Through the PRISM – Excellent Research Ideas and 97 Projects to Be Financed by Science Fund Over Next Three Years Presented

That waste can be used in a smart way with the help of bees in the future, but also that some innovations, unimaginable to many at the moment, can improve the process of preserving the cultural heritage or the production of medical drugs, are some of the concepts that our researchers will try to prove and show to the expert public, but also a wider public, in the next three years. This is just a hint of what nearly 900 researchers will be doing within 97 projects over the next three years within the PRISM (PRIZMA) program. Within it, the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia will finance those 97 projects, in which 898 researchers and 91 scientific research organizations will take part. The total budget of the approved projects amounts to around EUR 25 million.

As Milica Djuric-Jovicic, the acting director of the Science Fund, pointed out at the ceremony where the teams and the projects were presented, the funds will be put into the work of the researchers, into the equipment, the materials, the publications, everything that is necessary for the development of science.

– The projects will deal with topics of national and global importance, such as researching methods of recycling mining industry waste, using artificial intelligence to predict diseases, the development of advanced materials for sensors that are used in various industries. The supported projects prove that an investment in science is an investment in the future of us all. We need to continue investing in science, developing the capacities of our researchers, strengthening the cooperations and creating new possibilities for the progress of the whole society. Wise people say that a person’s success is measured by how much it can influence the society. The PRISM program confirms that we believe in the power of science and scientists to transform the society, to solve the most difficult challenges and to open the doors to new knowledge and progress – emphasized the director of the fund.

Marina Sokovic, the assistant minister of science, technological development and innovations, reminded that some of the strategic goals were to improve the quality of scientific research work, to have Serbian researchers included in international activities, to improve and increase the excellence of Serbian scientists.

– I believe that we are on the right path toward fulfilling those parameters. Since the beginning, I have been involved in the operations of the fund. Four years later, we can say that the fund stands on its feet – pointed out Sokovic.

Plamena Halacheva, the deputy head of the EU Delegation to Serbia, emphasized that it had been difficult to imagine that that many researchers would apply within the program and that the interest would be that big and added that she believed that it was the best possible sign that the right thing had been supported. She also emphasized that she was proud that there were that many women among the project managers.

– Investing in science, research and development is crucial for the future development of a country, especially for a knowledge-based economy. We believe that the support of the EU had initiated the much-needed reforms in the sector of research and development, and these changes will considerably increase the competitiveness of the Serbian economy – Halacheva said.

The manager of the Finance, Competitiveness & Innovation Global Practice Sector at the World Bank for Europe and Central Asia, Mario Guadamillas, pointed out that he was delighted to see the positive impact of the Science Fund on the research community in Serbia in the sense of increasing the amount of financing for science and improving the competitiveness and transparency of the project selection processes.

– The PRISM program is especially important considering that the best projects from the Serbian science have been selected through an independent process of project evaluation – said Guadamillas.

The funds for the financing of the program have been secured based on a joint investment of the Republic of Serbia (Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovations), through a loan and technical support from the World Bank and non-refundable financial support from the European Union, comprising a part of the Serbia Accelerating Innovation and Entrepreneurship Project (SAIGE), dedicated to boosting scientific research and innovative entrepreneurship.

The attention drawn by the PRISM program in particular, as pointed out at the ceremony where the selected projects and their teams were presented, is shown by the fact that 6,226 researchers with 660 project propositions applied for it. After the first round of evaluation, within which every project proposition was rated by two independent foreign reviewers from the same field as the proposed project, 189 project propositions were sent to the second round. The first round ended on August 22, when the managers of the project propositions got notifications about the results and the next steps for the project propositions which were sent to the second round.

The second evaluation round was done by the Program Evaluation Board, consisting of foreign experts, organized in six expert panels – for natural sciences and mathematics, for technical-technological sciences, for biotechnical sciences, for biomedical sciences, for artificial intelligence and for social and human sciences.

Based on the results of the second evaluation round, the Program Board formed a proposition of the final ranking list, so that the total required budget for all projects accepted for financing does not exceed the total budget of the program, as defined by the PRISM Program Act. The proposition of the final ranking list was considered by the Science Council of Science Found and, along with an opinion about the procedural validity, submitted the proposition to the Management Board of the Science Fund. The decision on adopting the Final List of the Projects Approved for Financing was adopted by the Management Board of the Science Fund.

Women managers in most projects

When it comes to the number of the selected projects by cities, that is, by scientific research organizations, 72 are from Belgrade, 17 from Novi Sad, four from Kragujevac, three from Nis and one from Kraljevo. Scientific research organizations from Belgrade, Novi Sad, Nis, Kragujevac, Cacak, Bor, Krusevac, Novi Pazar, Zrenjanin and Vrnjacka Banja are taking part in the project as partners.

It should also be pointed out that of the 97 projects that have been approved for financing, women run 52 projects, whereas 45 are run by men.

Selected projects by scientific field

Natural sciences and mathematics – 32 projects with a total budget of EUR 7.9 million

Technical-technological sciences – 21 projects with a total budget of EUR 5.76 million

Biomedical sciences – 14 projects with a total budget of EUR 3.9 million

Biotechnical sciences – 11 projects with a total budget of EUR 2.9 million

Social and human sciences – 11 projects with a total budget of EUR 2.4 million

Artificial intelligence – 8 projects with a total budget of EUR 2.08 million

D. A.

Ministarstvo nauke, tehnološkog razvoja i inovacija Republike Srbije

Fond za nauku Republike Srbije

Svetska Banka-WB Beograd

European Union

PRIZMA

PRISM

SAIGE project

Mario Guadamillas

Plamena Halacheva

Marina Soković

Milica Đurić Jovičić

researchers

scientific research institutions

scientific research

innovative entrepreneurship

natural sciences and mathematics

biotechnical sciences

biomedical sciences

artificial intelligence

human sciences