Applying for research grants and subsequently accounting for how the funds are spent are both subject to rigorous state oversight. When seeking funding, scientists prepare highly detailed “business plans”. Similar mechanisms could also be applied to business investment in science, said Prof. Aleksandra Pękowska of the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS), at the Freedom Games festival in Łódź.

Prof. Pękowska took part in a panel discussion entitled “Can PLN 3–5 Million Deliver a Scientific Breakthrough in Just a Few Years?” The aim of the discussion was to encourage Polish businesses to invest in basic research. In a lively exchange of views, participants explored what might persuade private donors to support scientific discoveries whose findings would be freely available to all, even though their future applications remain unknown.

Asked what qualities a hypothetical research project would need to justify a PLN 5 million investment, Prof. Pękowska, Head of the Chromatin Biology and Epigenomics Laboratory at the Nencki Institute, named three essential ingredients: “an excellent research question, a sound strategy and a strong researcher”.

“The most important thing is to have a good scientific question. It can be pursued with public funding, and businesses can also play a role. Much depends on the business itself: what it wants to fund and what it hopes to achieve, whether its objectives are long-term or short-term, or focused on practical implementation. A great deal also depends on the individual preferences of the people running the company,” Prof. Pękowska explained.

In her view, the key to the entire funding process lies in evaluating research proposals and assessing how projects are conducted and developed.

“I would like to make one thing absolutely clear: we manage public research funding with great care. Grant applications and the subsequent accounting for how the funds are spent are subject to rigorous state oversight. Very similar mechanisms could also be used in business. Ultimately, everything depends on what is expected of the researcher,” she emphasised.

The tools needed to oversee research funding, then, are already in place. Businesses might also consider supporting science through patronage, much as they do in culture and the arts, or through long-term support that is not necessarily geared towards immediate financial returns.

“We already have the tools. As biologists, we can do more to build a dialogue with the business community and show what can be invested in, and what is worth investing in. We are happy to offer advice, so please get in touch. We also need to start developing the tools and communication channels that will enable businesses to fund basic research,” Prof. Pękowska said.

This is particularly important because knowledge exchange between science and business is more advanced in other Central European countries. A key factor is trust in the right people, as is the case in public institutions and at the European Research Council, which awards research grants.

“One approach is to establish panels of experts capable of assessing the merit of a research question, its potential to deliver a breakthrough, and the approach proposed in a grant application. I believe this is a path open to anyone wishing to fund basic research,” Prof. Pękowska concluded.

Alongside Prof. Pękowska, the panellists were Prof. Joanna Tyrowicz, a member of the Monetary Policy Council at the National Bank of Poland (NBP); Wojciech Kostrzewa, President of the Polish Business Roundtable; and Jacek Olechowski, CEO of MEDIACAP S.A.