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For Robert Brummer, inter-disciplinary and inter-sectoral public-private partnerships exemplify how disruptive R&I can benefit our planet, economy and society.
To fully engage in research and innovation that fosters both industrial competitiveness and climate and environmental sustainability, universities need a well-defined governmental strategy and the support of business and other public and private partners. This type of public-private partnership strengthens universities’ research strategy and competence due to its long-term funding, ability to recruit highly-talented researchers, support to inter-disciplinary and inter-sectoral researcher mobility and clear contribution to achieving broader societal goals.
Traditionally, an integrated R&I process is summarised as follows: first, the research and invention phase transforms financial resources into knowledge and competence, and then the innovation process transforms this into financial capital. However, this model reflects a rather reductionistic view, especially in the life science sector, because the body of knowledge and competence produced by research also can be valorised in terms of public – rather than strict commercial – benefits, such as the improvement of health and wellbeing.
A successful integrated R&I process necessitates the articulation of two basic questions: ‘What knowledge and competence do we need?’ and ‘How do we achieve this knowledge and competence?’ But who should answer these questions?
My firm belief is that those mainly responsible for the valorisation of knowledge and competence should answer the first question. Whereas universities and other research actors should take the lead in answering the second question.
In an innovation process driven by public-private partnership universities play a pivotal role, enabling industrial competitiveness along with important sustainability achievements. Typically, this type of partnership, with university engagement, is comprised of industrial partners and governmental support, the latter often from departments responsible for economic affairs and commerce.
Whether or not this partnership also contributes to societal sustainability is anchored in how it is composed and how its responsibilities are assigned. If the government is only represented by its economic or commerce department and only academic and business partners complete the consortium, it will be difficult to achieve substantial progress on sustainability. Moreover, many of the research deliverables will not be valorised towards public benefit. As part of the central management of public-private partnerships like the Wageningen Centre for Food Sciences and TI Food and Nutrition in the Netherlands, I have experienced how difficult it can be to valorise on important research deliverables with enormous potential for public health, although there may be no commercial interest.
However, there is an alternative. In particular, the outcomes of a research and innovation consortium initiated by the Swedish government in recent years, with a central role for academic and federal research organisations, provides a notable example.
It started with the governmental decision to establish a national food and nutritional strategy comprising a national research and innovation agenda, which was established in close collaboration between governmental R&I agencies, academia and industry. An important detail is that the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development (Formas) was heavily involved in this agenda. Moreover, it assigned a central role to the UN’s Agenda 2030 and Sustainable Development Goals along with fostering a durable competitive and sustainable Swedish food system.
As a result of this agenda, Formas released a call for ‘Research centres for sustainability and competitiveness in the food system’ in 2020, with a final decision on the grants the same year. The title of the call clearly articulated its dual goal, which was enhanced by the requirement that the centre must be created in partnership by academia, the business sector and other parts of society, and include industrial co-financing. Inter-disciplinary and inter-sectoral research was emphasised and a research organisation was the only possible main applicant. In my view, this brief created a durable basis for co-production between academia and business, the wider public and civil society towards both industrial competitiveness and societal sustainability.
Our proposal ‘Plant-based Proteins for Health and Wellbeing’ (PAN Sweden) with four universities, one federal research organisation, large, medium and small business enterprises and partners from the public sector was granted for four years and recently extended by another four years. PAN Sweden’s vision of ‘Sustainable produced food with health benefits is the consumers’ preferred choice’ integrates societal sustainability with a market position and business opportunities. The knowledge and competence gaps addressed by the centre and aligned with its vision comprise, amongst others:
1. The unknown negative and positive health implications of the inferior bioavailability of plant-based proteins compared to traditional animal-based proteins in meat and dairy;
2. The health, taste and texture consequences of various processing techniques of – especially Nordic – crops towards food ingredients and products, also in a whole meal perspective;
3. Consumer perception, as well as food policy aspects of food system transition towards more sustainable food.
An important part of the centre’s activities is directed towards the precompetitive development of model systems and methods which can be used by business partners in a more competitive way. This enables the production of impactful scientific publications. An example of activities directed at public health are the development of tasty and affordable plant-based school lunches.
The centre’s research exemplifies the necessity of inter-disciplinary and inter-sectoral modern research and innovation supporting beneficial disruptive societal developments. One of the major assets of this kind of public-private partnerships is the building of human research and innovation capital in the form of early-career researchers adapted to an inter-disciplinary and inter-sectoral work environment and well-equipped to address future research and innovation challenges either in an academic, business or other private or public setting.
Note: This article is based on the author’s contribution to a webinar on ‘Competitiveness and sustainability: can universities find a common ground?’ as part of EUA’s ‘Spotlight on Sustainability’ campaign.
