MINUTES Executive Working Group Meeting 24 th April 2015 Dresden Present: VDI-VDE-IT (Chair) Bpifrance CDTI DASTI Enterprise Estonia Enterprise Ireland FFG Innovation Fund Serbia Innovate UK Luxinnovation MITA PARP Projektträger Jülich Research Council Norway (RCN) RVO.nl TTGV VINNOVA Assistant Secretariat Wolfgang Gessner, Jan-Henrik Fischer-Wolfarth Christian Dubarry Javier Garcia Kåre Nordahl Larsen Ene Kull Rita Ward Sabine Mayer, Berna Windischbaur Marko Atanasovsky David Golding Ian Cresswell Kazimieras Arlauskas Anna Saczuk Cornelia Partsch Cathinka Holtermann Pieter de Bruijn, Ferry Braunstahl Ihsan Karatayli Henrik Fridén Joanne Goede Absent: Apologies were received from Mislav Jurišić (HAMAG-BICRO), Filomena Egreja (IAPMEI), Leo Van de Loock (IWT), National Research, Development and Innovation Office Hungary, Andy Jones (Pera) and Marita Paasi (Tekes). Absent without further notice: CTI, Valerio Abbadessa (ENEA), Michel Hivert (Matimop), Sigurdur Björnsson (RANNIS), Miroslav Balog (Slovak Innovation & Energy Agency), and Ludek Knorr (TA CR). Welcome and opening The meeting was opened by Wolfgang Gessner. 1 Approval of the agenda The agenda was approved. 2 Approval of the minutes of EWG March 2015 The minutes were approved. 1
3 Management Structure Group Since the topic of the Management Structure was brought up at the Board Meeting in June 2014, the group met 4 times (October 2014 and February, March and April in 2015), while the state of play was discussed at the March 2015 EWG meeting. Over the course of time 15 agencies contributed to the work of the Group. Unfortunately, at the last meeting in Warsaw only 2 agencies besides the two chairing agencies were represented. The problem analysis with which the Management Structure Working Group (MSWG) started revealed the following problems: Lack in financial efficiency cost vs. performance, Lack of longtime budget planning, Missing clarity of decision-making processes and Lack of codified knowledge. The nature of some events was considered questionable as well, but being considered a strategic question, the issue is out of the scope of the mandate of the MSWG. Jan-Henrik indicated drafting of a long-time budget plan and setting up of rules of procedures, as solutions to the second and third identified problem. In order to better secure financial checks and institutional controlling of the annual financial statement, the Treasurer of the incoming Chair could be involved in the accounts of a certain year. Knowledge of the French non-profit association rules should be increased within Taftie to become more aware of the implications like possible tax obligations. Some general measures that could be recommended to the Board are the inclusion of dissemination activities in Task Force budgets, the set up of a repository of Board decisions, an update of the How to run Taftie on rules of procedures for the different Taftie bodies, and the sharing of an event calendar (innovation, R&D and SMEs) amongst members. Christian indicated that Bpifrance is willing to take up the task to get a better understanding of the French non-profit association laws and their implications for Taftie. A first quick check revealed that perhaps only tax needs to be paid over the saving account. The Bpifrance internal legal department will look into more detail in the matter and report back to the MSWG. Sabine explained the Meeting that FFG was the first to work with the new financial system and the outsourced accountancy tasks. Before that Rita Ward took up this valuable role for years. The Taftie Treasurer has two roles: handling invoices and payments. Some invoices are addressed directly to Taftie (Task Forces, AS etc.), many invoices are addressed to the Chair itself (meeting venues etc.). As the control of the eligibility of the latter invoices as supporting documents for the reimbursement of costs to the Chair by Taftie should be outside the Chair, FFG decided to ask the Troika to do this. This method so far worked fine. She expressed the opinion that the incoming Treasurer does not have a strong incentive to be strict. If the system is going to be changed, she prefers the involvement of the outgoing Treasurer since he/she has both the incentive and the knowledge/experience. Anna responded that the Troika check works fine, but it is a check afterwards. She added that all options are still open for discussion, including the option of a permanent Treasurer. Jan-Henrik sketched the present structure and budget and continued with the introduction of three possible scenarios: Scenario 1: equal cuts- by reducing approximately 30% everywhere Scenario 2: same performance, lower costs Scenario 3: shifting costs (Permanent Secretariat with a General Manager) All three scenarios had in common that the total costs add up to 280k euro. A SWOT analysis was presented by Jan for each scenario. 2
