STI policies in OECD and Transition Countries

Policies are actions taken by governments and organisations to solve problems. Today’s societies are faced with a number of challenges, i.e. crises. After such crises general growth in wealth becomes much slower. The type of a crisis determines the type of policy to employ. For instance, during the seventies, when the world faced the oil crisis, science and technology policy was directed towards energy. According to prof. Sirilli, finding solutions to challenges becomes very difficult in crisis times as a result of budget cuts and redirection of funds to some sectors. Science, technology and innovation are one of the tools that can be used to solve these problems.

In the general sense, science and technology have improved the process of resource exploitation. In the industrial societies most people were employed in agriculture. In the modern era, however, the society has shifted from agriculture to services leaving just a few people to produce goods. It became possible as a result of the advancement in science and technology. New ways of producing goods have emerged leading to the mechanisation of the processes that used to be made manually.

After the Second World War there was an increase in mortality rate. The deaths were caused by cardio-vascular diseases and infections as a result of the chemicals used during the war. However, after the implementation of new cures and drugs these diseases were drastically reduced. This shows how research and new knowledge can improve our health. In this respect, science and technology are very important.

Universities in Europe are one of the oldest institutions in the world after the Catholic Church and date back to thousands of years. Prof. Sirilli stated that ten years ago life in universities was regulated by a set of unwritten rules which were clear to all stakeholders. According to him, universities survived 1000 years without evaluation. Evaluation of R&D and innovation activities in public universities in general both solves and creates problems. The rule states: “When you evaluate a system, you change it”. When rules are introduced to evaluate the activities of these bodies, people tend to react to these rules which lead to a number of problems, such as reduction in creativity.

The lecture was concluded with a view on Russian systems of research and innovation. Prof. Sirilli stated that Russia had a number of problems in the area of research and innovation, including the lack of autonomy of universities, weak investment in R&D, and low scientific productivity. However, the Russian government has implemented a number of policies aimed at straightening out these problems. These policies include reforming and improving public research systems, in particular, allowing universities to do more research, thereby shifting research from the academia, encouraging innovation centers by supporting entrepreneurship and SMEs, etc.