This Policy Support Facility (PSF) exercise responded to the November 2021 request from the Croatian Ministry of Science and Education, for the support of the PSF in enhancing the programme framework and the administrative capacities of the Croatian Science Foundation (CSF). EFIS Centre contributed to this exercise in the role of quality reviewer.
The need for, and the purpose of the assignment was embedded in the challenges that Croatian STI system was facing regarding the technology transfer and low commitment by Public Research Organisations toward commercialisation and creation of intellectual property. Consequentially, the public research sector rarely brings its research to commercialisation and rarely transforms new knowledge into intellectual property.
The assignment to support early stages of innovation and science-business linkages in Croatia had two focus areas:
1. The design of a programme portfolio directed at fostering i) applied research relevant to the economy in both public and private sectors and ii) knowledge and technology transfer to the private sector;
2. The preparation of recommendations on how to implement the programme portfolio developed in focus area 1 and the related administrative capacities.
The PSF for Croatia was carried out between May 2022 and February 2023 by a panel of five independent experts and two national peers. The report provides 18 recommendations in four main areas. These are designed to support maximum impact from programmes foreseen in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, the implementation of the new Smart Specialisation Strategy, and to support capacity building at the Croatian Science Foundation.