In the discussion that followed the general tone was that members understand that the present overspending should be reduced to avoid a deficit in a couple of years, but that the process should not be only financially driven. They prefer a proposal that starts with what Taftie wants (not being a strategy discussion) and then see how this can be achieved with spending less money and maybe an adapted structure. The proposal was also considered too immature to be presented to the Board in June. Sabine Mayer introduced an approach based on some general principles (such as the importance of in kind contributions of members to the network) and an analysis of past actual costs to the Meeting in which a division was made between more or less fixed costs for keeping the network functioning and flexible costs for the activities that are the core of Taftie: exchange of knowledge, mutual learning and development of the network. She was asked by the MSWG to forward the details of a 4 th scenario to EWG Members via the AS. Jan-Henrik encouraged members to send in other scenarios as well, which will be included in the status report to the Board. Several members repeated their request to organise future MSWG in conjunction with EWG meetings to minimise the travelling and optimise the number or members participating. Members welcomed the offer by Bpifrance to provide a stable contact with knowledge of French Association Law. The EWG took the decision to have the MSWG Chairs present the progress made so far and announce a full proposal for decision-making for the November Board. 4 Membership issues Sabine Mayer, chairperson of the Membership Policy Group, informed the meeting that new membership applications were received from the National Documentation Center of Greece, the State Fund for Development of Information Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan and China Technology Exchange. The indispensable criteria were checked by the MPG and the EWG was informed that all three organisations are not eligible for membership. The applicants were informed as well and received an invitation to attend the Annual Conference. The former Portuguese Taftie member AdI, now called ANI (Agência Nacional de Inovação), showed interest in rejoining Taftie. So far an official application was not yet received. After earlier contacts facilitated by Bpifrance and a meeting with Bpifrance, Enterprise Estonia and FFG at a Eureka Meeting in March, and the invitation letter sent by the chair of Taftie, The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) accepted the invitation to become a Taftie International Partner. They are invited to the Conference by the Chair of Taftie, at which the official ceremony of their new International Partnership will take place. The MPG updated the information document that is used to approach potential international partners and prepared a communication guideline for members for their contacts with (potential) IPs. Information on two possible Japanese International Partners was presented: NEDO and JST. After a discussion in the EWG, it was decided not to choose one or the other, but to suggest both organisations to the Board as potential International Partners. 3
Sabine gave an overview of recommendations from Members for agencies in white spots countries (detailed information is available on the web site in the special MPG within the member area). Sabine indicated that she will withdraw as chairperson of the MPG at the June Board Meeting. She became the chairperson after Jeroen Heijs left unexpectedly. In the 1,5 years she chaired the Group, a new member (SIEA) was appointed based on the criteria and procedures developed in the MPG. The MPG developed the principles and the process with regard to International Partners to Taftie, and based on these Taftie could welcome the two first International Partners, FINEP from Brazil and KIAT from South Korea. NRC from Canada will follow in June. The Board approved the principles developed by the MPG for so called "white spot countries" (i.e. countries that would be eligible but with no Taftie member). With the approved principles and processes, it looks like the implementation can be quite smoothly. Sabine told the Meeting that she want to dedicate more of her Taftie time to the Task Force SELECT she is chairing. She will stay a member of the MPG and thanked the group for the good cooperation. Ian Cresswell indicated to be willing to take over the chair from Sabine, after internal consultation with his organisation. EWG Members wanting to join the MPG were asked by Sabine to express their interest. 