Sustainable growth
VITO had a total budget of just less than 90 million euro available in 2010. VITO's operating revenue increased in 2010 to 85.2 million euro (+ 10.3 % versus last year). Compared to the previous financial year, operating subsidies increased by 8.6 % to 32.7 million euro. Own generated income amounts to 52.6 million euro, and represents 59 % of operating income, an increase of 11 % in one year.
Responsible for approximately 30 % (or 15.9 million euro) of own generated income, the Flemish government remains VITO's most important customer. Income from contracts with the Flemish government decreased slightly by 6 % compared to 2009. This is due to the austerity measures imposed by the Flemish government. Income from reference tasks increased (+ 1.5 %) thanks to a number of new small projects. Income from governments other than the Flemish decreased to 7 million euro (-19 %) and thus has returned to the levels of previous years. This principally concerns income from programmes financed by the Belgian Science Policy Office and from partnerships with research centres and universities. The total contribution of government agencies is 25.6 million euro, or 48.7 % of VITO's own generated income.
After a slight increase in 2009, industrial income declined in 2010 to the level of 2007, i.e. 8.7 million euro (compared to 9 million euro in 2009), or a decrease of 4 %. Industrial revenue represented 16.5 % of own generated income. Income from Flemish industry represents nearly 72 % of the total. Income from foreign industry rose to its highest level yet (2.4 million euro), or an increase of nearly 60 % in five years time.
Income from the European Union increased considerably in 2010: 9.3 million euro in 2010 compared to 6.6 million euro in 2009, or + 40 %. Income from scientific programmes (4.3 million euro, +16 %) as well as other income from the EU (5 million euro, +70 %) increased. This represents a new high for income from the EU. This is in line with VITO's strategy to increase significantly co-financing of GWO research. In total, the EU accounts for 18 % of VITO's own generated income.
(Data Annual turnover)
(Data Dynamics between VITO employees)
Growing number of scientific publications continues
In 2010, VITO issued 119 scientific publications (SCIE publications). This increases the KPI (critical performance indicator) to almost 70 % above the target figure contained in VITO's public service agreement. This is in line with VITO's strategic objective of achieving a 20 % increase in the number of scientific publications per year compared to 2007. A strong increase in the number of VITO researchers and VITO doctoral students (forty in January 2011) is the basis for this. In addition, the number of post-doctoral researchers is increasing, and VITO will initiate an intensive supervision campaign in 2011 to further increase the frequency of publications.
(Data scientific output)
Valorising knowledge
VITO is actively engaged in valorising its knowledge and expertise. In line with this, it is paying special attention to good collaboration between the researchers and the valorisation team. The success of this is demonstrated by the continuous growth of a valuable portfolio of intellectual property rights (IPR), a fact that has not gone unnoticed among prominent industrial players.
