Transcript Dr W. Krull - Coimbra Group

Wilhelm Krull
The Innovative Potential
of Basic Research
Presentation for the
Coimbra Group High-Level Seminar on Research Policy:
“New Opportunities for University Cooperation”
Venice, 27 October 2016
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I. European Research in a Globalised World
 Since the 1990ies, Europe has been loosing ground in the field of
basic breakthroughs.
 Still, Nobel prizes and similarly prestigious awards are won mainly
by scientists working in the US.
 Before the establishment of the ERC in 2007, Europe suffered
from an almost total lack of transnational support for basic
and strategic research.
 Research is still not supported sufficiently in Europe, particularly
with respect to risky, open-ended basic research.
 How can we enable more breakthroughs, and thus reinforce the
innovation capacity of the EU?
 What is the specific role of the social sciences and the humanities in
EU RRI strategies?
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The European Innovation Union
 One of the seven flagship initiatives of the Europe 2020 strategy for
a smart, sustainable, and inclusive economy.
 Contains over thirty action points, with the aim to:
- turn Europe into a world-class science performer;
- remove obstacles to innovation;
- revolutionize the way public and private sectors work together.
 Horizon 2020: the financial instrument implementing the
Innovation Union. Running from 2014 to 2020 with an € 80 billion
budget.
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The Innovation Union – Key Initiatives
 Promoting excellence in education and skills development
 Delivering the European Research Area
 Focusing EU funding instruments on Innovation Union priorities
 Promoting the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)
 Enhancing access to finance for innovative companies
 Creating a single innovation market
 Promoting openness and capitalizing on Europe’s creative potential
 Spreading the benefits of innovation across the Union
 Increasing social benefits
Social Sciences?
 European Innovation Partnerships
 Reforming research and innovation systems
 Measuring Progress
Humanities?
Basic Research?
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European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)
The EIT is a body of the European Union established in March
2008.
Budget: € 2.4 billion for the 2014 - 2020 period (EU budget).
Headquarters: Budapest, Hungary (+ 17 co-location centres
throughout Europe).
The EIT aims to facilitate the following transitions:



from idea to product
from lab to market
from student to entrepreneur.
Programme: Knowledge and Innovation
Communities (KIC).
…. and the European Innovation Council? –
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In the following I shall argue that …
• If the EU aims at achieving an open society with
the most dynamic, innovative, and adaptive
capacities …
basic research, including the social sciences and
the humanities, needs to be systemically
integrated in research and innovation strategies.
• Preventive thinking, proactive consultation, and
transparent processes of decision-making in
research and innovation funding are
prerequisites for achieving more breakthroughs.
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II. Acting in a Multipolar, Increasingly Interdependent
World
“Despite the fractures and conflicts of our age, societies are
becoming more interconnected and interdependent. As a result,
developments at the local level – whether economic, political or
social – can acquire almost instantaneous global
consequences, and vice versa. If we link to this the advances in
science across many fields, often now instantly diffused through
global communication networks, it is clear that the global arena
has become both an extraordinary potential space for human
development, as well as for disruption and destruction by
individuals, groups or states.”
(David Held: Global Challenges and Effectiveness, p. 217)
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Innovation
From Basic Research to New Products and Services
“The word innovation is one of the most
overused, underdefined terms in
organisational life. No one seems to be sure
just what the word means.”
(Paul C. Light: Sustaining Innovation. Creating Nonprofit and Government
Organisations that Innovate Naturally. San Francisco 1998, p. XIV.)
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A linear process …
“Insight
must precede
application.”
… turns to co-evolution of
research and innovation.
Photo: Wikimedia commons
Max Planck (1859-1947)
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Is there Anything Radically New, even Disruptive
in the Pipeline?
The Economist, 12-18 January 2013
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Basic Innovations (in Academia and Business) Need …
 creativity
 curiosity-driven research
 freedom and time to mature
 long-term perspectives
 interactive communication
 courage to venture risks
 flexible methods
 sensitivity for the unpredictable
 serendipity
Coimbra Group
Position Paper:
“There is no
pre-ordained
linear sequence from
basic research to
innovation
and marketable
products!”
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Living up to the Challenges of Transformative
Research …
“Transformative research frequently does not fit comfortably
within the scope of project-focused, innovative, step-by-step
research or even major centres, nor does it tend to fare well
whereever a review system is dominated by experts highly
invested in current paradigms or during times of especially
limited budgets that promote aversion of risks.”
(National Science Board: Enhancing Support of Transformative Research at the
National Science Foundation, May 2007, p. 4)
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An Extraordinary Biography of Scientific and
Economic Innovation
1990:
1991:
1993:
2002:
2004:
2006:
“Independent Inventor”
PostDoc at EMBL
PostDoc in Finland
Max Planck Director
4Pi Microscope (Leica Microsystems)
Deutscher Zukunftspreis
(President’s Prize for Technology and Innovation)
2007:
2014:
STED Microscope (Leica Microsystems)
Nobel Prize
Photo: Bernd Schuller, Wikimedia commons
Stefan Hell
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III. A Culture of Creativity Should Make a Difference
Creativity begins with …
 Seeing things differently
 Providing a stimulating environment
 Encouraging risk-taking
 Allowing for failures
 Establishing high-trust relationships
 It rests on the pillars of research-friendly governance structures
and effective management.
