Draft Procedure Manual for the Operation of the National Research, Science and Technology Fund of Namibia

Carlos Aguirre-BastosInternational ConsultantUNESCO National Conference on Research and Innovation20 August 2013, Windhoek, Namibia

Research: What for? To improve conditions of and accelerate

development Research outputs to:

Inform and influence policy – scientific base to take decisions

Drive social innovations – improve society´s wellbeing

Drive economic innovations- competitiveness and productivity

Enhance cultural value of scienceFor research to fulfil such roles it must be well

conducted and of quality, thus leadership, funding, researchers and institutions, and the capacity to utilize research findings are key to its success

RESEARCH AND INNOVATION FUNDING IN NAMIBIAAct 23 of 2004 determines the

creation of the National Research, Science and Technology Fund

First Decision:To fund researchTo fund innovation

Funding Research and InnovationNon fiscal incentives: grants, loans,

subsidies, venture capital funds, guarantee mechanisms

Fiscal incentives: inside and outside corporate taxes

National Research, Science and Technology Fund of Namibia, is defined (by Act) as basically a research project granting mechanism.

So innovation must be promoted through the support of specific “research” projects in the enterprise

Strategic ConceptsNRSTF operates as a competitive

mechanism Funds projects in a bid mechanism

according to established prioritiesFunding raises level of future researchers

and provide adequate infrastructure for research and facilitate mobility

‘Seed’ projects are financed as a basis for developing substantial long-term research

Competition is key to excellence allows: outcomes of highest quality, and generates returns to public investment in research

Strategic Concepts Collaboration stimulates research and innovation;

mobility of actors in national research and innovation system encourages and facilitates cross-cutting interactions and free flow of ideas and knowledge

Excellence and collaboration serve to build and sustain two key components of a forward looking and productive national research effort – capability and focus

Thus needed a streamlined and balanced system of funding mechanisms promoting excellence, scale, focus and concentration of Namibia’s publicly funded research and innovation effort, that will deliver enhanced efficiency, effectiveness and accountability.

Funding Today Ministry of Education funds routine research at the

University of Namibia and the Polytechnic. Support runs around 1% – 2% of their overall recurrent

budget. It has been recommended that this amount increases to at least 10%.

Line ministries provide funding to their sector research Donor grants and subventions, often as part of

international agreements and in some cases administered through a NGO, such as Namibia Nature Foundation or the Rössing Foundation

Commissioned research, funding client usually donors, or ministries funded by donors and multinational organisations such as the various UN or European Union organisations.

In 2012 Government provided a fund of 47 million Namibian dollars for a two year period, for research grants.

20 million dedicated to research (for financing Namibia-South Africa joint call) while the other 50% is destined to administrative tasks.

Problems

Public funds are channelled to public bodies Donor funding is mainly channelled to private institutes Commissioned research falls to either public or private

bodies There is no overall funding coordination or plan There are gaps in the support for research There is little focus on funding for research capacity

development Research is seldom linked to innovation There is little long-term vision in the existing research

programme From the government funding agency point of view, it is

difficult to direct such a programme towards national priorities

Accountability, if it is built into programmes at all, is not well developed

Funding now and the futureNow Future

Limited competition for funds

Majority of funds are allocated

competitivelyRisk of mediocre outputs Delivering higher-quality

outputsMarginal funding Allows cost shifting Lack of accountability

Research is fully funded

Barriers to participation Access to funding is open to all

Weak and/or inconsistent incentives

Partnerships and networks fostered

Overemphasis on the individual

Critical mass is builtMultiple sources of funding

Coordination across funds

TOWARDS A FUNDING PROGRAMME

Act 23 of 2004 creates the “NRSTF” (Article 23)Article 24 defines that the fund is constituted by

resources from many sourcesDefines that the Commission must manage the Fund Resources available in the Fund must be used:

- To pay the administrative expenses of the Commission- To pay the administrative expenses of every council- To fund the costs of any project or other activity of the Commission or by any research institute with the approval of the Commission; and- To pay remunerations and allowances payable by the Commission and such other expenses incurred by the Commission in the performance of its functions

What does it mean?Commission has 15 commissioners +

alternate commissionersIt has an Executive Committee Foresees establishment of committees to

perform different functionsEstablishes a standing committee

“Foundation for Research, Science and Technology”, whose functions are not specified.

Office of the Chief Executive Officer supervises the operation of the Fund.This governance system imposes a great

burden on the funds

Some basic principles: The Fund will support the strengthening of the RESEARCH

AND INNOVATION SYSTEM The Fund is the most valuable policy instrument to be

developed and strengthened in the coming years. The financing of S&T is characterised by insufficient focus on

competition as a driver of excellence, marginal funding in many areas of research, and barriers to participation and collaboration

The Fund can be a policy instrument which will help to focus efforts and cooperation and linkages among the actors of the research and innovation system

The Fund is not an additional source of financing government administration

Funding arrangements need to be as simple as possible to administer and readily intelligible to researchers, institutions, industry and the wider community

Evaluation of projects will be a key instrument for guaranteeing transparency and quality

Basic principles The Draft Procedure Manual will indicate the basis of the

evaluation process. Research to be carried out within a framework that

demonstrates accountability to the government and the community, is transparent, is performance-driven and is capable of highlighting the return (economic or otherwise) on investment in research.

