Press magazine – April 13 2023

The "Smart Diaspora 2023 - diaspora in higher education, science, innovation and entrepreneurship" conference is on its third day, with a dense program of works from the 38 workshops, held in Timisoara member universities of ATU.

Prof. Marilen Pirtea, rector of the University of West Timișoara, the organizer of the event, participated in the session of one of the most challenging workshops, held at UVT - FEAA: "Innovation and shocks in the global economy".

The coordinators of the workshop are prof. Dr. Bogdan Cristian Negrea (Academy of Economic Studies from Bucharest), Prof. Univ. Dr. Marcel-Cristian Voia (Université d'Orléans, Laboratoire d'Économie d'Orléans), together with the representative of the Timișoara University Alliance, prof. Dr. Grațiela Georgiana Noja (West University of Timișoara).

The world is going through overlapping crises, from the geopolitical one to the one of the alarming increase in food prices, and the disharmonious effect is felt in the global economy, a very topical issue, which the participants of this conference workshop are debating and looking for models of interpretation - Prof. Pirtea testified.

"It is not acceptable that a German researcher can purchase a reagent in 5 hours, and a Romanian researcher in five months" - this is what Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă said in Timișoara.

On the occasion of the opening of the "Smart Diaspora" conference, organized in the city on Bega, the Prime Minister of Romania told the Minister of Digitalization, Sebastian Burduja, to urgently adopt the debureaucratization law, so that researchers have quick access to funds and equipment.

"I ask him to set up an interministerial working group, so that in the shortest time we can de-bureaucratize the way of granting grants for research. It is not acceptable that a German researcher can acquire a reagent in 5 hours, and a Romanian researcher in five months. By the time the reintegration grants are signed, estimated in August-September, I ask you to have the debureaucratization legislation adopted and operational. Researchers must stay in the laboratories, concern themselves with the content of the research activity, the dissemination of the results, their concretization and exploitation through start-ups, not wasting time with papers and drowning in bureaucracy", declared Nicolae Ciucă.

Also in Timișoara, the prime minister announced that 120 grants, worth one million euros, will soon be contracted for researchers from the Diaspora, Romanians and foreigners.

the municipality of Timișoara signed the contract regarding the elaboration of the Public Participation Strategy of the municipality, this being one of the objectives of the local action plan for open government.

A team with national and international experience led by Oana Marinescu, consultant in strategic communication, will develop the strategy and ensure the training of the staff within the town hall for its application over a period of 5 years.

Following the development of the public participation strategy, an action plan will result that will aim, on the one hand, at developing internal skills (tools/processes/procedures/training for employees) and, on the other hand, at developing mechanisms for increasing involvement citizens (advisory councils, other forms of representativeness of some groups, civic education programs, etc.), mechanisms that will be adapted to the existing reality.

OMA Vision and AIMS Timișoara are the organizations that, together with the digitalization and public administration expert Radu Puchiu, will work on the development of the public participation strategy, in a co-creation process, which will involve interested actors from the local level, according to the standards the Open Government Partnership (OGP) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The Ministry of Education can grant scholarships to students studying abroad, according to Emergency Ordinance 13/2023 approved on Wednesday in the Chamber of Deputies.

GEO 13/2023 has as its regulatory object the amendment of the National Education Law, and the Chamber of Deputies adopted it in the form received from the Government, without other amendments.

"Knowing the fact that the current legislation on international university mobility limits the offer of scholarships to partial master's and doctorate university internships, as well as to postdoctoral and research internships for young Romanians, not facilitating access to full university master's and doctorate studies, financial support is needed for young Romanians who apply and are admitted to prestigious international institutions, such as the European University Institute in Florence, the College of Europe. (...) The Ministry of Education can annually grant scholarships for university and post-graduate study internships, full master's and doctoral internships, for postdoctoral and research internships abroad, from funds set up for this purpose, by decision of the Government. These scholarships are obtained through a competition organized at the national level. The number, fields, financing conditions and the procedure for granting scholarships are approved by order of the Minister of Education". it is shown in the normative act.

The project is to be adopted by the Senate as well, the Chamber of Deputies being the first body notified in this case.

Established in 2015, the International Center for Advanced Training and Research in Physics (CIFRA), a branch with legal independence of the National Institute for Materials Physics Research and Development (INCDFM), is the only UNESCO Center in Romania and the only one in Eastern and SE Europe in the field of basic sciences. and one of the four UNESCO Centers in this area. However, CIFRA is the only UNESCO Center of interest in our geographical area, in the context where the other three Centers in the area are in Russia and Ukraine. Following the evaluation completed last year, the Agreement between the Romanian government and UNESCO for the operation of CIFRA was extended for another 8 years. Through its activity and results, CIFRA has become a Center recognized both in the UNESCO network and internationally. A notable example in this sense is the acceptance of INCDFM-CIFRA, in 2022, as a center affiliated to the Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, which opens new perspectives for scientific cooperation and development of joint projects with this prestigious institute.

