Specific support to countries provide tailored advice, expertise, and good practice to help Member States and Associated Countries in the design or implementation of a specific reform concerning R&I strategies, programmes or institutions.
This tailored support provides concrete recommendations on how to tackle a specific R&I policy challenge and how to implement the accompanying reforms.
Malta has requested support in developing a tailor-made Open Access policy. The aim of this PSF Specific Support is to provide external advice and operational recommendations on defining the vision, goals and scope of the national Open Access policy, and on clarifying the requirements for its implementation. These include setting up the key infrastructure, such as a national platform and repository, and its governance, including fair use of data. The PSF experts also provide guidance on the investments and resources involved, as well as advise on how it can be linked to other European and international platforms.
The aim of the PSF Specific Support to Latvia is to provide external advice and recommendations on reforms and actions to address the development of Latvia’s human capital for research and innovation (R&I), focusing on:
- Policies for attracting and retaining talents in scientific and technological careers in Latvia and developing their skills and productivity – e.g. raising the attractiveness of scientific and technological (S&T) careers, attracting young talents in doctoral studies as well as internationally mobile talents (e.g ERC or Marie Sklodowska-Curie grantees), improving researchers’ careers' structure, working conditions, skills and productivity, and limiting brain drain.
- Policies to develop S&T human resources and employment in businesses – e.g. growing the pool of S&T human resources and raising their long-term employment in knowledge-intensive business activities, through developing managerial and entrepreneurial skills, boosting science-business linkages or tax benefits.
The Armenian authorities have asked the PSF Specific Support to Armenia to provide external advice and operational recommendations on possible reforms to address three challenges: developing a model for evaluation and assessment of public research institutions’ performance; assessing and improving the country’s performance-based funding system and advising on its implementation; and designing measures to bridge the gap between higher education and research.
The purpose of the PSF Specific Support to Cyprus is to provide tailored advice and concrete recommendations to the Cyprus authorities for the development of a policy framework and procedures that lift regulatory barriers and provide incentives to optimise the use of publicly funded laboratories by the business community. The recommendations will be used by the Cyprus authorities as a basis for the development of an action plan.
The Specific Support to Montenegro provides external advice and operational recommendations on how the country could develop its entrepreneurial innovation ecosystem. Specifically, the expert panel will provide advice on the necessary legislative changes, the design of a functional entrepreneurial innovation and startup support ecosystem model and the necessary funding schemes for startups and other actors of the ecosystem.
The goal of the PSF Specific Support to Tunisia – implemented by a team of independent European R&I policy experts – is to provide external advice and operational recommendations to the Tunisian authorities on possible reforms to undertake in the context of the ongoing restructuring of the national R&I system. The experts will focus on the following areas: (i) Policy mechanisms to promote private participation in R&D and strengthen public-private cooperation in research, and (ii) development of a methodology for defining research priorities – combining bottom-up consultation processes with top-down defined priorities – and of a smart specialisation policy focused on the most relevant areas.
The main objectives of the PSF Specific Support to Georgia - to be implemented by the team of independent European R&I policy experts - will be to assist the Georgian government in identifying promising research fields, suggesting measures for narrowing the gap between research and industry/business, and developing a proposal for the performance-based funding of research organisations. These activities will provide Georgia with tailored-made expertise and concrete and operational advice supporting the implementation of some of the recommendations stemming from the recent policy-mix study.
The main objectives of the PSF Specific Support to Slovenia are to identify and recommend measures to further develop (1) The internationalisation of the Slovenian science base (through both cross-border researchers' mobility and cooperation), and (2) The cooperation between the science base and businesses. The final report will include an assessment of the current situation, an identification of the policy levers to be used and concrete recommendations to tackle the key barriers in relation to both focus areas.
The aim of this PSF activity is to support the Bulgarian authorities in the development of (1) a research performance-based funding system, inspired by Member States best practices, and (2) a model for the evaluation and assessment of the public research institutions' performances. This activity aims to further implement the recommendations of the 2015 PSF Peer Review of the Bulgarian R&I system, in particular recommendation n°5 concerning the allocation system for institutional funding.
The Specific Support to Lithuania focused on an assessment of the current situation, an identification of the policy levers to be used and concrete recommendations (policy and implementation schemes level) to tackle the key barriers in relation to science-business cooperation and attraction of innovation-oriented FDI.