5 Task Forces 5.1 BIEE After the acceptance of the results of the TFBIEE at the EWG in March, the discussion focsed this EWG on dissemination and implementation. The approved results consist of a report on indicator selection, operationalisation and data sourcing and another report that contains two lists of indicators as a potential basis for future alignment. Pieter de Bruijn Chair of the TFBIEE - informed the Meeting that dissemination already had taken place on a general level by uploading the report to the public area of the web site, and more specific by sharing the results within member organisations dedicated departments like the PARP Enterprise Research Centre and the newly established analysis unit of FFG. National stakeholders, like the Danish interdepartmental working group innovation funding organizations and the Czech R&D Council, were informed as well. European networks and communities across Europe (European Commission, OECD, Eurostat) were informed through amongst others the Taftie Policy Forum. The two new IPs (FINEP and KIAT) took note of the results as well. Also in this year s Policy Forum a session on the Task Force s work is foreseen. The Task Force Members consider the Task Force project finalised and want to propose to the Board to continue the work as a structural Network. To implement the results of the TF, the group is planning to set up a benchmark for the primary set of relatively standard indicators. The focus is on innovation instruments aimed at business enterprises (R&D grants, collaborative R&D grants, innovation vouchers and competence centres). A possible involvement of an external consultant as coordinator has been discussed, but will not be decided upon in the near future, since Members want to take care of the coordination themselves for the time being. 4
Pieter expressed the wish that members that are not yet involved in the work of the TF decide to join the benchmark. He will forward an email asking to express the interest to participate and to indicate which instruments should be included in the benchmark. It was brought up that there might be options for financial support for the Network through the European Union INNOSUP programme. For the more ambitious indicators (the second set involving a connection between instrument participation and outcome level data) setting up a benchmark is not directly implemented yet as the Network prefers a step by step approach starting with relatively standard indicators. However, this year s Policy Forum will be used to share experiences on the more complex indicators and data by presenting results of the projects. The EWG approved the TFs draft input for decision-making at the Board and agreed with the recommendation to the Board to continue as a structural Network. 5.2 SELECT Sabine Mayer informed the EWG that after a kick-off meeting and two task force meetings in 2014, the Task Force met for the fourth Task Force Meeting on 16 th and 17 th March in Prague. In between meetings, members cooperate using the internet working space at wiggio.com. The meeting In Prague, hosted by TA CR, focused on two Work Packages: Evaluators and Processes. And the external expert was selected by the group: Peter Biegelbauer from the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT). To stay within the budget approved by the Board, he will focus his work on only one Work Package (Process) this year. For next year additional money will be requested by the group to cover the whole Task Force. Although the work is only halfway, the TF can already indicate some impact of its work: members are eager to use the exchange of knowledge and experiences that is taking place. One agency is even trying to optimize already its own selection procedures based on the TF discussions. And an exchange on the implementation of a reviewer database has started. The next meetings of the TF have been planned to take place in June (Tallinn) and September (Zagreb). Innovate UK plans to join the group at the next meeting. At present 13 Taftie member organisations participate in the Task Force (and the TF is followed closely by DASTI). The Task Force report of course will be shared with the whole network. At the end of the project a special event is foreseen, after which the group wants to continue as a Taftie Network. Several EWG members took the floor to inform the Meeting that their colleagues involved in the TF are very enthusiastic about the progress made so far. 6 Taftie Academy Berna looked back on the two networking workshops that took place in March and April on Increasing coordination of internationalization of TAFTIE Agencies and Sharing practices and experiences on supporting and developing RTO s. The events attracted respectively 15 and 11 participants and were very well received. Taftie International Partners FINEP and National Science Foundation (NSF) participated in the first workshop. The event report has already been uploaded to the web site. She showed the meeting a list of upcoming Staff trainings, Webinars and Networking Workshops that are now open for registration. Members are kindly asked to remind their experts who have shown interest during the demand survey to register. 5
