ICT%20RTDI%20Strategy%20for%20the%20Faculty%20of%20Mathematics%20and%20Informatics%20of%20Sofia%20University

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ICT RTDI Strategy for the Faculty of Mathematics
and Informatics of Sofia University

• Maria Nisheva, Petko Rouskov, Elissaveta Gourova,
• Yanka Todorova

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Introduction

• The main goal of SISTER project is to develop FMI
  as a Leading Centre in South-East Europe (SEE) in
  research, innovation and training in the area of
  ICT.

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• Definition of an ICT Research, Technology,
  Development and Innovation (RTDI) strategy of
  FMI one of the main goals within the project
  SISTER

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• The most considerable feature of this strategy is
  its scope there exist a lot of successful ICT
  RTDI strategies for whole universities but the
  FMI team did not find any RTDI strategy for a
  particular faculty.

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• Three phases of the work
• identification of research competencies of FMI,
  technology trends and ICT research needs
• preparation and validation of ICT RTDI strategy
  for FMI
• development of scenarios and elaboration of a
  detailed action plan for ICT research and
  training within SISTER.

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• First phase analysis of the state-of-the-art in
  ICT, the needs and available resources.
• Methodology
• Environmental scanning Analysis of European and
  national reports, web sites, scientific
  literature, media publications, etc.

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• SWOT analysis Special attention to the research
  competences of FMI, the FMI positioning in the
  area of ICT in Bulgaria and the region, and the
  opportunities and threats for its further
  development and integration into ERA and European
  Higher education area.

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• Issue survey A web-based survey in a significant
  number of enterprises, policy makers and local
  authorities in Bulgaria, among FMI researchers
  and ICT end-users in order to determine the large
  societal and economic needs for research and
  training in ICT.

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• Second phase preparation of ICT RTDI strategy
  for FMI.
• The first Expert panel meeting helped to
  identify the strategic priorities and the related
  actions for RTDI in ICT at FMI
• The current second Expert panel meeting will
  help to validate the RTDI Strategy and will
  support the definition of an Action plan for ICT
  development at FMI within SISTER project

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• Third phase will ensure a framework for
  implementation of SISTER activities and
  networking. The strategy and the action plan will
  provide guidelines for capacity strengthening in
  research and innovation. They will also
  streamline the education activities of FMI team
  in ICT in accordance with the industry, economic
  and societal needs and the best practices.

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• Formal strategic planning is a relatively new
  phenomenon at Sofia University. At present, no
  approved University and Faculty strategic plans
  exist. Therefore, the FMI team follows the best
  practice and benchmarking of the university
  leaders. In particular, the strategy plan is
  defined following the Kaplan and Norton Strategy
  Maps methodology.

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FMI Objectives and Priorities in the Area of ICT

• FMI Vision Create a Faculty community that
  becomes locally and internationally recognized in
  research, teaching and service, and recognized
  nationally for student excellence. This will
  establish a reputation of being more valuable to
  all stakeholders.

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• FMI Mission To provide a flexible,
  multi-disciplinary environment for high quality
  informatics research and education using the
  innovation, latest technologies and world
  expertise. To achieve excellence in research and
  teaching within the university, country and
  international IT communities.

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• FMI Strategic Objectives The Faculty mission and
  vision reflect on taking more stakeholders
  oriented decisions.

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• The strategy suggests to adopt the following
  goals
• Undertake continuous efforts to progress the
  quality of Facultys education, training,
  research and information services to gain program
  competitiveness, high levels of achievement and a
  knowledgeable community.

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• Ensure that education and research services are
  relevant to the needs of Bulgarian people,
  industry and local and state government.
• Release individuals of all ages and abilities
  with access to education, training and
  information services.

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• Ensure greatest benefit from education and
  research resources through efficient operation
  and management of the education and research
  system.

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• Key Priorities for FMI
• Financial priorities
• Ensure revenue growth for all activities
• Improve the cost structure at the Faculty
• Increase the foreign financing (EU / non EU)
• Enhance the industry support

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• Internal processes priorities
• Facilitate the administrative operations
• Ensure support for collaborative activities in
  the Faculty
• Improve the collaboration with other SU
  structures and external organizations

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• Learning and growth priorities
• Development of the competences of Faculty members
• Development of LLL culture
• Ensure equal access to technology and innovation

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Priority Areas for ICT Research in FMI

• Having in mind the results of the analysis of EU
  policy in ICT, the SWOT analysis of FMI and the
  survey of Bulgarian stakeholders, the FMI team
  identifies the following areas of priority for
  ICT research at FMI
• Fundamentals of Computer Science
• Intelligent systems (incl. Intelligent Content
  and Semantics)

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• Information systems
• Information security
• IT services
• Software intensive systems
• Bioinformatics
• Computer graphics
• e-Learning

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• Focuses of ICT Education and Training in FMI
• Curriculum improvement
• Optimization of existing education processes

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Definition of Metrics and Indicators of Success

• In the FMI draft strategy are defined some
  practical, meaningful measures which will assess
  the effectiveness of Faculty management and its
  support of mission accomplishment. These measures
  are focused on financial issues, stakeholders,
  internal processes and learning and growth of
  FMI.

