Centres of Excellence vs. Rannsóknastofnanir

After my talk at the Rannis workshop on Ísland sem alþjóðlegur vinnumarkaður vísindanna -  Staða Íslands í alþjóðlegri samkeppni um vinnuafl í rannsóknum, tækni og nýsköpun, one of the participants came to talk to me. I apologize for not remembering his name, but he introduced himself to me as an "old timer" who has worked at Rannis for many years in the past.

His tenet was that Iceland already funds "Centres of Excellence" in research, namely the so-called Rannsóknastofnanir, but that these have been chosen not via peer-reviewed evaluation, but in light of national interest. He also claimed, and I have no reason not to believe in what he said, that Iceland is leading in research in the areas covered by the Rannsóknastofnanir. He also said, however, that despite having a lot of publications and citations, the work of these Rannsóknastofnanir is relatively unknown abroad. 

I have two comments. First, it might be OK for politicians to decide that certain institutions should have guaranteed funding because they  cover areas of research of national interest. However, please do not call those "Centres of Excellence" and subject them to periodic evaluation by peers. 

Second, if the work of these Rannsóknastofnanir is so good scientifically, why is it not more known in the international research community? (I am relying on what he said here.)

Discuss.  

Athugasemdir

[Pétur Henry Petersen, 7.5.2007 kl. 12:31]

Luca

You are right on target. These institutions are not centers of excellence and some would argue that they are actually the opposite of centers of excellence.  These are govermental agencies, with all the bells and whistles, underfunded, overworked and  with little accountability towards scientific quality, innovation and excellence (at the international level). However, they have much potential and  need to develop and evolve more towards the goal of scientific excellence and away from their current status. 

[Eirikur Steingrimsson (IP-tala skráð) 8.5.2007 kl. 14:55]

This man you refer to is totally off target.  The government can not decide whether something is a center of excellence or not.  The Soviets tried this many years ago and it did not work.  Whether an institute or university is a center of excellence or not can only be decided by the scientific community and this decision is based on referrals in the literature to the work performed at the institute.  I have not seen a review of the scientific output of the institute (papers, patents etc with citations ) - such a review might be very interesting.  

As far as I know, the Rannsóknastofnanir have never really been evaluated by outside experts.  Similarly, they do not have active scientific advisory councils.  As many of these institutes are curerently undergoing organisational changes, now might be an opportunity to change this.