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On 17 June 2009, the Government of Albania launched a Cross-cutting Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation in Albania covering the period 2009-2015. The strategy was launched during a conference organized in Tirana, in the presence of Deputy Prime-Minister Genc Pollo, the Minister of Education and Science, Fatos Beja, the UN Resident Coordinator, Gülden Türköz-Cosslett and the Director of UNESCO’s Regional Office for Science and Culture in Europe (ROSCE), Engelbert Ruoss.
In the introduction to the Strategy, Deputy Prime Minister Genc Pollo acknowledges that ‘the high rates of socio-economic development required in the process of Albania’s NATO membership and European Union accession necessitate the strengthening of the role of science, technology and innovation in our society.’ Albania became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 2009 and is keen to accede to membership of the European Union.
Coordinated by the Ministry of Education and Science with UNESCO assistance, the document fixes five ‘strategic goals’ for the country to 2015:
- to triple public spending on research to 0.6% of GDP
- to increase the share of GERD from foreign sources to 40% of the total, including via the EU’s Framework Programmes for Research;
- to create four or five Albanian centres of excellence in science;
- to double the number of researchers, through ‘brain gain’ incentives like a Young and Returning Researchers grant scheme and the
training of new researchers, including 500 PhDs: three new doctoral programmes are to be established in Albanian universities;
- to increase innovation in 100 companies, either through investment in local R&D or via consortia with academic research institutes
or foreign partners.
The Cross-cutting Strategy observes that ‘private entrepreneurships in the field of knowledge and technology transfer in the IT sphere has increased’ in Albania but that ‘initiatives in other important fields for socio-economic development are scarce.’ It goes on to say that ‘for instance, there is little private initiative for studies in the field of energy, agriculture, molecular biology, biotechnology, natural resources and other related fields.’ The document states that ‘the development of private entrepreneurship in R&D and technology and knowledge transfer has, however, been speedier than that of public institutions because of the absence of stimulating financial mechanisms for public researchers or genuine public institutional reform of the science system.’ A National Council for Science and Innovation and an Albanian research funding agency are to be created.
The Cross-cutting Strategy is to be implemented in synergy with sector strategies and both Albania’s Higher Education Strategy (2008) and its National Strategy for Development and Integration. The latter underlines the importance of modernizing economic sectors such the agro-food industry and tourism, as well as the strategic importance of energy, environmental and water resource management. Stakeholders of the research system have proposed prioritizing fields of research, such as agriculture and food, ICTs, public health, Albanology and humanities, natural resources, biotechnology, biodiversity, defence and security. The Cross-cutting Strategy states that a more detailed sector analysis is planned to set the country’s research priorities.
Read the Strategy
Contact the focal point ROSCE
Website at ROSCE
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