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Tools

• Organizational Framework
• FMI should initiate a debate aimed at overcoming
  the lack of flexibility caused by the
  governmental regulations and procedures.
• Similar initiatives should be taken up in order
  to improve considerably the existing heavy
  administrative procedures and financial rules at
  Sofia University in order to increase the
  motivation of FMI staff for research and project
  activities.

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• Better internal cooperation with other faculties
  of SU and within FMI departments must be
  established.
• FMI has to establish a project engineering unit
  which should support the activity of the
  corresponding vice-dean by looking for project
  opportunities.
• A clear procedure for building flexible research
  units (project groups, program teams, etc.) has
  to be defined within SU with the leading role of
  FMI.

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• Some supporting units (knowledge transfer
  centers, business support centers, patent
  offices, project management offices, science
  parks with support services, etc.) have to be
  foreseen.
• The organization of the educational process at
  FMI should be rearranged and optimized in order
  to ensure more time for research and innovations
  in the ICT area for the teaching staff of the
  Faculty.

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• The scope of the activities of the Laboratory for
  Computing Services has to be significantly
  extended. The Laboratory should be re-structured
  in accordance with its new functions and its
  staff should be strengthened.

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• Technological Environment and Infrastructure
• The technology environment of FMI must be
  considerably improved by increasing the speed of
  the cable Internet and stabilizing the wireless
  Internet access as well as providing some
  additional services, e.g. institutional VoIP.

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• Better access to world-wide publications and
  scientific databases (e.g. the databases of
  Springer, Scopus, MathSciNet etc.) should be
  provided.
• Significant efforts should be exerted in order to
  build several first class labs with potentiality
  for services to companies and public
  organizations.

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• Human Resources Capacity Building
• The overall FMI capacity building must be
  supported by renewal of technology and research
  environment, obtaining software and books, access
  to scientific on-line libraries and information
  resources. Building Research, Innovation and PhD
  databases of the Faculty should be related to
  greater transparency of FMI research and
  innovation for industry and future partners.

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• The human resources capacity building should be
  achieved through schemes of learning-by-doing for
  a longer period in leading EU research
  organisations, as well as through targeted
  training seminars and short-term visits abroad.
• Significant efforts should be exerted in order to
  identify star scientists and create clusters
  around them.

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• Post Docs and more experienced FMI researchers
  should also benefit from mobility schemes in
  order to strengthen their research and innovation
  skills, and focus their future research on
  European strategic areas. The usage of available
  funds and grants, e.g. Marie Curie schemes, will
  help in this direction.

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• The activities of the governing body should be
  focused on career development and increase of
  young researchers.
• A strategic program oriented to the development
  of star students and their sustained training
  to publish in recognized journals has to be
  elaborated.
• Joint supervision of PhD students has to be one
  of the action lines for developing new research
  capacity and integrating into EU research
  streams.

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• A great amount of work should be done in order to
  satisfy the main needs for further training
  identified by FMI researchers in the areas of
  project management, technology transfer and
  strategic management.

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• Collaboration and Networking
• The Faculty should look at the Bulgarian labour
  market needs and should strengthen its national
  linkages with industry, other universities,
  research institutions and public authorities.
• It is essential to enlarge its networking with
  other EU universities for exchange of students,
  teaching staff and researchers.

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• FMI needs to strengthen its research
  collaboration and build upon the existing results
  for raising its excellence, ensuring sustainable
  development and deeper integration into ICT ERA.

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• In order to strengthen its networking, FMI needs
  to increase its visibility and the transparency
  of its research, education and innovation
  achievements.

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Funding Opportunities for ICT Activities at FMI

• For its successful development FMI should explore
  the opportunities of a diversified funding
• Project financing
• Provision of training courses and certification
• Industrial research and development funded by
  companies provides a third channel of funding

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• A fourth channel of funding, still not explored
  sufficiently, could come from patents and
  intellectual property rights
• The fifth channel of funding is venture capital.
  Unfortunately this channel is still
  under-developed at Sofia University
• Sponsorship is the sixth channel of funding

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Conclusions

• Despite that FMI has strong linkages with the IT
  cluster and several IT companies in Bulgaria,
  e.g. IBM, Microsoft, CISCO, etc. the links with
  industry need a lot of changes in order to meet
  the needs of the knowledge economy.

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• There should be established more structured
  contacts for joint projects, exchange of staff,
  internships and joint supervision of PhD
  students, knowledge brokerage events, etc.
• Higher transparency of FMI education and research
  results might be a first step towards better
  collaboration with industry.

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• What skills are needed for FMI researchers in
  order to enhance the dialogue and collaboration
  with industry and to turn their ideas into
  innovative products and processes should be also
  considered.

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• Finally, FMI should widely explore the
  opportunities for integration into the European
  Higher education area and the European Research
  Area and undertake actions for strengthening
  research collaboration, building attractive
  universities, and creating a favourable
  environment for study, work and life.