- Among the novelties of this 2024-2027 call, which will be published at the end of 2023, highlights the doubling of the budget and the extension as beneficiaries of the program to Public Administrations and private non-profit entities.
- These doctorates with industrial mention aim to transfer knowledge from the scientific field to the social economic environment to strengthen their R + D + i capacities and improve the employability of researchers.
The acting Minister of Science and Innovation, Diana Morant, and the acting Minister of Universities, Joan Subirats, today presented the Action Plan for Industrial Doctorates in Spain, within the framework of the visit to Berlimed, a Bayer pharmaceutical plant leading in the production of medicines for the whole world.
Both have stressed that this Plan seeks to improve the transfer potential of the R + D + I system to society as a whole, the level of public-private collaboration and the research and innovative culture of our productive fabric.
Morant has announced that the Ministry of Science and Innovation, through the State Research Agency, will double the budget allocated to the hiring of young researchers in doctoral projects with industrial mention, from 4 to 8 million euros per year. “We believe in the industrial doctorate, that’s why we doubled its budget, improved the agility of the process and expanded its scope of action.”
The minister also recalled the policies that have been promoted in recent years to improve the rights and salary conditions of our young researchers. Specifically, the minimum salary of these industrial doctoral researchers has been increased by 15%.
For his part, Subirats has stated that “industrial doctorates are a tool to link research to the needs of the social and economic environment that has proven effective in accelerating the processes of knowledge transfer and exchange”
Main novelties of the Plan
This new Plan will guide the call for aid 2024-2027 for Industrial Doctorates, which will be published at the end of 2023 and foresees different actions around four axes:
- Increased funding and number of grants. The budget will be increased by 100% compared to the previous year, from 4 to 8 million euros.
- A modification of the bases of the call that allows, among other novelties:
- Expand as beneficiaries of these aids to private non-profit entities and Public Administrations. Until now, only commercial companies could benefit from this program. This will allow entities and Public Administrations to collaborate with the academic environment to solve problems and challenges within the framework of research that culminates in a doctoral thesis.
- Grant complementary funding to the academic environment and / or the socioeconomic environment of the project (company, entity or Administration) for those expenses eligible for the development of the project. The current call does not provide for specific funding for the project.
- Increase the aid for the realization of stays in R+D entities.
- Measures to reduce early withdrawals and resignations after the concession, as well as more flexible submission deadlines throughout the year to stimulate participation.
- The granting of this aid to the entity, company or Public Administration will be conditioned to the establishment of an agreement and tutoring by the university.
- Recognize the direction or tutoring of industrial doctorates as valuable contributions in the field of knowledge transfer in the evaluation programs of ANECA teaching staff.
- Specific actions on the internet and a communicative campaign to give greater dissemination of the opportunities and benefits of this modality of doctorates for companies, entities and Public Administrations.
In this legislature, two regulations have been approved (the LOSU and Royal Decree 576/2023) that have provided, for the first time, a regulatory framework to promote industrial doctorates in our country. Likewise, new initiatives and actions have been approved to promote the transfer and exchange of knowledge, such as the Law for the Promotion of the Ecosystem of Emerging Companies (startups) or the Transfer and Collaboration Plan: science and innovation at the service of society.
Call for Industrial Doctorates
The Call for Industrial Doctorates aims to train doctors in companies by carrying out industrial research or experimental development projects that are part of a doctoral thesis. These grants include the financing of contracts for predoctoral researchers, an aid for the realization of stays in R+D entities and an aid for doctoral tuition fees.
This type of doctorate is an effective tool to promote the transfer of knowledge and develop two-way links between science and business and promote research and innovation in the Spanish business fabric. This is especially relevant in our country, where the percentage of companies that are considered innovative and the research staff employed in companies over the total is far from the average value of the countries of our environment.