TBED Around the World: National Governments, Foundations Look to Attract Star Scientists

As globalization transforms national R&D funding priorities and increase the demand for top S&T, nations are shifting their national R&D strategies toward initiatives intended to attract top scientists from other countries. These attraction efforts have a specific focus on repatriating top researchers by offering them access to the funds necessary to build world class facilities. In addition to large national commitments, foundations also have announced efforts to attract researchers by providing grant funding to support R&D projects and build facilities. In countries such as Singapore, these efforts have started to yield results as top expatriates have returned home to launch large-scale research projects to find transformational solutions to some of the globe’s most pressing issues.

Singapore
On January 8, the government of Singapore announced that it will commit up to $19 SGD (approximately $13.2 billion USD) on R&D from 2016 to 2020 that will continue its longstanding efforts to lure foreign researchers and expatriate Singaporean scientists to relocate to the island nation. The Research Innovation Enterprise 2020 Plan is an 18 percent increase over the previous five-year cycle according to an article from Sciencemag.org. Approximately 21 percent of spending will go to health and biomedical sciences – the largest share of spending. Advanced manufacturing is the second most significant focus of the plan with an emphasis on aerospace, electronics, chemical, pharmaceutical, and marine sectors, as well as developing cross-disciplinary technologies in robotics and additive manufacturing.

In connection with the new initiative, three prominent Singaporean scientists announced that they will return to the island nation as the first recipients of the Returning Singaporean Scientists Scheme announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in 2013. These top scientists will receive significant grants to support their large scale R&D projects and provide leadership to others in their respective fields of computer science, advanced electronics and plant molecular biology. Managed by the country’s National Research Foundation, the new initiative will attempt to attract a total of 10 scientists to return by 2019. Each scientist who chooses to return to Singapore will receive up to $7.5 million in startup research funding.

Ireland
In December, Ireland announced that it will commit €5 billion (approximately $5.5 billion USD) over five years to increase public and private investment in R&D including building a stronger S&T workforce. The Irish national R&D strategy aims to develop a strong national S&T workforce by:

• Increasing the number of R&D professionals by 60% to 40,000;
• Raising annual research masters and Ph.D. enrolments by 500 to 2,250; and,
• Doubling private investment in R&D within the public research system.

In addition to supporting growth in the workforce pipeline, the country intends to put significant funding into developing the network of research centers, providing investments in new facilities and equipment, and upgrading existing research facilities.

The plan, Innovation 2020: Excellence, Talent, Impact, sets a target for combined national and private sector investment in R&D at 2.5 percent of gross national product – currently R&D investment is approximately 1.8 percent. Under the plan, knowledge transfer will be the focus of the government’s efforts including turning intellectual property into value generation; and, supporting International R&D collaboration so the country can secure funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 budget.

Ireland intends to use several different types of tax-based initiatives to promote R&D in Ireland including the establishment of an industry fellowship program. The industry fellowship program will provide the funding necessary to allow top scientists to spend one year working on a collaborative research project with any company, anywhere in the world. This strategy is intended to attract and retain top scientists to the nation’s innovation ecosystem while providing those individuals with important R&D experience in industry.

Israel
The Mortimer B. Zuckerman Foundation announced that it will commit up to $100 million over the next twenty years to facilitate scientific collaboration between the United States and Israel including funding to facilitate the return of top Israeli researchers in the U.S. to institutions in Israel. Under the Mortimer B. Zuckerman Scholars Program in STEM Leadership, the foundation will have two separate components:

• Postdoctoral Scholars Program will provide high-achieving postdoctoral researchers and graduate students from the United States with opportunities to collaborate with leading researchers at top Israeli institutions; and,
• Faculty Scholars Program will help top Israeli institutions repatriate top Israeli researchers in the U.S. to institutions in Israel.

In addition to these efforts, the Zuckerman Foundation pledges to provide Israeli institutions with the funds necessary to develop top-tier research labs, projects, and programs.

Qatar
In an attempt to understand the best methods to attract star scientists, the Qatar Foundation Research & Development (QF R&D) recently hosted 30 local scientists from the Arab Expatriate Scientists (AES) Network. QF R&D held this session to brainstorm mechanisms that will make significant progress in supporting the goals of Qatar National Vision 2030 and the relocation of Arab expatriates to Qatar. During these brainstorming sessions, the scientists provide their insight on a new vision and goals for QF R&D’s efforts to repatriate Arab scientists. Originally launched in 2006, the AES Network is tasked with identifying strategies to support innovation and entrepreneurship, human capacity building, applied R&D and social outreach for future growth.