Innovation, 2014-2020
NSA / National Space Agency
OPAC / Operational Program Administrative Capacity
PA / Priority Axis
PNCDI / National Plan for Research, Development and Innovation 2014-2020
RAS / Reimbursable Advisory Services
RCRI / Romanian Committee on Research Infrastructures
RD&I / Research, development and innovation
RDIs / Research and Development Institutes
SME / Small and Medium Enterprise
SNCDI / National Strategy for Research, Development and Innovation 2014-2020
SOP IAC / Sectoral Operational Program Increase of Administrative Capacity 2007-2013
TFEU / Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
UEFISCDI / Executive Agency for Higher Education and RDI Funding

List of figures

Figure 1. R&D intensity projections 2000 - 2020, Romania and EU targets

Figure 2. Evolution of Romanian innovation benchmark indicators, 2016

Figure 3. Quality of scientific output and public R&D investment levels

Figure 4. Positional analysis of publications with Romanian authors in the SCOPUS scientific database (2009)

Figure 5 Monitoring Cycle of the Institutional Strategic Plan 2017-2020

Figure 6. Research and Innovation system in Romania

List of tables

Table 1 Strategic Objective 1: Financial allocations by budgetary programmes (thousand lei)

Table 2 Measures included in Program 1.1

Table 3 Measures included in Program 1.2

Table 4 Measures included in Program 1.3

Table 5 Measures included in Program 1.4

Table 6 Strategic Objective 2: Financial allocations by budgetary programmes (thousand lei)

Table 7 Measures included in Program 2.1

Table 8 Measures included in Program 2.2

Table 9 Strategic Objective 3: Financial allocations by budgetary programmes (thousand lei)

Table 10 Measures included in Program 3.1

Table 11 Annual financial allocations, by strategic objectives (thousand lei)

Table 12. Financial allocation, by expenditure (thousand lei)

List of boxes

Box 1 Strategic Objective 1. Impact and result indicators

Box 2Strategic Objective 2. Impact and result indicators

Box 3 Strategic Objective3: Impact and result indicators

Acknowledgments

The Institutional Strategic Plan is the result of the work performed by the World Bank team, of the consultants and of the staff of the Ministry for Research and Innovation. Main contributions were delivered by Elena Botezatu, Mihai Păunescu and Mihai Vâlnoiu (experts, World Bank), as well as by Arabela Sena Aprahamian (senior private sector development specialist, World Bank) and Mădălina Prună (private sector development specialist, World Bank). The team benefited from the solid methodological guidance of Costel Todor, senior specialist in strategic planning.

The authors give special thanks to Lalita Moorty (Practice Manager Macroeconomic and fiscal Management) and to Elisabetta Capannelli (Country Manager for Romania, World Bank) for the overall coordination, as well as to Victor Giosan and Cătălin Păuna (TTL, Chief Economist, World Bank) for the guidance and valuable advice. The team also thanks Gord Evans (World Bank) for the insightful peer review. Last but not least, the team sends thanks to Brigita Orzan (expert, World Bank) for the constant and substantive support.

The team would like to thank the staff at the Secretariat General of the Government (SGG) for the support and excellent collaboration provided throughout the elaboration of this document, in particular to Secretary of State Radu Puchiu, and General Director Dragoș Negoiță, as well to the counselor Radu Iacob and the project team, who provided useful recommendations and achieved a proper project management. The team also wishes to thank Mrs Arina Șușară.

The team wishes to acknowledge the support and contributions made by the members of the working group set up with the task of developing and implementing the Institutional Strategic Plan, including experts from the Ministry of Research and Innovation. The team is particularly grateful to Mr. Lucian Georgescu, State Secretary, Mrs. Sorina Dumitrescu, Director Direction Intermediate Body for Research, Mr. Ionel Andrei, General Director of the General Direction for Policies and RDI Programs, for their involvement and cooperation.