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Timing and Timescales Matter …
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The Seven C’s to Develop a Culture of Creativity
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Competence
Courage
Commitment
Communication
Co-operation
Continuity
Centres/Clusters/Institutes.
Evaluation of the Danish National Research Foundation, Report, p. 13.
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Taking the Courage and the Time to Venture Risks
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Success and Failure in the Labyrinth of Research
Cabinet Office: R&D Assessment. A
Guide for Customers and Managers
of Research and Development.
London 1989,12.
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Fostering Individual Creativity by Providing
Long-Term Perspectives
Howard Hughes Medical Institute (USA)
HHMI Investigators
MacArthur Foundation (USA)
MacArthur Fellows Program
Wallenberg Foundation (Sweden)
Wallenberg Academy Fellows
European Research Council (EU)
ERC Starting Grants
ERC Advanced Grants
Volkswagen Foundation (Germany)
Lichtenberg Professorship
“Freigeist” Fellowship
Wellcome Trust (Great Britain)
Investigator Awards
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Tapping Potential for Transformative Research Ideas:
Two Small Grants Initiatives
Experiment! – In Search of
Bold Research Ideas
“Original – isn't it?”
New Options for the Humanities
and Cultural Studies
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IV. The Role and Function of the Humanities
Humanities ≠ Geisteswissenschaften ≠ Cultural Studies
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Why Democracy Needs the Humanities
“Thirsty for national profit, nations, and their systems of education, are
heedlessly discarding skills that are needed to keep democracies alive. If this
trend continues, nations all over the world will soon be producing generations
of useful machines rather than complete citizens who can think for
themselves, criticize traditions, and understand the significance of another
person‘s sufferings and achievements. The future of the world‘s democracies
hangs in the balance.”
(Nussbaum, M., “Not for Profit. Why Democracy Needs the Humanities”, Princeton
University Press, 2010. p. 2)
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The Integrative Capacity of the Humanities
“How can the humanism take root if the very soil of humanistic thought is left
to wither? What is tragically neglected in this era of Big Data is the remarkable
integrative capabilities of the humanities. The integrative capability of the
humanities has given rise to a number of hybrid and hyphenated disciplines.
Prominent amongst them are the digital humanities; the medical humanities;
legal humanities; ecological humanities; humanities and human rights;
‘imaging’ in the sciences and arts – to name but a few. Notice how such
interdisciplinary formations display the extension of the humanities into areas
of public policy, social action, ecological sustainability, and social ethics.
Notice, too, how the ‘integrative’ impulse of the humanities is structured along
the lines of inclusion and diversity, so that ‘public reason’ is accessible across
social divisions, cultural differences, and geopolitical disjunctions. From this
perspective, it becomes clear that the integrative humanities are preeminent in
providing operational knowledge and ethical goods that contribute to the
building of an international or global civil society.”
(Homi K. Bhabha: Speech at Inauguration of UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova, Paris, November 18, 2013)
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In Many European Universities the Humanities and
Social Sciences Suffer from:
 A mismatch between proclaimed objectives and available resources
 Gross disparities between teacher : student ratios and expected
outcomes
 High teaching loads and administrative obligations vs. amounts
expected in project-based funding.
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A Way out? – Creating Stimulating
Environments:
Institutes of Advanced Study
 Functional dimension:
interdisciplinarity, stimulating new ideas, relief
Photo: Wikimedia commons
Abraham Flexner
from administrative obligations
 Personal dimension:
freedom, networking, personal encounters,
“The Usefulness of
Useless Knowledge”
turning point of an individual research career
 Institutional dimension:
strategic cooperation, “brain gain”,
counterpoint to regular university life,
productive tensions.
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V. Some Paradoxies and Tensions for Universities
Autonomy
vs.
Dependence
Core funding
vs.
Project-based funding
Creativity
vs.
Compliance
Quality
vs.
Quantity
Interdisciplinarity
vs.
Organisational structures
Reliability
vs.
Irreproducibility
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Beyond European Borders:
Widening the Research Perspective
“Europe and Global Challenges” (since 2009)
Integrating North-South and South-South research collaboration
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Setting the Right Framework Conditions in a
Mulitlevel Research System
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What Do We Want to Achieve?
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Seven Levels of Achievement:
1. Well-trained early career researchers (doctoral students as
well as postdocs).
2. Increasing the knowledge base, publications, etc.
3. Creation of new methods and techniques (e.g. new
instruments).
4. Provision of social knowledge; enhancing public debate and
providing advice to policy-makers.
5. Enhancing the society’s problem-solving capacity.
6. Developing adequate forms of collaboration, and new
opportunities for networking.
7. Products, licenses, new companies (start-ups etc.), in
particular in science and engineering.
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Thank you very much
for your attention!
Dr. Wilhelm Krull
Secretary General
Phone: +49 (0)511 8381-215
Fax: +49 (0)511 8381-235
E-Mail: [email protected]
Internet: www.volkswagenstiftung.de
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