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Karl Schembri
Government still has “no idea” what to do with the Malta Council for Science and Technology, four months since its self-imposed budget deadline by when it had to decide whether the council should be in charge of the national programme for research and technological development.
Still officially without a chairman and board for the last year, MCST was singled out in last November’s budget speech, together with the University and Malta Enterprise, as the entity that could take up the responsibility of technological development and innovation in industry.
But a spokesman for the Education Ministry said that no plans had been decided yet in this direction.
“There have been no decisions yet in this regard and the council is still going on with its work as usual,” the spokesman said.
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said in the budget speech that technological innovation and research was essential for the country’s competitiveness particularly in the manufacturing industry.
“This sector has a great potential for growth, but for this to happen we have to start by revising our national framework that is responsible for this sector and give incentives to those who are ready to exploit this potential,” Gonzi said.
By the end of last January, the government should have decided whether MCST, university or Malta Enterprise should be responsible for all this, according to Gonzi’s speech.
The council however is still without a Chief Executive, following the resignation of Wilfred Kenely last December, with now only the permanent secretary at the Education Ministry, Francis Borg, as acting CEO.
The council’s inactivity is letting Malta lagging behind when it comes to the Lisbon Strategy’s targets for research and development, placing bottom of the list of EU member states.
Borg says the council will be focusing on drawing up the national policy for Malta’s participation in the EU seventh Framework Programme, in a bid to draw EU funds for research here. But the council has already come under criticism for its delayed allocation of the promised Lm300,000 of government funds for the National Research Technological Development and Innovation programme that is aimed at stimulating and building sustained scientific research.
Applicants for funding were up in arms last year when it seemed that the funds were not going to be made available, and several of those proposing research projects had made commitments with their foreign partners.
MaltaToday had reported that the funding missed the timeframe that the proponents were expecting. Former MCST chief executive Wilfred Kenely had told MaltaToday that the funds were expected to be made available at the end of 2004 or beginning of 2005, but the failure of government to appoint a new Board for the MCST after the last Board of directors was disbanded led to further postponements.
The programme is planned to fund between eight and 12 competitive and scientifically relevant projects, and is a very small first step to assist Malta to catch up with other EU countries as it lags seriously behind most of the other member states.
karl@newsworksltd.com
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