CIFRA is an international center established by HGnr.1006/2015, based on the Agreement between the Government of Romania and UNESCO valid for a period of 5 years. The center, which has its headquarters in the "ConaculOtetelesanu" building in Măgurele, Ilfov county (www.cifra-c2unesco.ro), is part of the network of UNESCO institutes and centers of the 2nd category (managed by national institutions under the auspices of UNESCO ) along with about 70 such institutions all over the world. They carry out their activity in different fields and contribute to the fulfillment of UNESCO's strategic objectives, sustainable development, peace and respect for fundamental human rights, aiming to strengthen international cooperation

A Save the Children Romania survey reveals that 21.276 Romanian children have both parents abroad, for 79% of them there is no prospect of taking the child abroad.

"21.276 Romanian children have both parents abroad or come from families where the only supporting parent is abroad, according to official statistics. Unofficially, however, their number is much higher. The intention to take the child abroad, with the parent(s) leave, appears only in the case of 7% of the children in the sample measured by Save the Children Romania. For the vast majority of cases (79%) there is no such perspective", highlights the organization.

According to the cited source, many of the departed parents do not even intend to return permanently to Romania (41%), while 38% have such an intention, and in the other cases a decision has not yet been made in this regard.

Among the factors that could contribute to making a decision to definitively return to the country, the most frequently invoked relates to the labor market (jobs, salary conditions) - 39%, followed by the improvement of the health system (24%) and the improvement the general social climate/political life (20%).

The phenomenon of children remaining in the country, while their parents work abroad, is a large-scale, defining one for post-December Romania, the organization claims.

"We have moved from the paradigm based on the authority of the teacher to the paradigm of the voice of the one who shouts the loudest, and this is where problems arise," said Daniel David, rector of "Babeș-Bolyai" University in Cluj-Napoca, referring to cases of violence in schools lately. "What is done in the education system is a sham, not to say an imposture. Psychopedagogy specialists are discussed. There is no such thing in this world", claimed Daniel David for Euronews Romania.

Teachers must understand that their authority cannot be like 30 years ago, but they need procedures, Daniel David argued. "That model can no longer work today, because in the education system, students and parents have the right to be co-creators of the act of education."

Daniel David also proposes solutions related to the organizational culture of the school, the orientation towards values ​​such as non-violence, compassion, mutual support and regulations, agreed by the school, parents and children, which state very clearly for each type of violence what measures will be taken take

The executive approved in today's meeting the draft Decision for the approval of the methodological norms regarding the establishment, functioning, evaluation and accreditation of entities from the innovation and technological transfer infrastructure, as well as the way of supporting them, initiated by the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitalization (MCID)

The normative act comes as a necessity of the structural reform of the national research and innovation system, including through the development of legislation favorable to the transfer of R&D results into the economic environment, by repealing the old Government Decision no. 406/2003. In this way, an updated legislative framework, simplified and correlated with the needs of the research and economic environment in Romania, will be ensured.

"Innovation and technological transfer are key ingredients for the recipe of the new growth model of the Romanian economy. Through the normative act adopted today, we manage to modernize a legislation that dates back 20 years. The principles that guided this approach were the simplification and acceleration of procedures, digitization, stimulation of innovation and the transfer of research results to the economy. Through partnership between academic, public and private entities, Romania of the Future has the potential to value and bring together Romanian minds", said Sebastian Burduja, Minister of Research, Innovation and Digitization.

In Cluj-Napoca, the Transilvania European Innovation Valley was launched, a platform for accelerating regional development through innovation supported by the European Commission.

"It is an important moment for the history of Cluj, which we will remember in years to come, in which our eco-system from Cluj is the first in Romania to launch this European concept, the European Valley of Innovation. Silicon Valley is a state of mind, an ecosystem. We are launching in Cluj-Napoca the first project in Romania aimed at the European Valley of Innovation and to prepare the submission of the call for projects that will be launched by the EC this summer," said mayor Emil Boc.

The concept of Regional Valleys was launched by the EC and has three main goals: strengthening European innovation ecosystems by connecting all EU regions, solving the challenges of the contemporary world and strengthening cohesion policy.

The Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Tourism will create a new funding line dedicated to student entrepreneurs, an initiative also supported by student entrepreneurial societies, informs MAT through a press release.

According to the quoted source, the representatives of the student entrepreneurial societies participated on Wednesday in the consultations organized at the headquarters of the ministry, in the presence of the Secretary of State Cătălin Canciu and the management team of the General Directorate of Entrepreneurship and Financing Programs (DGAPF), respectively Camelia Taină and Adrian Panait.

"Young people are a valuable source of innovation, and investments in their businesses are, in fact, investments in a better future for Romania" - was one of the arguments that accompanied the presentation of the MAT initiative, during the meeting.