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South Eastern Europe
SCIENCE, HIGHER EDUCATION AND INNOVATION
POLICY FORUM
BUDVA, MONTENEGRO, 1-3 JULY 2008
Engelbert Ruoss, Director, UNESCO Regional Office Venice
UNESCO the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Office in Venice: the Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe
Your Excellency, dear Ministers, dear representatives and dear participants
I have the great honour to welcome you on behalf of UNESCO Director General and the Assistants Director General for Science and Education to the first outstanding conference in Montenegro, which joined the UNESCO the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization as its 193rd member state in 2007.
In a very short period Montenegro and UNESCO have established an intensive cooperation and we are eager to present shortly today measurable results.The conference here in Budva is a further step towardsreaching sustainable development of the South East European countries, their integration into theEuropean Community and the strengthening of regional andinternational cooperation.
Building the future through Science, Higher Education and Innovation represents a major challenge for all countries, and especially for South Eastern European(SEE) countries. In fact, during the last years the SEE sub-region has been marked by profound, even dramatic process of transformations that have led to the emergence of substantially different societies and economies. In these processes Science,Higher Education and Innovation appears to act as an effective tool in facing national and regional challenges such as improving the quality of life, environmental sustainability, health conditions, economic stabilization and growth as well as integration intoEuropean and world cooperation.
The transformation of society, which is a common feature of almost all countries of South-Eastern Europe, has given additional weight to the role of national policy, which now hasa new opportunity to contribute with its legislative work on S&T issues to the common task of bringing enhanced economic and social progress in the entire region. The task ahead for SEE countries is the adoption of reforms that address new dimensions of Science,higher Education and Innovation systems and by means of this also, the responsibility for directing the entire development of societies.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Modern Science, Higher Education and Innovation governance is characterised nowadays, at national and international levels, by a number of serious challenges for policy-making, such as:
•understanding and managing the complexity and uncertainty of science;
•responding to a new environmental, ethical and societal demands that require a reorientation of R&D efforts as well as new approaches;
•finding an appropriate balance between public and private funding of R&D efforts;
•ensuring an adequate infrastructure for the development of science and technologies as well as the free flow and exchange of scientific information;
•improve science and technology policy’s coherence and consistence through finding new forms of interaction between the scientific community, policy makers and society as well as new institutional arrangements between the different areas of governance
•creating participatory processes in S&T decision-making, involving a large number of partners integrating both the infra-national and supra-national dimensions;
•integrating future oriented, creative, non-linear thinking in decision making.
By re-establishing links between science and society as a means of coping with public fears and concerns, countries can address an increasing number of issues that require extensive knowledge of S&T for effective legislative process. These include issues on environment, new information and communication technologies, agriculture, energy, health care, to name a few.
Uncertainty and management of risk became fundamental components of the relationship between science and governance. Decision making needs to be able to cope with the fragmentation of the knowledge, which is an ever-important characteristic of the emerging environment.
Let me briefly explain the above concepts:
Shared responsibility and cooperate governance
Modern life has raised new ethical responsibilities implicit in the increasing influence of such technologies upon citizens’ lives.
As expertise is no longer exclusively possessed or controlled by official organisations, citizens are becoming engaged in the deliberative processes of science-related governance issues. By involving them from the outset of any negotiation they will be more likely to accept its outcome. The participatory approach encourages a healthy questioning of scientific methods and assumptions that can lead to better science governance. Integration of women and young scientists in the strategy development process should also become a priority!
National Science Policy Strategy
The strategies should be developed in cooperation between Parliaments, scientific community and society, including the target of developing the knowledge society and brain gain strategy as a foundation for the sustainable development of the countries.
Knowledge transfer: Improving information and dialogue between stakeholders
States require for their policymaking and oversight roles in S&T, new types of information and modes for organizing such information.
Decision makers face lack of sufficient information as well as information overload.
