Mapping exercise on the current state of affairs regarding industrial R&D representation in SEE

One of the main instruments working towards this objective was the mapping exercise, performed in order to identify the situation prevailing in the South-Eastern European countries of the consortium in terms of a) industrial R&D representation, b) industry-academia cooperation level, c) industry's respective needs for R&D personnel and d) existing support tools for inter-sectoral mobility.

The first exercise mapped the number of industries with R&D departments, operating in South-Eastern Europe (local industries and/or multinational corporations), in priority sectors chosen for the purposes of this project. The result of this exercise, carried out through desk research, personal communication and communication with local authorities, is a database of over 500 contacts of industry performing R&D in South-Eastern Europe, collected in accordance with privacy rules and regulations. The database is available on the project's website.

The second mapping exercise collected information on the additional skills and competences that university graduates and researchers need to acquire in order to be more “attractive” to employers in the industrial sector. Furthermore, it examined the largely stressed culture of movement from academia to industry. This was performed by a survey directed to the industry contacts collected in the previous exercise, as well as to existing contacts in the academic sector.

In total, there were 187 responses by industry representatives and 497 replies from universities and research institutes. Companies of all sizes were equally represented, with presence from almost all industry sectors, whereas in academia there was a predominance of respondents from public universities, but again with representation of all academic fields.

While the inter-sectoral cooperation and mobility are still at a relatively low level in the region, when they do cooperate the companies report high levels of satisfaction and the researchers report a mostly positive influence of inter-sectoral mobility on their career. Other responses indicate that the two sectors agree on various issues and indicate clear areas for improvement.

These results will form a part of the basis for the project’s final outcome: recommendations and guidelines to the respective governments so as to raise the remaining obstacles and promote inter-sectoral mobility and the career development of researchers.

Source: George Adamopoulos, Ministry of Education, Life Long Learning and Religious Affairs, Greece