The Flemish Science Policy Council (VRWB) has played an important role in building the Flemish scientific and innovation policy. The Council has been involved in shaping the organisation and instruments and tracked the performance of the same. Stepping over to the new Strategic Advisory Board on Science and Innovation is entirely in line with this development. In the present Flemish landscape, an organism which submits clearly proactive positions to the policy is required more than ever. In the course of the years, the VRWB has evolved from a council for policy evaluation to an increasingly more upstream policy council. With the new strategic advisory system, the Flemish government intends to build an even more proactive policy-preparing advisory organism to bring top-down and bottom-up together. The stimuli which came to the surface from the ground should be able to be structured into the policy options which can give inputs to the decision-making process of policy-makers. The Strategic Advisory Board will reinforce the role that the VRWB currently fulfils. Due to its involvement, but mainly due to its own experience and built-up expertise, the Flemish Science Policy Council desires to think along constructively in this conversion process and formulate a number of key issues and suggestions in the matter.
VRWB, BRAINCHILD OF THE DIRV ACTION
The history of the Flemish Science Policy Council goes back to the mid-80's, the period when the Third Industrial Revolution was launched. A pioneering time in which Flanders was preparing the dissimilar knowledge society. A discussion forum in which all actors in the domain of science and technology could debate with each other to then advise the government on the science and technology policy to be implemented, after consensus and with all the more moral overview. The Flemish Council on Scientific Policy, the VRWB, was born. The VRWB was initially set up by decree of the Flemish government dated 17 July 1985. The very first VRWB was solemnly installed on 18 February 1986 by Gaston Geens.
The decree for setting up the Flemish Science Policy Council was approved on 15 December 1993. The VRWB rose in parallel and interactively with the organisation of the Flemish science and innovation system. In this regard, the VRWB played its role as independent advisory organism to the fullest.
TOWARDS A STRATEGIC ADVISORY SYSTEM
The Flemish Government has decided to focus not only on the administrative organisation in the strict sense of the word within framework of the Better Manageable Policy project, but also to work on restructuring the Flemish advisory system.
The Flemish Government decided to elaborate a framework regulation for building a transparent, simple and goal-oriented advisory system in the matter of policy opportunities. Concretely, a number of essential principles in the matter of strategic policy advising were based in the decree for regulating the strategic advisory boards (Framework Decree), which was approved on 9 July 2003 in the Flemish Parliament and which was enacted and notified by the Flemish Government on 18 July 2003. The decree contains a number of generic rules with respect to setting up, task analysis, organisation and functioning of strategic advisory boards, and with respect to the programming of activities and reporting.
The basic principles:
- A strategic advisory board issues opinions about strategic policy matters and the outlining of policy. It contributes to forming the policy vision and an interpretation of societal developments in this manner.
- The strategic advisory board has a broad intrinsic task setup. It works in a policy-oriented and reactive, as well as in a proactive and anticipatory manner. Moreover, the strategic advisory board can serve as a sounding board for political responsibilities, for testing undeveloped ideas.
- The presence of representatives of the societal midfield in the strategic advisory board, guaranteed by decree, ensures the participation of the midfield and thus the societal relevance of the issued opinions.
- The primacy of politics is observed. After participation follows political expression.
- Binding opinion-making is excluded.
- The objective was the creation of a strategic advisory board for each policy domain. Where required, a strategic advisory board at the level of the policy field is possible.
- The independent position of the strategic advisory board is crucial: it plays a role in the political agenda of the policy representative, but is in no way an organism for the minister to express him/herself. Also to guarantee this independence, a separate legal entity is planned for the strategic advisory board which has its own secretariat for intrinsic and administrative preparation and support of activities.
STRATEGIC ADVISORY BOARD FOR SCIENCE AND INNOVATION
As indicated in the 2007 policy letter, the tradition of policy recommendations will be continued for the policy fields of science and innovation and the Flemish Science Policy Council will be converted into the Strategic Advisory Board on Science and Innovation. This establishment will be anchored in the organic decree related to science and innovation policy which is currently being prepared.
Due to its involvement, experience and expertise, the VRWB formulated its Recommendation 30 'The Strategic Advisory Board on Science and Innovation' the most important elements of which are reflected below.
MISSION
In compliance with the decree of 18 July 2003 for regulating strategic advisory boards, the Strategic Advisory Board on Science and Innovation will have the following assignments in the matter of science and innovation policy:
- to issue opinions at its own initiative or upon request about policy outlines;
- to contribute to forming a policy vision, taking into account trends in science and innovation on the national and international area;
- to test the policy of developments on social, economic, technological and cultural levels and to formulate the requirements arising from the same;
- to issue opinions about preliminary draft decrees;
- to issue opinion from personal consideration or upon request about proposing decree;
- to issue opinion from personal consideration or upon request about draft decisions of the Flemish Government;
- to deliver reflections about the policy notes and policy documents submitted to the Flemish Parliament;
- to issue opinion from personal consideration or upon request about the budget policy implemented or to be implemented;
- to issue opinion from personal consideration or upon request about the collaboration agreement drafts that the Flemish Community or the Flemish Region will conclude with the State or with other Communities and Regions;
- to issue opinion from personal consideration or upon request about policy intentions, policy plans and legislation in readiness at the level of the European Union, and international treaties being prepared.
More specifically, the VRWB wishes to formulate the mission of the new Strategic Advisory Board on Science and Innovation as follows:
- to analyse, reflect on and give opinions about complementary objectives for the government policy;
- reinforcing the scientific and technological basis (including education and training),
- reinforcing the resources necessary for developing new knowledge-based economic activities, aligning excellence in science and technology with the development of R&D intensive companies. Handing over a reference framework for identifying economic activities - not linked to sectors - where Flanders can achieve a strong competitive position (process of prioritising in the matter of science and innovation in Flanders);
- more knowledge diffusion (based on own R&D and absorption of innovations developed elsewhere, open innovation systems) in the economic fabric, availability of complementary skills, such as management and commercial abilities, financial and entrepreneurship attitudes.
- to monitor (in collaboration with and complementary to the Centres) and to critically evaluate the Flemish innovation system;
- to analyse, reflect over and give opinion about societal embedding and broad societal aspects of the innovation policy.
Creating a stable and innovative framework however requires attention for three types of innovation:
- innovation of products and services, for creating new markets or finding existing markets creatively;
- innovation of processes, with better productivity as a result;
- structural innovation, which leads to a profound renewal of existing socio-economic structures. Factors like taxation, education, work organisation in the enterprise, staff policy, social and political discussion procedures, government regulations, etc., come under this point
The experience in Scandinavian countries has taught us that innovation can only be combined with growth in employment if the above three types of innovation are present simultaneously and in a balanced manner.
This mission rests on three core tasks: advisory role, study role and discussion role.
- The basic role of the Strategic Advisory Board is to provide independent opinion, and what is mainly involved is the impact of this opinion on political decision-making which is the product of the same to a large extent and of the societal relevance on which they are based.
- A second core task is also the reinforcement of knowledge, expertise and strategic intelligence. The role of an advisory board is to open up, summarise, use intelligently, exhange with others and inject existing knowledge into the policy process on the one hand, and to determine lacunae in ground research, on the other. In order to implement them, the involvement of ad hoc experts and/or outsourcing study assignments, and/or in-house implementation of research are useful and meaningful.
- The third task is the discussion role. The Strategic Advisory Board is a crucial instrument to create broad societal relevance, which then also should be reflected in the composition.