Sadraj Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions European Industrial - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Sadržaj

Marie Sklodowska – Curie Actions

European Industrial Doctorate

Towards increased employability and innovation

Sandra Vidović, 19th October 2017

• Study is assessing the

European Industrial Doctorates (EID) scheme.

• The report presents findings

and conclusions from an assessment of the EID scheme activities from its formation in 2012 up until March 2016.

Rationale

Study focuses on addressing three main issues that provide the rationale for a European programme on industrial doctorates:  Lack of intersectoral mobility between academia and industry;  Lack of transferable skills in European labour force of researchers; and  No common rules or guidelines around industrial doctorates across EU. The objectives of EID:  To promote joint training and strengthen collaboration between industry and academia;  To develop PhD candidates’ skills to meet the needs of industry; and  To foster industrial competitiveness and the research environment. The EID scheme was launched in 2012 following the introduction in 2011 of the principles for innovative doctoral training developed by the European Commission working group on doctoral training.

Logic model EID scheme

Relevance of the EIS scheme

• Most established universities offer training in various transferable skills –while

the EID scheme generates structure and raises awareness of training offers along the ‘value chain’ from basic research, applied research towards business relevant activities such as product development, manufacturing, marketing & sales and finance.

• Industrial doctorates are often arranged on a bilateral and institutional level.

Stakeholders agreed with the idea of structured doctoral training with non- academic participation.

• Stakeholders were concerned about the trend to turn doctoral training into skills

training – the main aspect of a PhD should be to conduct independent scientific

• work. Any training offered should complement the research focus of a PhD

project.

• Stakeholders also highlighted that EID projects, and ITN projects offer PhD

candidates access to networks of senior researchers which is considered key to further career prospects. The quality and extent of networks in EID/ITN projects are not generally available in ‘classic’ PhD/graduate programmes.

• EID proposals are based on predefined research topics and also indicate

tentative individual PhD projects for fellows.

• Survey responses indicate that EID placements were flexible enough to

enable participants to fine-tune their research topics once the fellowship had started.

Motivations to apply

Main motivations of organisations to apply for EID funding:

• Academic institutions - access to research funding, the ability to recruit a cohort of

researchers working on a specific research topic, and the possibility to strengthen existing relationships and collaborations with industry.

• Industry participants are attracted by recruitment opportunities at very low cost,

coinciding with specific development and innovation projects.

Main motivations of fellows to apply:

• The salary is considered very competitive compared to starting salaries in industry

and other PhD scholarships.

• Often PhD candidates are employed as research assistant, and cannot spend their

whole working hours on the PhD project. The MSCA rules mandate that the fellowship shall only be spent on the PhD project.

• EID project enabled access to network of high quality, senior experts beyond that
• ffered had they conducted their PhD in a ‘regular’ programme.

Motivations to apply 2

Demand and participation

The overall statistics on participation in EID projects are:

• 101 EID projects to date, representing 17 % of the 579 ITN projects funded
• 281 organisations participated in EID projects to date, representing 6% cent of

the 4,517 organisations participating in ITN projects.

• €114 million were awarded by the EU to EID projects to date, representing 6%
• f the €1.8 billion awarded to ITN projects across the FP7 and H2020

Success rates for EID are generally higher than for ITN overall:

• The success rate by EID projects (number of projects / number of proposals)

was 18.9 %, much higher than the corresponding success rate for ITN (11.8 %).

• The success rate by EID participants (number of participants/number of

applicants)

• was 14.0 %, again higher than the corresponding success rate for ITN (8.7 5).

EID are generally smaller than ITN projects overall. The average number of participations per EID project was 2.78 (compared to an average 7.80 participants per ITN project) – minimum 2 partners in consortium

Number of EID projects

• Of the 2,013 applicants in EID proposals - 1,789 (89 %) were based in EU

Member States, 89 (4 %) in associated countries and 35 (3 %) from third countries.

• Organisations participating in EID proposals were based in 40 countries

(compared to 104 for all ITN proposals).

• The following ten EU Member States provided the highest number of EID

applicants: UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland and Sweden.

• Representing 79 % of all EID applications and 87 % of all EU funding

requested by EID applicants in Horizon 2020.

• Switzerland was the most important non-EU country in terms of demand for

EID projects (representing 3 % of EID applicants).

Number of EID projects

Indication that researchers in proposals are more

• ften recruited by

universities than businesses. HES – awarding PhD

Participation of organisations

The limited presence

• f SOC projects is

most likely due to a perceived lack of potential for industrial application and consequentially lower demand for funding under this scientific panel.

Participation by scientific panel

EID implemetation

Most organisations (academic and non-academic) felt that the objectives and structure of the scheme were clearly set out and realistic.

Most participants who responded considered the level of funding provided by the EID scheme to be adequate for the achievement of the scheme objectives.

• Most respondents (90 %) also felt that the type of funding provided to be

sufficient to achieve the scheme objectives.

Among academic organisations that deemed the level of EID funding to be insufficient, a common concern related to the duration of the EID scheme funding.

• PhD programmes lasting for 4 - EID scheme funding covered only 3 years
• Need to have alternative funding streams to bridge this gap.
• Recommended - an extension of the scheme duration to 4 years.

Of non-academic organisations that did not feel EID scheme funding was sufficient, some said that the funds did not cover the material costs of research such as laboratory expenses.

EID implemetation - funding

EID implemetation administrative and financial rules

Among the minority of respondents who did not consider administrative rules to be appropriate, reasons cited included:

• Difficulty in designing standard administrative rules applicable to different local contexts

(e.g. the varied lengths of PhD programmes in different countries);

• The strictness of the eligibility criteria regarding the mobility of EID fellows and VISA

problems relating to the recruitment of researchers from third countries.

