Within the Cycle of lectures “Croatia at the Doorstep of EU” The University of Zagreb and the EU delegation in Croatia organized on Jan. 18 a public discussion on the Croatian research and high education system within the context of EU integration process. In the audience, there were many representatives from research and high education institutions, ministries, agencies and economy. It was addressed by the assistant lecturer DSc Željko Jovanović, the Minister of Science, Education and Sports; Prof DSc Aleksa Bjeliš, DSc, the rector of the University in Zagreb and Paul Vandoren the head of EU delegation in Croatia. There were two presentations by invited guests: Prof DSc Saša Zelenika, the assistant to the Minister of Education and Technology and MSc Gordana Kovačević,, the president of the Council of the University of Zagreb, and the president of Ericsson Nikola Tesla.

Željko Jovanović, the minister, pointed out that having in mind the importance of science, Croatia should contribute more to this sector, but at present, the percentage of allocation from the budget is less than one per cent, which is considered two low and requires changes. He also underlined the need of targeted scientific and research work of the academic society, which shall be in line with the real needs of the economy and the current financial results achieved on the basis of the given community contribution.

The University rector, Aleksa Bjeliš, said that by joining EU, our systems will have considerably greater opportunities and space for connections and for common appearances with partners, the academic community has already in the former decade established very good relations with. He also stressed the importance of elaborating a strategy that should even more stimulate the innovation system since in Europe such system has been recognized as the one of the importance for the economy of the EU itself.

Paul Vandoren expressed his pleasure with interest shown by Croatia so far, in the sense of the participation in European initiatives and programs. He also had no doubts that thanks to the above interests, EU values have already been well known to the Croatian institutions.

Saša Zelenika, the minister assistant for science and technology continued with the exposure on the topic: “Croatian science, Education and Technology at the turning point – How to promote Croatia as a small country of 'great minds'” and pointed out that there is an exceptional potential of human resources in Croatia, but due to the system it has not been adequately engaged. He showed his awareness that Europe offers great opportunities, but our success depends on us only, and we shall be responsible for engagement of our resources.

Gordana Kovačević, MSc, presented the example of Ericsson Nikola Tesla to illustrate the application of innovativeness and research and development activities in the economy. She spoke about the company strategy and of the activities in the area of research and development and innovativeness. She also presented the actual examples of the cooperation with the education and scientific community. Mrs Kovačević underlined that during its long and successful history, the company has achieved respectable results that positioned it as a quality company in the global organization. In Croatia, Ericsson Nikola Tesla is considered as one of the largest exporters and especially as the large exporter of knowledge. We are proud to say that we are a 'knowledge based' company where  a man is at the forefront: „Our results have been primarily based on knowledge, professionalism and innovativeness, and that was recognized both in the region and globally, through various solutions, products and services (such as SIP protocol, e/m-health, SIMU, MSC Server Blade Cluster, tool for dimensioning of a access network  4G- LTE and many others), as well through work on research projects  FP6 and FP7 in cooperation with many European universities, institutes and companies. The investment into the development, research and innovations, in the long run, should result with competitiveness both for companies and the country.  Modern companies’ strategies shall be based on the development of research centers, on competences and innovations. Therefore, the education, and the lifelong learning, investments into new skills development and competences in all spheres of activities and the strong link between the industry and the academic society are of utmost importance. So, our government should determine the strategy for activities in R&D&I, and should support them by introducing new supporting models and incentives, because the ones applied so far, have not been enough in the time of crises, to provide investments and competence in the given segment and at the level of the whole country. Also, along with increase of investment of the government into R&D&I segments (today it is about modest 0.7% BDP invested into such activities) it is necessary to encourage the high education and reduce the share of burden to economy, which means the decrease of taxes and levies. Companies, such as Ericsson Nikola Tesla, are not in a position to stop with investments into innovation not even for a month, since it would mean the end of their existence in the market.”

The representative of the general administration of the European committee for research and technological development, Alan Cross presented the opportunities and challenges for Croatia within the EU Frame Program for Research   “Horizon 2020“. He spoke about the role of high education, research and Science in a modern society and the EU incentives for linking the science with economic sector, in order to realize innovations and achieve competitiveness. Talking on industrial leadership, as one of the main priorities of EU by 2020, he especially underlined the e-health segment as a particularly important area within the given program.

The public discussion was joined by the academician Leo Budin, Prof DSc Mladen Vedriš, from the Faculty of Law, of the University of Zagreb, and the president of the Partnership council of the City of Zagreb; DSc Danica Ramljak, the head of Ruđer Bošković Institute, DSc Petar Pervan, the Head of the Institute for Physics, Matija Derk, Minister Assistant, at the Ministry of Regional Development and EU funds;  DSc Dalibor Marijanović, BICRO general manager; DSc Olgica Spevec, the president of the Council for Market Competition, Agency for Market Competition Protection; DSc Stjepan Car,  the president of Končar-Institute for Electronics; DSc Radovan Spaventi, the president of the management board of Galapagos research centre  d.o.o., Prof DSc Vedran Mornar,  university professor, and many others.

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