Slovakia

Political framework for bilateral cooperation in education and research

Slovakia has been a member of the EU and of NATO since spring 2004. The country was separated from the Czech Republic in 1993; since 2001, it has undergone strong economic development. GDP rose by 8.3% in 2006, and an increase of approximately 9% is expected for 2007. In the first ten years of the country's independence, Slovakian politics mainly concentrated on economic and social development. Since 2005, research and development (R&D) has officially been one of the government's central areas of activity. The Slovak Ministry of Education is responsible for research and education policy.

Slovakia has set itself the target of spending between 1.8 and 2% of its GDP on R&D by 2010. In 2005, R&D expenditure was at only 0.51% of GDP.
The increased importance of R&D is documented in the Competitiveness Strategy for the Slovak Republic until 2010 - National Lisbon Strategy, which was adopted in 2005 (replacing the National Reform Programme of the Slovak Republic 2006-2008).
In this document, the aim of creating a knowledge-based economy is explicitly stated, as is the high importance of R&D for political development.
The competitiveness strategy summarizes the goals of the national innovation policy:

• Developing the education system
• Promoting the information society 
• Providing increased support for research, development, and innovation 
• Improving framework conditions for companies

In 2005, the Slovak Republic reformed the administration of research and technology policy as well as the public R&D sector. This led to the establishment of the Slovak Research and Development Agency (APVV).
The Slovak government has identified the increase of available public funds and of ring-fenced (competitive) funding as the most important goals in this context.

One of the first projects of the new R&D policy was the development of the MINERVA programme for research and technology. This initiative was introduced by the Slovak government to boost the knowledge economy.
MINERVA stands for the mobilization of innovation potential in the Slovak economy and for the development of new activities in research and education. It supports the development of the knowledge economy and is based on four pillars:

• Training and employment 
• Research and innovation
• The creation of an IT-based society 
• Economic framework conditions

In the areas of research, development and innovation, the goals of MINERVA are the support of highly qualified scientists, the creation of an internationally competitive research structure with adequate links to the private sector, and the effective support of business activities in the areas of R&D and innovation.

The programme Transfer 2005 supports projects for the transfer of scientific and technological insights to industrial applications and for the creation of closer links between research organizations and small and medium-sized enterprises.

The structure of the Slovak research system has four sub-categories:

• The Slovak Academy of Sciences 
• Other public research institutes
• University institutes 
• Private research institutions

Slovakia's institutions of general education and vocational training can look back on a long history. The education system is of a high quality.

Funding for collaborations with Slovakia

In view of EU enlargement, the BMBF published a special funding instrument for scientific and technological cooperation with Central, Eastern, and South Eastern European countries in spring 2004. Under the programme "International Cooperation in Education and Research; Central, Eastern, and South Eastern European Region" (which is a so-called regional call for proposals), financial resources are made available for preparatory projects in the areas of applied research, development, and education, with the aim of preparing further submissions under current BMBF funding programmes and the 7th EU Research Framework Programme.
Funding is also given to measures for the elaboration of concepts to establish joint research bases. The aim of establishing these joint research bases is to forge closer links between the staff, organization, and funding structures of Slovak and German research institutions and corporate research centres.

As part of the BMBF initiative to promote Germany as a key location of research, funding is provided for projects that present the attractiveness of Germany and its research environment to important Central, Eastern, and South Eastern European partner countries.

Examples of bilateral cooperation

Representatives of the University of Zilina's Centre for Transportation Research participated in the BMBF's workshop "Mobility in Urban Areas: Potential for Cooperation with the New EU Member States", which took place in Dresden in September 2003. This workshop resulted in an agreement to set up a research network, which was established under the title T-NEG (Transportation in New EU-member Countries - General Research Network for Harmonization and Integration). A T-NEG workshop took place in Zilina in March 2005.

With the help of BMBF funding, the Institute of Environmental Research at the University of Dortmund and the Institute of Biology and Ecology at Pavol Jozef Safárik University in Kosice are working together on a project under the regional call for proposals. The main goal of this research project is to quantify the pharmaceutically active substances in St John's wort (hypericum perforatum) and to identify any previously unknown secondary active agents.