MaltaMedia.com

Over 100 local business owners have over the past two years benefited from €8.5million in support of research and innovative investments; projects which are creating quality jobs on our shores. This assistance forms part of Government’s efforts, which consists of a mixture of infrastructural development and financial support, through which it is seeking to put research and innovation at the centre of Malta’s efforts to continuously enhance its competitiveness in face of existing and future global economic challenges.

Minister of Finance, the Economy and Investment Tonio Fenech said this while addressing a seminar organised by Malta Enterprise intended to encourage the development of further innovative projects and research within Maltese businesses.

In his address, Minister Tonio Fenech remarked that “We are part of a global economy where the playing field is anything but level. Yet scientific research and technological innovation can serve as a true competitive advantage. Knowledge is the key to wealth. We believe in creating the right environment where creativity and innovation can prosper.” In this light, Government is striving to create an innovative culture both within itself and amongst private enterprises, ranging from SMEs to larger industries, whilst also taking into account the academia, researchers and students at our educational facilities.

“We are seeking to achieve this through a number of direct, practical initiatives, backed by increased funding. Firstly, there is substantial infrastructural investment that will provide improved facilities that make it even more possible to carry out innovative activity. One such prime example is the BioMalta Campus, an investment of €30 million, co-financed by the European Union, which is proceeding on target for completion in a couple of years time. The Campus is set to boost Malta’s research facilities within the life sciences and bio-technology industry upon its completion. We have also setup BioMalta Foundation, which amongst its main tasks will be precisely have the establishment of an Angel Investor Network to secure private funding for local companies who are or will be doing research and development in the biotechnology, medical, health and pharmaceutical industries. Professor Sir Chris Evans is heading the BioMalta Foundation, which besides overseeing the project shall also be setting up a €200 million fund that will help finance researchers and companies in this field.”

The Minister explained that this infrastructural development is being backed up by substantial financial backing. Over the past couple of years, we have distributed around €8.5 million we obtained from the European Regional Development Fund to almost 100 beneficiaries which undertook projects in R&D and innovation, whilst we also provide tax credits for R&D projects to make such processes more accessible to the local enterprises, with the added fiscal benefit that income from royalties on patents is non-taxable.

An important tool to support Research and Innovation in Malta is the National R&I Fund, a yearly programme which funds research projects of between €50,000 and €200,000 concentrating on technology transfer between academia and industry. It focuses on four priority sectors namely: Environment and Energy Resources; ICT; Value Added Manufacturing and Health and Biotechnology. An important strand to this project has been added this year, in the form of a Commercialisation Programme. The aim of this programme is for technology owners to study the feasibility of taking the technology to market addressing all the requirements particularly to attract capital investment. It is particularly intended for the successful recipients of funds under the R&I Programme to help them move their technology closer to market.

This programme seeks to achieve a positive impact on the registration of patents, an increase in the number of new locally developed products and services on the market, and increased exports of locally developed products and services and further development of cross-sectoral synergies. The approved budget for the year 2012 is of €1.6M with approximately €200,000 being earmarked for the Commercialisation Programme.

During the Seminar, Malta Enterprise officials presented the participants with the other funding and support opportunities either through local initiatives or schemes, or through European funded instruments, as well as the other support services that are available for local businesses and industries undertaking R&D and innovation projects. Moreover a number of local entrepreneurs from Action Frame Ltd, Electronic Systems Design Ltd and Abertax Quality Ltd shared their experience with the participants with regards to the development of new and innovative products and technologies.