In order that Namibia stakeholders will benefit from the Fund, it is necessary the execution of a simple capacity building plan: Training of stakeholders in project writing, report writing, scientific and technical paper and document writing

 The Fund is managed as prescribed in the Act. In this case, the funding and policy making roles are in the hands of a single institution.

The Fund could be run as a separate institution (the Foundation) from the policy making body. In this case the Fund follows policy with some independence, but because it requires its own management mechanism it drains from the scarce resources. If this is the option, Act 23 must be modified

Basic principles Whichever the case it is necessary to establish some

mandatory provision defining that a percentage of the available funds to go into administration and a larger fraction to funding research and innovation

What to do about multiple funds (as exist today). A fragmentation of funding mechanisms is not necessarily conducive to building partnerships

But as stated in the Presidential Commission on Education, Culture, and Training, it is undesirable if the new source of funding were to replace the existing ones

It should supplement them and be used to provide, by a process of ‘gap filling’ the overall funding picture with coherence, purpose and sense of direction.

A case may be made in favour of a single fund and also of multiple sector funds.

What is important is to have a transparent, accountable and effective governance structures and processes and open further opportunities for co-investment.

“FUNDING PROGRAMME”

Teams

I

Centres of Excellence

Centres

Networks

Scale and Focus

Teams (linkage and discovery)

Individuals (early career researchers - discovery

Capability

Types of Projects to be supportedTalent Search and Repatriation for R&DIndependent Research Scientist

Development AwardResearch Programme Project Open Research ProjectSmall Research Project GrantsConference GrantsResearch Demonstration and

Dissemination ProjectsExploratory GrantsDevelopment GrantsDissertation GrantsPromotion of R&DPromotion of International R&D

Types of Projects to be supported

Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (Minority Program)

Postdoctoral Individual AwardPromotion of Regional R&DStudy of environmental phenomena and

impact Promotion of R&D for Protected Areas and

biodiversityR&D in HealthResearch in social sciences and the

humanitiesStrengthening infrastructure: equipment,

scientific instrumentationScience against poverty

DRAFT PROCEDURE MANUAL I. Definitions: definition of the terms

included in the ManualII. projects and activities to be

financedIII. uses of the Fund’s resourcesIV content and processing of

applicationsV acquisition of goods and servicesVI process of evaluation of project

proposalsVII allocation and disbursement of

funds VIII project implementation and

monitoring process

PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES TO BE FINANCED

The Fund will allocate financial resources to eligible research and innovation Projects under the Funding Programme

The Fund is created to ensure the appropriate funding to research and innovation projects that can contribute to the discovery of new ideas and the advancement of knowledge in the sciences, focusing on high impact and innovative research

It is a policy instrument that allows generating new scientific knowledge and strengthening national research and innovation capacity and capability

The Fund will give preference to funding of areas defined as national priorities, while also respecting freedom of research

The Commission may identify flagship projects as an “urgent priority” Such projects, are not subject to the Fund’s calls but still have to fulfil the requirements set out in this Manual for preparation, evaluation and approval

USE OF THE FUND’S RESOURCESFunding will be through an open bid

procedure. For each specific component of the Funding Programme there will be a specific “call for projects”.

The content of each specific project proposals and their processing are determined in the Manual

Calls will be open between 4 - 6 months after publication. Each call will define deadlines for

The maximum amount of funding to be available for each individual project under each call will be defined by the Fund Administration

The Fund will define a fair system for the transparent evaluation of bids, based on the norms established in this Manual. Agreed reporting systems (with the scientific community) will be built into the award

Eligibility Criteria The Fund is open to all researchers and groups of

researchers who are employed on a permanent or contractual basis from the following organisations:

Government Research Institutions Government Science, Technology and Innovation Agencies Public and Private Institutions of Higher Education with

accredited research programmes by the Commission Expatriates working under contract with any of the above

institutions are eligible to apply. However, the project must have a permanent Namibian co-researcher from the same institution

Researchers wishing to be considered for funding must have their CV registered with the Commission’s Human Resources Data Base (to be created)

Private research laboratories and research centres accredited by the Commission, and including private sector firms with projects with clear innovation goals

CONTENT OF PROPOSALS

Project TitleProject ObjectivesResearch BackgroundResearch MethodologyProject ActivitiesMilestonesRisk of the ProjectBenefits of the ProjectOutputs Expected (scientific,

technological or innovation)Human Capital DevelopmentEconomic Contribution

CONTENT OF PROPOSALSInfrastructural contributionResearch CollaborationProject ScheduleStaff Cost EstimationProject FundingSummary of Relevant past Research ProjectContractual Obligations Under This ProjectEthical Clearance and Compliance To Other

Related RegulationsLocation of research projects Project DurationResponsibility of the project leader

EVALUATION Process Screening by the Commission (two staff members) to assure

the proposal meets all the requirements, it is not a technical or scientific evaluation (Institutional Screening Committee)

Once screened the project is evaluated by experts who undertake the Technical and financial evaluation of the proposal

The Fund establishes the ad-hoc evaluation team composed of two or three external experts knowledgeable in the project’s topics

The experts will preferably, but not necessarily, be foreign experts. Experts may come from the private or public sector

Projects evaluated by external experts are submitted to the Fund Approval Committee chaired by the Fund Administrator (This Fund Approval Committee could be the standing committee for funding defined in Act 23 of 2004)

The Committee approves the experts’ evaluation report and makes the final decision on funding the approved projects. Any decision made by the Fund Approval Committee is final.