Foreword

Background

The General Secretariat of the Government (GSG) has signed a reimbursable consultancy services (RAS) agreement with the World Bank, with the goal to strengthen the planning, budgeting and policy monitoring capabilities of the Government, the Ministry of Public Finance (MPF) and the selected ministries. To improve the efficiency of public spending, the RAS focuses on i) continuing to consolidate the existing processes of developing the Institutional Strategic Plan (ISP) under the guidance of the General Secretariat of the Government (GSG); Ii) building intra-governmental capacity to monitor ISP updates and implementation with the help of a common IT tool developed with the support of the Bank; and iii) the development of a central unit within the GSG, for reporting on the implementation of major ISP priorities of selected ministries.

The defined activities of these SCRs arise from the functional analyzes of the Public Administration that highlighted that the public sector needs a better link between planning and budgeting, resulting in poor connections between the resources used and the results. Therefore, the Government has asked the Bank to help institutionalize a process to monitor policy implementation, with clear roles and responsibilities for GSG, MPF and the line ministries, using methodologies, tools and processes developed under the RAS. This will be an integral part of government budget reform. In order to make the process of strategic planning mandatory, GSG wants the ISP to become a product developed consistently by each ministry.

As a selected ministry, the Ministry of Research and Innovation has committed itself to carrying out a comprehensive reform program covering both public policies and public administration. Strengthening the strategic planning function is an important component of this reform. Developing the ISP for the 2017-2020 budget cycle comes at an important moment in the 2014-2020 policy cycle.

Methodology

The elaboration of the 2017-2020 ISP began in September 2016, as part of the ISP for the Ministry of Education and Research and continued between March and June 2017 as a separate ISP. The process enjoyed substantial commitment from all relevant management and operational staff within the ministry, as well as SGG specialists.

The Strategic Planning Process 2017-2020 of the Ministry of Economy was supervised by a Strategic Planning Coordination Committee, with representatives from all departments. The Working Group met as deemed necessary between September 2016 and April 2017.

The World Bank provided technical support throughout the process. In an endeavoring to be comprehensive, informative and participatory, the World Bank held a training program with members of the Working Group in September 2016 to present members with the principles of strategic planning, in parallel with the use of theories and the ISP 2014-2017.

Executive summary

The General Secretariat of the Government (GSG) is committed to improving the efficiency of public spending. By establishing an Institutional Strategic Plan (ISP) for the budget cycle 2017-2020 in the Ministry of Public Finance and the 13 selected ministries, GSG aims to strengthen the budgetary, planning and monitoring capacity of the Romanian Government[1].

The ISP 2017-2020 is based on the strategic objectives of the sector, on the priorities and institutional objectives assumed by the Ministry of Economy; It also provides clear programs and measures (including budgets) needed to achieve these goals over the medium term as well as a robust performance assessment framework to assess progress towards these objectives.

The ISP is organized around the main areas under MoE responsibility, as follows:

Strategic Objective 1: Developing the capacity of scientific research and dissemination of research results, aimed at increasing the quantity and quality of research results, as well as the international exposure of Romanian research.

Strategic Objective 2: Increasing economic competitiveness through innovation, aimed at promoting collaboration between the RDI sector and industry, directly related to the priorities of industrial, competitiveness and SME policies as a mechanism to support the transition of the Romanian economy from cost competitiveness to innovation-generated performance

Strategic Objective 3: Developing institutional capacity for MCI to strengthen the Ministry's ability to carry out its policy and regulatory functions efficiently and effectively

A description of the expected strategic objectives and expected impacts, programs and expected outcomes and measures with their planned outcomes correlated with the financial resources and their distribution over the implementation period 2017-2020 is presented in the body of the Institutional Strategic Plan below.

1

  1. Context

As key components of the Europe 2020 agenda, research and innovation are constantly retained as major priorities for policy and investment across the EU. Following the economic crisis, the European Commission has also repeatedly drawn attention and expressed concern upon the fact that most EU member countries are far from their self-set objectives regarding Research and Development (R&D) expenses and outcomes and that “this risks delaying considerably the transformation of these countries into knowledge-based economies”.

