Contribution to internationalisation

This section will explore the extent to which the SFI scheme has been able to strengthen the ability of participating partners to increase their international visibility, better their recruitment, and improve their participation in EU projects and attract international funding. The section builds on qualitative input from the survey that was given to partners of the SFI cen-tres as well as the interviews.

Figure 3.8 presents responses of research partners and business partners of centres, respectively, to ways in which the SFI scheme contributes to inter-nationalization. The options listed were gathered through interview insights on internationalization, while an open ended question allowed partners to add any additional insights.

Overall, we see that research partners report posi-tive feedback for a number of channels through which internationalization is promoted through the scheme, with very many reporting to a high extent and very few reporting not at all. The opposite is the case for business partners, for which very few report to a high extent and relatively more report not at all.

From insights given in the interviews, this is mostly due to high degree of internationalization among participating firms, with many of them being large global companies. As such, with an already interna-tional profile, it is difficult to see gains through this channel.

In the following, we summarize how the scheme contributes to internationalization through increased visibility and collaboration, recruitment, and funding.

3.2.1 International visibility and collaboration The two options which score highest in terms of pos-itive feedback (to a great extent and somewhat) for research partners was increasing international rep-utation (94 pct.), and extending the international network (84 pct.). A nearly equal share of these re-ported to a great extent and somewhat.

Furthermore, 69 pct. report that the SFI scheme fur-thers internationalisation through hosting visiting foreign researchers.

For business partners, as mentioned, a lower share overall reported positive feedback. However, in-creasing international reputation as a company ranked second highest, with 56 pct. reporting posi-tive feedback. Only 10 pct. of these fall into the cat-egory to a great extent. Only 34 pct. report creased export opportunities, while 33 pct. report in-creased international market access. Very few (16 pct.) report increased number of companies in mer-ger and acquisition.

As such, the SFI scheme primarily benefits the re-search community with respect to increasing inter-national reputation and collaboration.

3.2.2 International recruitment and access to qualified personnel

For both research and business partners, interna-tional recruitment is a large benefit of SFI participa-tion. Among research partners, 76 pct. believe that the SFI scheme to some extent allows for increased international recruitment of foreign students and PhDs. Only 28 pct. of these reported to a great ex-tent. Furthermore, 63 pct. also believe the scheme helps with international exchange of researchers, with nearly 40 pct. reporting this to a great extent.

The schemes ability to attract qualified personnel is even more clear for business partners. The out-come which scores highest for business partners with respect to internationalization is improved ac-cess to competent personnel and knowledge insti-tutions. 44 pct. business partners report to a large extent while 39 pct. report somewhat. This speaks to both a higher international recruitment ability, but also increased global knowledge sharing. Further-more, 42 pct. report increased international recruit-ment of candidates, though only 10 pct. report this to a high extent.

The scheme is thus rather successful when it comes to attracting highly qualified labour to Norway, both when it comes to developing excellent research en-vironments, and when it comes to building a com-petitive and innovative private sector.

3.2.3 Attracting international funding

Lastly, we explore the extent to which the scheme is able to attract international funding and participa-tion in EU projects. This is the overall goal which scores the lowest for the scheme, for both partner types.

With respect to participating in EU projects, only 56 pct. responded positively (19 pct. to a large extent), and 7 pct. responded not at all. With respect to be-ing lead investigator in EU projects, only 46 pct. re-sponded positively, with very few responding to a

large extent (9 pct.) and 9 pct. responding not at all.

Lastly, only 48 pct. respond positively to attracting more international funding e.g. through Hori-zon2020, with only 13 pct. responding to a great ex-tent.

For business partners the same is true. A very low share report positively on both participating in EU projects (34 pct.) and attracting more international funding e.g. through Horizon2020 (32 pct.). Under 5 pct. responded to a great extent to either of those criteria.

These inputs illustrate that the scheme does not perform particularly well, in the eyes of its partici-pants, in terms of attracting EU funding and either participating in EU projects or being lead investiga-tor in them. Furthermore, it does not perform well in terms of attracting international funding through competitive EU programmes, such as Horizon2020.

FIGURE 3.8

Source: DAMVAD Analytics Survey for Partners in SFI centres, 2017.

Note: Figure A: n=54, Figure B: n=124

9%

Being lead investigator on EU projects Attraction of more international funding e.g. through…

Participating in EU projects Allowing for international exchange of researchers Hosting visiting foreign researchers International recruitment of foreign PhD candidates…

Extending the international network Increasing your international reputation as a research…

Figure A: To what extent does the SFI scheme contribute to internationalization by…? Answered by research partners

To a great extent Somewhat Very little Not at all I don’t know

2%

Increasing the number of companies in merger and acquisition

Attraction of more international funding e.g.

through Horizon2020

Creating International market access Participating in EU projects Creating better export opportunities International recruitment of candidates Increasing your international reputation as a

company

Giving improved access to competent personnel and knowledge institutions

Figure B: To what extent does the SFI scheme contribute to internationalization by…? Answered by business partners

To a great extent Somewhat Very little Not at all I don’t know

This section explores the fulfilment of the following goals:

Bring Norwegian R&D to the forefront of interna-tional research environments and networks, with a commercial focus.

Promote researcher training in areas that are im-portant to business as well as research-based knowledge and technology transfer.

We explore these goals through the following eval-uation question:

Has the SFI scheme contributed to strengthening and further developing the best Norwegian R&D en-vironments - nationally and internationally?

We first present the data provided by each of the SFI centres on the number of researchers employed to provide an overview of the type and volume of research personnel involved in each generation. We then comment on the scientific output and other dis-semination methods reported by the centres, and how these differ across generations.

We then review the results from an in depth biblio-metric analysis of the peer reviewed publications.

The bibliometric analysis will provide insight into:

• The number of scientific outputs created (publications and disseminations)

• The quality of these publications and the performance across research areas.

• The degree of collaboration with industry partners in creating publications

• The degree of collaboration with interna-tional research communities in creating publications.