FCT contributes to OECD report on Research Excellence

Research Excellence Initiatives reflect the efforts of various governments to promote efficiency and innovation by replacing institutional funding with more competitive forms of funding. They are a response to the growing competition for ideas, human capital and funds. 

The Research Excellence Initiatives instruments are designed to foster top research in higher education institutions and public R&D centers by awarding large-scale, long-term funding to specific research centers. These instruments combine institutional funding and funding for research projects and have become widespread, particularly over the last decade, in more than two-thirds of OECD countries. The report Promoting Research Excellence: New Approaches to Fundingpublished this month by the OECD, presents and discusses some of the benefits of Research Excellence Initiatives, based on the preliminary results of three surveys carried out in various OECD countries, and also presents potential risks and recommendations.

The Centres of Excellence, selected under the Research Excellence Initiatives, have long-term resources at their disposal, enabling them to carry out ambitious, multidisciplinary research programs, supported by state-of-the-art equipment and infrastructures. These Centers therefore play a crucial role not only in creating new lines of research but also in strengthening human capital and generally developing a country's R&D capacity and visibility. 

Research Excellence Initiatives also allow for greater mobility of researchers, enabling Centers of Excellence to recruit the best national and foreign researchers. The activities of these Centers often expand to other departments and centers of the host institution, which can, however, increase the risk of divisions between departments or research centers. Another potential risk, discussed in the report, is the concentration of resources in a few Centers of Excellence, which could, in the long term, harm the competitiveness of the Research Excellence Initiatives by encouraging financial reinforcement to already established institutions. The report therefore recommends that impact studies be carried out to quantify the effects of Research Excellence Initiatives on R&D systems, society and the well-being of citizens.

In Portugal, research centers receive competitive multi-annual funding, based on the results of international peer reviews. The chapter on Excellence in Research in Portugal, prepared by FCT, focuses on the R&D Units and Associate Laboratories classified as Excellent in the last evaluation exercise. The Centers of Excellence in Portugal cover the areas of Engineering and Technology, Medical Sciences, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and Humanities. There is a greater number of researchers in the first three areas of study indicated.

The Centers carry out most of the activities traditionally associated with research centers: advanced training, research, technology transfer and spin-offs. Significantly autonomous from their academic host institutions in terms of research lines and resource management, the Centers establish a mutually beneficial relationship with their host institutions. On the one hand, they contribute to increasing the visibility of their host universities, which in turn provide them with collaborations with professors and access to postgraduate students and researchers.