Antonio Radoi, MCID: “Aggressive funding is needed to ensure innovation through PNRR”

“The Policy Support Facility (PSF) is a tool of the European Commission through which Member States receive support for the implementation of reforms.

We requested an evaluation of our national research system on the three classical pillars: universities, research and development institutes and the Romanian Academy. The role of the Ministry is to take over the recommendations of the experts from the Commission, which they will draft and deliver to the Romanian Government in a report next month. The connection with PNRR comes from the fact that at least 80% is the assumed percentage of transposition of the reforms in PNRR.

In PNRR on the component of research, development, innovation we have four reforms and six investments. In these 4 administrative reforms we will take over 80% of the recommendations that will come from the European Commission,” Antonio Radoi, PhD, Director UIRPSF, MCID, Romanian Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization said during Romania’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan Conference 2022 organized by The Diplomat-Bucharest.

“We have a problem with attracting and retaining system specialists. By a recent ordinance, the salary level has been raised to the maximum in the ministry, so that we can attract people and retain them in the ministry with a decent salary for such large-scale projects.

Romania is last in the European Innovation Score Board ranking, but the problems have deep roots. The Romanian state allocates only 0.18% of GDP to research. Aggressive funding is needed to ensure both the fundamental research component and the innovation. PNRR offers us a huge opportunity, reform 4, to strengthen the cooperation between the business and the research environment.”

Since 2015, the Horizon Policy Support Facility gives Member States and countries associated to Horizon Europe practical support to design, implement and evaluate reforms that enhance the quality of their research and innovation investments, policies and systems.

The Horizon Europe Policy Support Facility, launched in February 2021, provides good practice, independent high-level expertise and guidance at the request of Member States and Associated Countries through a number of services:

PSF Country (formerly PSF Peer Reviews & Specific support to countries) is an in-depth assessments of a country’s R&I system (or of parts of it) carried out by a panel of experts and peers and leading to actionable policy recommendations to the national authorities on reforms necessary to strengthen their R&I system.

PSF Challenge includes the PSF Mutual Learning Exercises and is focused on specific and operational R&I challenges of interest to several volunteering countries. It aims to identify good practice, lessons learned and success factors.

PSF Open allows countries having already benefitted from a PSF exercise to receive support to follow-up on the PSF recommendations.

At the request of national administrations with R&I competences, the Policy Support Facility provides customer-oriented services to support evidence-based policy making. PSF activities are regularly presented and discussed in the European Research Area and Innovation Committee (ERAC).

Full recording of the conference here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5f1JNCEe-I&t=5504s