Slovakia

Political framework for bilateral cooperation in education and research

Slovakia, which has been independent since 1.1.1993, has been a member of the EU and NATO since spring 2004. By joining the euro zone on 1.1.2009, Slovakia took another important step towards integration into the European Union. Over the last few years, the country’s economy has developed very dynamically. In the first 10 years of the country’s independency, Slovak politics have above all concentrated on economic and social development.

In 2005, research and development (R&D) officially became an important goal and field of action of the Slovak government. The Ministry of Education is responsible for R&D while the innovation sector, which is becoming increasingly important, lies within the responsibility of the Ministry of Economy. Compared with the rest of the EU, Slovakia continues to exhibit a very low level of R&D intensity. In 2009, R&D accounted for 0.48% of the GDP (EU 27: 2.01%). Slovakia is officially striving to achieve a figure of 1.80% for 2015.

The increased importance of R&D was documented in 2005 in the "Competitiveness Strategy for the Slovak Republic until 2010 - National Lisbon Strategy". In this document the goal of a knowledge-based economy was formulated, as was the high importance of R&D for the overall development of the state. The competitiveness strategy also summarises the goals of the national innovation policy. The former government under Prime Minister Robert Fico reformulated the goals of the state science and technology policy in September 2007 ("Long-term Objective of the State S&T Policy up to 2015"). The document also stipulates the priorities for the state R&D policy. Further relevant documents in the innovation context are the National Innovation Strategy of 2007 and the National Innovation Policy 2008-2010 (2008).

The Slovak government lists the most important goals for the reform of the public R&D sector as being an increase in the available public funds and more competition-oriented funding. The Slovak Republic Government Board for Science and Technology advises the ministry and the government on R&D policy issues. The council is the central body responsible for preparing the state science and technology policy. Also responsible for the coordination of the science, technology and innovation policy is the Commission for the Knowledge-based Society. An important task area of this commission is the EU structural funds.

The most important institutions in research funding are since 2005 the Research and Development Agency (APVV) and since 2006 the "Scientific Grant Agency" (VEGA), the scientific funding agency of the Ministry of Education and the Academy of Sciences. VEGA is primarily responsible for basic research. The agency financed some 2,500 research projects with approximately €12.5 billion in 2008.

The Slovak research system is based on four pillars:

• Slovak Academy of Sciences (56 research institutes in three sections) 
• other research institutes owned by the state 
• universities (23 state/public-run universities, 11 private universities) and 
• private research institutions.

Within the scope of regional cooperation partnerships, Slovakia is integrated into the programme CEEPUS II (Central European Exchange Programme for University Studies). A regional network also exists via the Visegrád (V4) Group (Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary).

Funding for cooperation with Slovakia

Against the background of EU expansion to the East, in spring 2004 the BMBF published a special funding instrument for scientific and technological cooperation with the Central, Eastern and South Eastern European countries. Within the scope of the programme "International Cooperation in Education and Research - Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe Region" (regional call for proposals), funding for preparatory projects in applied research, development and education was provided to submit further project proposals for current funding programmes of the BMBF, the Seventh Research Framework Programme of the EU or the programme EUROSTARS. To date, six projects, which have since been completed, were supported with Slovak partner institutions. Within the scope of the BMBF Initiative for Germany as a Key Location for Innovation, initiatives are supported that among other things present the attractiveness of Germany and its research landscape in important target countries in Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe. One project has so far been implemented with Slovakia as the target country. From BMBF trade publications a project in the field of nanoelectronic with Slovak participation is being funded in 2011. Within the 7. EU Research Framework Programme the focus of the co-operation lays on information and communications technology as well as research infrastructures.