Institutes to Earn for Salaries Themselves – Reform of Science Research Organizations Announced

The Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovations has announced that it has opened a contest for the selection of an expert for a reform of science research organizations in the country. After several attempts of the past authorities to not quite successfully recover Serbia with the help of experts, but also the recent transformation of certain institutes, such as Jaroslav Cerni, which have led to complaints from many from the academic world, a part of the public wonders what this contest and this selection mean. The ministry underlines that it is organized within the Serbia Accelerating Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SAIGE) Project. The project is financed by a loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and it supports the upgrade of the capacities and operations of science research institutes.

The unusually named SAIGE Project backs the science community through programs of the financing of science and research, as well as innovative companies in an early development phase. Among scientists, who certainly know how to point to the flaws in the scientific community, the Politika daily learns that this is a project of transforming of science institutes which has involved numerous institutes for at least a year, and some for even longer, for example, the Institute for Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering, which was led by minister Jelena Begovic until recently.

– The essence of the transformation is for science institutes in Serbia to no longer financially depend only on ministries, but to become self-sufficient. This means that scientist in those institutes will no longer do only basic science research, but also cooperate with the private sector, developing services, other companies, innovations, patents and taking part in international projects which lead toward it. The process entails training, professional development, bringing foreign experts, but also our scientists leaving abroad in order to learn about said transformation, along with the valuations that will follow it – Politika’s source briefly explains the essence of the transformation which will, apparently, be managed by the future expert for the reform of science research organizations.

As an example of a Serbian institute which fares well in both the local and the global market, where it participates “90% thanks to its own capacities”, Begovic cited the Mihajlo Pupin Institute and emphasized that it was one of the leading institutes in Serbia and that the state needed to keep it and invest in it and in similar institutes.

Ministarstvo nauke, tehnološkog razvoja i inovacija Republike Srbije

Institut Jaroslav Černi a.d. Beograd

Institut Mihajlo Pupin doo Beograd

Ministry of Science Technological Development and Innovations

International Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Jaroslav Cerni Institute

Mihajlo Pupin Institute

Jelena Begovic

contest for the selection of an expert for the reform of science research organizations

reform of science research organizations

SAIGE project

cooperation of science research institutes with the private sector

development of innovations

development of patents