UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION ON THE EXCLUSIVE DEDICATION

Exclusive dedication of at least one result in a journal with an impact factor was set as a criterion in the tender documents of the Public Competitions so far in progress for the selected and subsequently solved projects of the VVI in the previous Departmental Programme for Support of Medical Applied Research of the Ministry of Health ČR administered by the Agency for Medical Research ČR. This condition has been carried over to the new 2020-2026 Programme, the first Public Tender of which was announced this week, following consultation with the RVVI.

TEDY:

Through the dedication of results, the recipient reports all the sources of public funds with whose support the result was achieved. The exclusive dedication of results is not provided for by law, i.e. it is entirely at the discretion of the provider.

Representatives of AZV and the Ministry of Health, most recently Prof. R. Prymula, Deputy Minister, and Chair AZV Prof. Ryska, repeatedly pointed out during the discussions with the RVVI that the condition of exclusive dedication is an inappropriate formality, where the project investigators usually select the least quality article to meet this condition. This is even in the knowledge that if this condition were to be removed, it would mean finding another mechanism evaluation for efficiency of resources spent. The matter is not simple, because dedication to multiple research projects under the current system would mean performing evaluation value for money when all funding is added together. Representatives of the MoH and AZV have consulted on the possibility of dropping exclusive dedication.

Board she recommended: ..." the MoH to consider the impact of this step and to maintain the rule of at least one dedicated result in view of the final evaluation of the programme, where, in accordance with the Principles, it is necessary to report on the results achieved and their use (benefit) or effectiveness of the use of financial resources. This means that at the time of the evaluation programme, the transfer and use of knowledge (technology) generated by the programme (projects) will be identified. The transfer of results to the application sphere, the way in which they are used by the application sphere and the use for further (follow-up) research, development and innovation activities by the originator of the knowledge will be assessed."

The reason given is the possibility of evaluating the effectiveness of the funds spent on the entire previous programme, i.e. the amount of approximately CZK 6.5 billion, with the fact that in the previous programme (as of 31 December 2018) the total number of items implemented by research was listed as 600 items, in the new programme 500 items. The fulfilment of this condition confirms the effectiveness of the programme.

Simplified reasoning can be concluded: "we" will give you 6.5 billion CZK and "you" will show 600 results - especially papers published in a journal with IF with exclusive dedication and thus prove that the funds were spent efficiently and controlled.

NOW it is obvious that:

- AZV has not set this condition, it is the decision of the provider, i.e. MoH ČR with the provider following the recommendation of the Government Council for R&D, on whose recommendation the programme was approved by the Government,
- notwithstanding the "logic" of this condition, the Bureau AZV was aware that this condition, with the current structure of the organisation of biomedical research at specific departments, does not at all imply that work with exclusive dedication to financial support for a single project guarantees the highest quality, and that it may not represent a demonstration of the most important and thus the highest quality result of a particular project.

This issue has been discussed and debated repeatedly not only by the Board, but the information has been repeatedly presented during the CoR meetings AZV and at expert panels.

Currently, it is legally clear, based on the conditions of the VES held so far, that the results from the individual competitions held under the previous MZ Programme ČR , which ended last year, maintain this condition and the results must be evaluated in this way. Winning a public competition with your project proposal (VES2015 - VES 2019) and receiving financial resources for the solution means that the conditions under which this amount is released were not only widely known, but also enforceable as a result. Indeed, it was explicitly stated in the Bidding Documents of each competition.

As the same condition is also stated by the provider in the new, government approved ČR , VVI Programme for 2020 - 2026, it is also stated in the VES 2020 tender documentation.

Notwithstanding the fact that the condition of exclusive dedication is not a decision of AZV, but of the provider on the basis of the recommendation of the RVVI, the Board of AZV is taking all possible steps to have this condition removed and replaced by another system evaluation of efficiency of resources and quality of outputs.

Prof. MUDr. Miroslav Ryska, CSC.
Chair AZV ČR

Prague, 17 May 2019