Conflicts between EID rules and requirements and national regulations or

• rganisational practices
• Recognition of qualifications awarded and training, joint supervision, and for exploiting

project results

• National requirements with regards to salaries and recruitment procedures were not

always in line with EU funding - t process and equal opportunities policies in the context

• f national employment laws
• Differences in length between standard doctoral programmes (typically 4 years)
• Compared with the three years under the EID fellowship, caused some conflicts with

internal rules and management issues.

EID implemetation

• The EID is perceived as only relevant for scientific disciplines with clear potential

for industrial application, with a strong focus on engineering and information sciences.

• Timelines of the scheme evaluation procedure might be too long for some

potential industry applicants, who then recruit PhDs directly.

• Time delay between the expert evaluation and the announcement of evaluation

results to applicants

• It can be difficult to arrange agreements on how to share background IP, and how

this is being used and circulated in the consortium.

• Joint supervision can be challenging and might pose risks for PhD candidates, if

roles and expectations are not clearly set out at the start.

• Requirements of joint supervision and secondments can be difficult to meet for

SMEs – they often cannot provide capacity for weekly supervision and guidance, nor meet reporting requirements.

• SMEs are often participating as partner organisations

Added value

Researcher level

• The specific focus on applied or industrial research and the specific scientific

disciplines and research areas of the project

• The European dimension of the EID fellowship and focus on transferable

skills The main added value delivered by the EID compared to ‘regular’ PhD at the same institution was to help candidates gain a strong understanding of how their research could impact industry, and how this might further their career

• pportunities
• Hiring a former EID fellow may help academic labs to more easily and

efficiently establish public-private partnerships, the EID fellow having experienced the working methods used in the private sector (i.a. relating to project management with its deliverables/ milestones, standard operating procedures, quality assurance, communication etc);

Added value 2

Organisation level On average, 84 per cent of respondents (including academic and non-academic

• rganisations) stated that they would not have gone ahead with their project

without any funding from the EID scheme. The EID scheme offered strong added value, in particular in countries where no projects of comparable size or with comparable thematic focus would have been funded. Both academic and nonacademic participants suggested that the most likely impact would be a continuation of projects with reduced funds. Respondents also widely mentioned that projects would have suffered a reduction in outputs and results in terms of scientific or technical skills acquired

Results and impact

At the level of individual researchers, 85 per cent of EID fellows surveyed aimed to work as researchers in the non-academic sector after completing their PhD. EID fellows acquired and built on various skills through the EID scheme:

• Expert knowledge gained by fellows in their research areas,
• Scientific communication skills (such as oral presentations and publications)
• Specific crossdisciplinary knowledge, approaches and methods, and applied

industry-relevant research expertise

• Specific knowledge / expertise in applied industrial research
• Language training
• Open access training, ect.

• EID scheme appears to have fostered new collaborations
• EID scheme extended collaboration between partner organisations
• Most nonacademic and academic organisations participating in the EID

scheme have concrete plans to continue their partnership with other partner organisations involved in the EID project

• Non-academic participants were slightly more likely to work with new

partners than academic participants.

• Academic organisations were mainly attracted by the research funding

available, the ability to recruit cohorts of researchers working on a specific topic and the possibility of strengthening existing relationships with industry.

• The main motivation cited by nonacademic participants was the
• pportunity to recruit research staff at very low to no cost through the EID

fellowships and collaboration with academia

Results and impact

IPR applications (six new patents, one trademark, one registered design and

• ne other form of IPR).

Around 50 % of all EID fellows surveyed produced or contributed to journal publications as a direct output of their fellowship. Scientific publications were also found to be important outputs. Where impacts where reported, the changes were most commonly associated with introducing new content or new types of training courses to curricula.

Results and impact 2

• The European Commission and REA should encourage the participation of

nonacademic actors other than businesses to meet the EID specific objectives of career opportunities across the non-academic sector.

• The work programme should be amended to further emphasise the need for

training that provides added value vis-à-vis alternative industrial PhD or other programmes

• The mid-term evaluation should investigate in more detail whether the inclusion
• f academic institutions apart from institutions awarding doctoral degrees has

led to a more diverse group of academic participants.

• The European Commission should try to encourage demand/applications from a

more diverse group of countries, including so-called ‘widening’ countries.

• Given overall demand substantially exceeds the scheme budget, plus the strong
• verall relevance of the EID scheme, it would be reasonable to increase the

budget allocated to EID funding in the next MSCA work programme.

Recomendations

Recomendations 2

• Joint supervision can be a challenge and can be risky for PhD candidates if roles

and expectations are not clearly set out from the start. There might be scope to include offers to train prospective supervisors in EID projects and prepare them for joint supervision.

• There should be greater flexibility in how fellows split their time between

academic and nonacademic partner organisations, in line with the practicalities

• f the work and the problems in coordinating work across two institutions.
• National contact points should provide comprehensive instructions about the

recruitment of nonEU citizens and advise on a step by step approach to applying to the respective national regulations of labour market and immigration. – EURAXESS services centres!

• The maximum length of fellowships under EID should be extended from 36 to 48
• months. The European Commission should also consider that if such a change is

not accompanied by an increase in scheme budget, the number of overall projects or number of fellows per project would have to be reduced.

Good luck!

Sandra Vidović

Horizon 2020 National Contact Point for Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Agency for Mobility and EU Programmes Frankopanska 26, HR-10 000 Zagreb Phone +385 (0)1 500 5954 Fax +385 (0)1 500 5699 sandra.vidovic@mobilnost.hr www.mobilnost.hr www.obzor2020.hr