Gov’t science fund to offer millions for R&D

Ma Chi Ngai, president of the Executive Council of the Science and Technology Development Fund

As much as MOP1 million will be given to the winners of three awards by the Science and Technology Development Fund, alongside other incentive programs encouraging research and development.

The awards are officially known as the Science and Technology Award. About a dozen are given out to winners each year.

There are three categories of awards, namely the Natural Science Award, Technological Invention Award and Science and Technology Progress Award. Three tiers of prizes are awarded in each category.

On the sidelines of a public briefing yesterday, Ma Chi Ngai, president of the Executive Council of the Fund, was asked to comment on the quality of last year’s projects. Ma was unable to comment, as the evaluation process is still underway. “It is too early to say whether more or fewer awards will be given,” said Ma.

This year’s jury has seen some adjustments. Ma revealed that the chief juror for the Science and Technology Award is now Yang Wei, ex-president of the National Natural Science Foundation of China. In addition, many national-level researchers are on the jury this year.

Ma believes the fund will be able to benefit from the participation of these researchers, specifically in the evaluation of recipients of the awards, grants and sponsorships. In the course of the evaluation, the quality of science and technology research and projects in Macau can be ascertained and thus compared with that of the mainland, the president suggested.

Referencing the growing number of projects submitted for evaluation, the president believes that the number of projects passing the threshold will not be small. He also expressed his hope that he would see an improvement in the quality of Macau projects.

This year, the fund will also issue subsidies for the building of a laboratory and research and development (R&D) center, as well as fostering young researchers and post-doctorate researchers.

Ma hopes to attract post-doctorate researchers from the world’s top 200 institutions to work in Macau. Extra requirements were added to research papers submitted by applicants.

Other requirements are related to the human resources of the laboratory. For example, the fund aims to encourage local laboratories and centers to build collaboration with world-class award winners, such as Nobel Laureates or Fields Medal winners.

Such collaborations would include the use of their names at the laboratories or centers for an undisclosed but extended period of time, and on-site instruction by the world-class award winners for no fewer than 30 days per year. AL