The EC[2] sets a number of key strategic actions in an effort to push for a redefinition of R&D national systems union-wide. The main points set out concern the following: improving the quality of strategy development and the policy making process; improving the quality of programmes, focusing of resources and funding mechanisms; optimizing the quality of public institutions performing research and innovation. To support these three axes of reform, the EC pledges financial support for research and innovation (R&I) through the Horizon 2020 financial program. At the same time it invites member states to increasing public spending in R&I actions, to increase efficiency and impact of resources invested in R&I, to provide adequate incentives for business investment in R&I actions. The Innovation Union (IU) and European Research Area (ERA) are emphasized as “flagship” cooperative actions which could provide a strong basis for future development in this sector.

Romania has long been classified as a “low knowledge capacity system with a specialization in low-knowledge intensity, which this translates into low intensity of R&D and innovation investments, lack of specialization in technology, low impact of scientific publications at world level”[3].

A number of evaluations have emphasized more or less the same recurring challenges: The 2011 Functional Review by the WB highlighted that Romania’s RD&I sector is “in a silent crisis” related to three key factors: governance fragmentation, focus of on basic research and underutilization of private potential. Underfinancing and, often, poor use of available funds, contributes to the overall poor performance.

The 2012 Interim Evaluation of the SNCDI and PNCDI 2007-2013 notes that, while mirroring the EU-PF7, the Romanian framework puts too much emphasis on delivering the funding calls and too little on improving institutions. At the same time, “nothing is left behind”, in what seems to be an “excerpt from canonical works on innovation”[4] in terms of policies and instruments.

A 2013 evaluation report by UEFISCDI financed under SOP IAC[5] focusing on the governance of the RDI system reiterates mainly the same challenges related to underfinancing, fragmentation and polarization among actors, restating the need for reform, coherence and a strategic approach.

After the completion of the 2007-2013 financing period, a new SNCDI and PNCDI were developed, along with the new Operational Program Competitiveness, providing EU funding. The legacy of the first true programming exercise in Romania is a change of paradigm in the research system: scientific production and quality have increased, individual and institutional behaviour has shifted toward a more competitive approach. International participation in Romania has also increased, compared to the past.

Nonetheless, lack of resources and inefficient allocation has led to an abundance of underutilised research infrastructures and cohorts of PhD students without real research career prospects. The historical brain-drain has not been reverted, as Romania has one of the largest scientific diaspora among the EU countries.

As a consequence, the RDI performance is well below expectations and current results are telling; in 2016, the latest EC Reports[6] still places Romania in the group of countries with the weakest science base, while the low quality of the public R&I system is still a key issue to be addressed. Only two countries, Romania and Bulgaria, still remain in this group and the gap between Romania and the other Member States is still increasing, mainly as a direct consequence of low public RDI expenditure (0.49% of GDP).

Figure 1. R&D intensity projections 2000 - 2020, Romania and EU targets

Source: Research and Innovation performance in the EU. Innovation Union progress at country level[7]

While some indicators show improvement, the overall progress shows Romania’s performance has declined the most of all countries (-4.4%), in particular since 2012. For example, while the proportion of doctoral graduates per thousand population and international scientific co-publications had a positive trend, firm investments, venture capital, SMEs innovating in-house, collaborating with others or producing innovations have decreased significantly.

Figure 2. Evolution of Romanian innovation benchmark indicators, 2016

Source: 2016 European Innovation Scoreboard, Romania

As RD&I is an activity mainly funded from public resources in Romania, the participation of universities and public research institutes and their performance in the scientific world-wide system is the central point in ensuring a positive evaluation of the system as a whole. However, data presented in the R&I Performance Report, previously quoted, describes an inefficient and irrelevant system from a scientific point of view.

Figure 3. Quality of scientific output and public R&D investment levels

Source: European Semester Factsheet on Innovation 2016[8]

With the exception of food, agriculture and fisheries, security and other transport technologies, Romanian scientific works have a measured impact below world levels. Moreover, works in the mentioned fields are of an un-specialized type, with the exception of other transport technologies, which, according to the analysis provided in the report, proves that on the one hand they are still too few for Romania to reach the “specialized” benchmark and also are an effect of pre-1990 specialization in these sectors of the Romanian research system[9]. Finally, in cross-country comparison, Romania places in the area where low public investment in R&I correlates with low citations of scientific works, alongside most EU member countries, thus proving a lack of strategy and vision in R&I development, at least before 2013.