Since Berna got the impression that some members lack information on the rationale behind the Board decision to establish the Taftie Academy and the preconditions connected to it, she described once more the uniqueness of the TA. Trainings and Workshops are tailor-made for the innovation support agencies and not available in the market. Topics are brought up by members based on their needs and interests (not by the TA). General topics such as programme management and project management are explicitly not covered. Taftie experts are offered the opportunity to meet and exchange practical knowledge and experience. The events often serve as a initial step towards a Task Force. Prices of trainings are low compared to the market and members can use a voucher. Workshops and webinars are even free of charge. Since 2012 there were 439 pre-registrations and 141 participations. Members were asked to write down during the meeting their suggestions for topics for trainings, workshops and webinars for 2016. Afterwards, Berna handed out green stickers so members could like the suggestions of their colleagues. The TA will use the information for further drafting of the 2016 programme. 7 NESTA Lou-Davina Stouffs and Alex Glennie gave a presentation of the work of NESTA on Innovation Growth Lab and How (and how well) do innovation agencies work? David will distribute NESTA s questions to Taftie Members and their presentation via the AS. 8 EUREKA in ERA possible cooperation with Taftie Wolfgang remarked that many Taftie agencies are already directly involved in Eureka. Others, like VDI/VDE-IT, are not involved. Therefore an information flow between Eureka and Taftie could be interesting. He suggested to ask Henrik (who had to leave the meeting earlier to catch his plane) for advise, since Sweden will chair Eureka as of 1 st July. 9 AOB Christian Dubarry announced that Bpifrance will organise a side event of the UN Climate Change Conference taking place end of this year. Taftie members are offered to bring companies to this event. Christian will distribute additional information through the AS. At the Expert Session participation of Taftie in the ERA Consultation Committee was brought up by mr Eric-Oliver Pallu of the European Commission. The Chair will contact him to get more information on the content and duties for further internal discussion. Rita Ward proposed to reconsider the sequence of future Board and EWG Meetings to get a more even manner. The meetings before the summer holidays are rather close to each other (usually February, May and June), whereas the meetings after the summer have a (too) long time in between (early September and end of November or early December). She asked the incoming Chair to consider organizing EWG III end of September and the Board II early November. Rita expressed the hope that this new scheme would lead to participation of more Board Members. Sabine added to this that not limiting the role of the Board to just listening and decision making could be helpful to increase participation as well. She proposed to make more room for discussion in Board Meetings. Suggestions raised were: in-depth discussion on the results and work of Task Force BIEE or an informal discussion on the news overview that was prepared after EWG I. She referred also to the discussion on changes within member organisations that took place in Board Meeting II of the FFG 6
chairmanship. At that time news was collected and clustered in advance after which topics of interest for many agencies could be identified. The news were disseminated and selected Members (one per topic) were then asked prior to the meeting to prepare a short presentation on such a topic before the floor was opened for discussions (instead of having a tour de table on news from members). Decisions and actions The agenda and minutes were approved. The Bpifrance internal legal department will look into French Association Law. Sabine Mayer will forward the details of a 4 th scenario to EWG Members via the AS. Other members are encouraged to send in other scenarios as well. The EWG took the decision to have the MSWG Chairs present the progress made so far and announce a full proposal for decision-making for the November Board. The EWG decided not to choose between NEDO and JST, but to suggest both organisations to the Board as potential International Partners. Ian Cresswell indicated to be willing to take over the chair from Sabine, after internal consultation with his organisation. EWG Members wanting to join the MPG were asked to express their interest. Pieter de Bruijn will forward an email asking to express the interest to participate in BIEE and to indicate which instruments should be included in the benchmark. The EWG approved the TF BIEE s draft input for decision-making at the Board and agreed with the recommendation to the Board to continue as a structural Network. David will distribute NESTA s questions to Taftie Members and their presentation via the AS. The Chair will ask Henrik Fridén for advise on a possible cooperation with EUREKA in ERA, since Sweden will chair Eureka as of 1 st July. The Chair will contact Mr Pallu to get more information on the content and duties of a seat in the ERA Consultation Committee for further internal discussion. 7