29-06-16 Public Consultation begins on new Research and Innovation Foundation

 Public consultation begins today on a Ministry of Education, Research and Religious Affairs bill that will be tabled in parliament and will provide for the creation of a new “Hellenic Foundation  of Research and Innovation “ (ELIDEK).

The objective of the bill is to create a flexible, meritocratic foundation, independent of the successive political leaderships of the ministry, which will manage the revenues of a new fund. The funds will be earmarked exclusively for funding young scientists, infrastructure and equipment, as well as for research programmes to be carried out at universities, tertiary technical schools (TEI), and research centres around the country.

The foundation will evaluate and fund quality research, with funding from the Greek state’s public investment programme and the European Investment Bank (EIB).

With an agreement that is to be signed in July between the Greek Public Sector and the EIB, the ELIDEK foundation over the next three years will provide 240 million euros in funding, in order to achieve the above objectives. It should be noted that this funding is above and beyond the funding that is available from the EU National Strategic Reference Framework 2014-2020 funds, and separate from funding available through the EU Research Horizon 2020 programme.

In the second phase, ELIDEK is expected to provide, with additional funding, seed capital for innovation and start-up companies in their nascent stages.

According to Alternate Minister of Education, Research and Religious Affairs Costas Fotakis, whose portfolio focuses on research and innovation, “The law establishing ELIDEK is one of the responses of the state to the need for immediate and effective management of the impact of the economic crisis on scientific research, where one has witnessed a brain drain of fine young academics who go abroad. At the same time, it creates prospects that will bolster and liberate Greece’s exceptional academic and scientific human capital. It will be a pillar of support for them and a foundation for the country’s development efforts, which have already commenced.”

This initiative creates the necessary conditions for creating a comprehensive National Strategy for Research and Innovation, freed from the exclusion of thematic areas and regional quotas, as has been the case until now. The guiding principle for the success of the effort will be scientific quality and excellence.