Institutionalize knowledge transfer
Ministries should take a lead in increasing public discussion and awareness of major new scientific issues through hearings and inquiries as well as other forms of public engagement. The public discussion helps to articulate and crystallize public opinion.
Involve the scientific and education institutions in the policy process such as the Academies, Research Centres and Universities.
Increase Transparency
Public participation cannot be successful without knowledge and understanding about science and technology on the one hand, and about Parliamentary decision-making, on the other hand. Therefore transparency of the legislative process in S&T is condition sine qua non of the participative democracy.
Assessment of the S&E&I activities
An assessment of S&E&I is needed on national level, creating indicators as well as a performance monitoring.
Create leadership
All countries are asked to invest in Science, Higher Education and Innovation both on national level as well to initiate cooperation at sub-regional level as well to participate at international level.
All the above mentioned trends are at the heart of UNESCO’s action in the field of science policy. As Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe, UNESCO BRESCE offers to the SEE countries the opportunity to address these issues together with more specific national and regional priorities. Series of specific regional initiatives aimed at enhancing SEE countries capacities in the field of Science, Higher Education and Innovation through platforms for dialogues and cooperation. Let me mention just some of most recent events organized at regional level:
- September 2006 in Ljubljana: International Conference and Round Table of Ministers: Why Invest in Science in SEE?,
-May 2007 in Chisinau: International Conference: Global Science and National Policies: the Role of Academies’,
-June 2007 in Bucharest & Tulcea: Science Policy Forum: Science for the Future, Science for Society. The Parliamentary Perspective.
The conclusions of these events underlined that a sound and sustainable development of SEE countries require new Science, Education and Innovation policy strategies to better understand and manage scientific, technical and social changes. A broad policy-oriented perspective on the transformation of S&E&I policies in SEE countries implies new forms of governance. Among the institutions involved in promoting and consolidating new forms of science governance, Parliaments Ministries, Universities, Academies, civil societyand the private sector have a central role to play. As key stakeholders, all these actors need to be inter-linked one to each other, through specific incentives encouraging cooperation and partnership in a win-win dynamic.
This is why our today’s Forum brings together all the above mentioned actors: Ministerial representatives, Universities, Academies, Parliamentarians in an attempt to debate and reach consensus on how to better interact and address together challenges of socio-economic development at national and regional level in South Eastern Europe. Another goal of our event is the adoption of a forward-looking approach of Higher Education, Science and Innovation governance with a view to contribute to the building of knowledge society in the region.Our work shall make a contribution that the role of science, higher education and innovation within national development strategies be strengthened and that regional and international competitiveness and cooperation in the field of Higher Education, Science and Innovation will find new ways and means for success. We will show how the aims of national and regional strategies can be achieved. The most important impact will be to build bridges between involved countries and institutions which will result in developing synergies needed for successful development of economy and society.
The recommendations elaborated during the coming two days shallconstitute a major input into the further high level events organized next year by UNESCO, directly linked to the Budva Forum:
1.UNESCO Forum on Higher Education in the Europe Region: ‘Access, Values, Quality and Competitiveness’ (21-24 May 2009, Bucharest, Romania)
2.2009 World Conference on Higher Education “The New Dynamics of Higher Education” (6 to 8 July 2009 at UNESCO, Paris)
3.World Conference on Science – to be organized in November 2009, in Budapest (Hungary) by UNESCO together with the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the European Commission.
The last 2 events will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the 1st World Conference on Higher Education (Paris, 1999) and the 1st World Conference on Science (Budapest, 1999).
UNESCO and its Office in Venice BRESCE will support and facilitate the process on national and sub-regional level in order to enhance opportunities of the member states in SEE in the international field of Science, Education and Innovation. The BRESCE efforts aim at
•Enhancing stability and peace - To support the process of self sustainability and the promotion of Regional and Cross-Border Cooperation
•Encouraging the elaboration of common / harmonized strategies for Development in SEE
•Promoting of common development, management and assessment schemes and benchmarking
•Sharing principles and approaches to development of society and economy and protection of natural and cultural heritage and values.