- It will be in charge of financing, evaluating, executing and monitoring funds for R&D.
- About 300 people will work in it with the aim of managing aid in a more agile, flexible and autonomous way
- The planning will be multi-annual with medium-term objectives, which will provide stability to the calls
The Council of Ministers has approved the creation of the State Research Agency with the aim of providing the Spanish Science, Technology and Innovation system with more flexible, agile and autonomous management. This Agency, a demand of the scientific community included in the Science Law of 2011, will be in charge of the financing, evaluation and allocation of funds for R&D. It will also carry out follow-up activities on the financed actions to improve the measurement of results and their impact.
The purpose of the State Research Agency is to improve the efficiency of the services provided by the General State Administration in the field of R & D & i, the incorporation of the best international evaluation practices, the rendering of accounts of the aid granted and the simplification of administrative procedures.
The Agency is created at zero cost with the human and material resources of the Secretary of State for R & D & I and its implementation will be in 2016. Within a period not exceeding 60 days, the governing body of the Agency will be constituted, the Governing Council, which shall appoint as director, sole executive officer, a researcher or technologist with experience in R&D management. In this period, provisionally, the direction of the Agency will be assumed by the general director of Scientific and Technical Research.
The new body will have approximately 300 employees who will manage the aid from the Secretary of State for R + D + i. The Agency has the capacity to also manage R&D aid from other ministries through agreements, and may also add the management of private funds. It will act in coordination with the Center for Industrial Technological Development (CDTI), the other major financing agent for R & D & I, in its case specifically aimed at the business world.
The State Research Agency will provide more stability to public aid for R & D thanks to the multi-year planning of its resources, being able to set medium-term objectives and allowing calls for projects or HR to have the necessary predictability in the terms and financing. It will also have an independent evaluation system based on scientific and technical criteria to ensure the promotion of quality and excellence.
With the creation of this Agency, the Law on Science, Technology and Innovation of 2011, the Law on General State Budgets of 2015 and the National Reform Program are complied with. In addition, a comparable model is established with the leading science countries of the EU and the recommendations of the Council of the EU and the ERAC Peer Review are followed, which carried out an audit in 2014 of the Spanish Science, Technology and Innovation system at the request of the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.
