The third evaluation report for centres financed by Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems (VINNOVA) and the Swedish Research Council (VR) is now published and ranks UPSC Berzelii Centre at the first place out of 20 evaluated centres. The international evaluation committee ranked UPSC Berzelii Centre on the first place as the only centre with “exceptional” performance. UPSC Berzelii is one of the 3 centres that are approved for the fourth phase of funding in the Berzelii programme. The committee especially emphasized the centre’s excellent connection between academic and industrial partners. The interface between basic research and applied research was presented as “unique”. The committee pointed out that the scientific output was of very high quality with the “crown of jewel”, the draft of the genome sequence of Norway spruce in 2013. Crucial for the success of the UPSC Berzelii Centre is a “strong, active and visionary board working with and supporting a strong director” to bring the centre to this high standard. The committee also pointed out that the Umeå Centre showed a “robust and effective” strategy for long-term vision and mission.
"We are very pleased for this exceptionally positive evaluation of the programme that has taken almost ten years to set up. During this time we have established an increasingly close collaboration with forest industry partners to improve basic research while understanding the industry's problems and needs. It is particularly encouraging that a centre which is based on excellent basic research is highlighted as we proved that the translation from basic research breakthroughs into practical applications does not take as long as we think," comments Professor Ove Nilsson, director of the UPSC Berzelii Centre from the beginning in 2007.
The recommendations given by the committee are to develop new scientific directions to strength the impact of the centre and to model the future economics.
The positive evaluation of the programme does not only allow the centre to achieve the goal to develop long-term collaborations with industry partners but also provide excellent recommendations for further funding and programme development.
It was an international committee with the generalist evaluators Mary O´Kane, State of New South Wales in Australia, and Alison McKay, professor at University of Leeds, UK who together with the two specialist evaluators Isabel Allona, professor at the Centre for Plant Biotechnology and Genomics in Madrid, Spain, and Teemu Teeri, University of Helsinki, Finland, who visited the Centre in November 2014 and interviewed the board and management and evaluated the performance of the Berzelii Centre.
The Berzelii programme was initiated in 2004 to lead an excellence basic research with a clear ambition to translate it into innovations for commercial purposes. Four centres (UPSC Centre for Forest Biotechnology, EXSELENT centre, Stockholm Brain Institute Berzelii Center and Uppsala Berzelii Technology Center for Neurodiagnostics) were created and granted in 2007 by Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems (Vinnova) and the Swedish Research Council (VR).
The programme was divided into four phases:
1. Organisation of goals for the centres
2. Development of scientific excellence and establishment of contact with industry partners
3. Assessment of outputs and outcomes
4. Funding for Berzelii centres to achieve long-term impact in developing collaborations with industry partners.
After each phase the centres have been evaluated before approval to the next phase of funding. Among them, UPSC Berzelii Centre for Forest Biotechnology combines basic research and partners in wood industry to improve the end-products and stimulate the wood-derived products for renewable materials and bio fuels.
For more information about the UPSC Berzelii Centre, please contact:
Ove Nilsson, professor, director
Umeå Plant Science Centre (UPSC), Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology
Email:
Phone: +46 (0)90 786 8487
http://www.upsc.se/research/large-projects/upsc-berzelii-centre.html
Read the evaluation report:
Third Evaluation of Berzelii Centres (Exselent, UPSC & Uppsala Berzelii) – Vinnova report
Picture: Ove Nilsson, director of the UPSC Berzelii Centre and professor at the UPSC-department for Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology