Evaluations, consultations, foresight exercises 26

- Evaluation of RPOs started at the initiative of the GSRT (Law 2919/2001). The process was organised ad hoc by the GSRT convening panels of international experts by subject area. The law stipulated that the overall academic performance of the organisation was evaluated with respect to academic publications, citations, cooperation with the business sector and civil society and operational cost. The last evaluation of RPOs took place in 2013, eight years after the previous one (2005). By and large the evaluations were positive with limited recommendations for improvement.

84_{RIS3 Assessment: North Aegean, A report to the European Commission, Directorate General for Regional} Policy, Unit I3 - Greece & Cyprus, December 2012 (final version), Reid A., Komninos N., Sanchez J., Tsanakas P.

85 _{RIS3 Assessment: South Aegean, A report to the European Commission, Directorate General for Regional}

Policy, Unit I3 - Greece & Cyprus, December 2012 (final version), Reid A., Komninos N., Sanchez J., Tsanakas P.

86 _{RIS3 Assessment: Central Greece, A report to the European Commission, Directorate General for Regional}

Policy, Unit I3 - Greece & Cyprus, December 2012 (final version), Reid A., Komninos N., Sanchez J., Tsanakas P.

87 _{RIS3 Assessment: Thessaly, A report to the European Commission, Directorate General for Regional Policy,}

Unit I3 - Greece & Cyprus, December 2012 (final version), Reid A., Komninos N., Sanchez J., Tsanakas P.

88 _{RIS3 Assessment: Western Greece, A report to the European Commission, Directorate General for Regional}

Policy, Unit I3 - Greece & Cyprus, December 2012 (final version), Reid A., Komninos N., Sanchez J., Tsanakas P.

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The new RTDI Law 4310/2014 (Art.31) introduced new evaluation methods of research organisations. RPOs are evaluated every 5 years by 5-7 members committees of external evaluators from Greece and abroad. The process is supervised by GSRT. Evaluation is based on quality and efficiency indicators derived by GSRT in accordance with international RTDI best practices. The reports are submitted to NCRTDI and GSRT.

For the evaluation of funding programmes and the monitoring of their implementation, a registry of certified evaluators will be created by GSRT;

- Institutional evaluations of HEI are more recent and started following the country’s obligations in the context of the Bologna process. Law 4009/2011 provides for internal and external evaluations of departments of HEIs and TEIs as well as for the accreditation of institutions and academic curricula by Hellenic Quality Assurance Authority (HQAA). By April 2014, a total of 485 internal evaluation reports had been completed (2008-2014); 285 for HEIs and 200 for TEIs, the bulk of which (475) in the period 2008-201289_{. In the same period (2008-April 2014), 389 external}

evaluations had been concluded, the bulk of which (214) in 2013 and 201490_{. The}

external evaluation was based on quantitative (research personnel, students, administrative staff) and qualitative criteria (curriculum, teaching, research, other services) and assessed through structured questionnaires sent to Quality Assurance Units of HEIs91_.

External evaluations were peer reviewed; 627 questionnaires were sent to external international experts and the response rate was 49.5%92_{. The evaluations were also}

reviewed by the HEIs and the response rate was 64%93_.

The evaluation of funding programmes will reveal weaknesses in absorption mechanisms and problems in their implementation. The evaluation of RPOs and HEIs will reveal the performance per scientific field of expertise and will help strengthen the scientific areas that have been prioritised by ESETAK.

In the first semester of 2014, HQAA started the evaluation of HEIs and TEIs taking into account the internal and external evaluation reports of their departments.

Research institutes and lobbying groups publish occasionally studies that do not constitute systematic evaluations but are critical to the national development policies including aspects of R&I. Examples include:

- A report released by McKinsey and Company in March 2012 defining the new growth model for Greece in the next decade. The report identifies lack of innovation support (lack of collaboration between academia and the industry) as one of the barriers for growth94 _{and acknowledges the redesign of University-Business R&D}

patenting for the enhancement of innovation and partnership as one of the cross sector priorities for growth95_;

89_{Annual Report Hellenic Quality Assurance Authority 2013-2014, July 2014, pg.34} 90_{Annual Report Hellenic Quality Assurance Authority 2013-2014, July 2014, pg. 35} 91_{Annual Report Hellenic Quality Assurance Authority 2013-2014, July 2014, pg. 48-51} 92_{Annual Report Hellenic Quality Assurance Authority 2013-2014, July 2014, pg. 68} 93_{Annual Report Hellenic Quality Assurance Authority 2013-2014, July 2014, pg. 74}

94 _{Greece 10 Years Ahead, Defining Greece’s New Growth Model and Strategy, McKinsey and Company, March}

2012 , pg. 19

95 _{Greece 10 Years Ahead, Defining Greece’s New Growth Model and Strategy, McKinsey and Company, March}

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- Α Greek Start up Manifesto was published in June 2014. The Manifesto was compiled by 13 Greek innovative companies, namely Antcor, Aventurine, Corallia, Helic, Intale, Nessos, Persado, Planetek Hellas, Pollfish, TalentLMS, Telesto, Ubitech and Wings ICT Solutions with the support of EU counterparties and presented key areas that need to be improved in Greece in order to enhance innovative entrepreneurship. The areas included taxes (support of a stable investor friendly tax environment), administrative barriers (removal of red tape in business incorporation), digital infrastructures (increase of broadband coverage, cloud investments and expansion of e-government), financing (incentives for angel investments, abolishment of guarantees, new schemes for SMEs) and the enhancement of entrepreneurship (offer of export guarantee schemes, introduction of start-up visas, strengthening of collaboration with HEIs)96_.

There are two main macroeconomic models in Greece (one of the Bank of Greece and one of the National Centre for Economic Research) but they have not as yet been used to assess R&I impact on economic growth.

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