FTA AS A DRIVER FOR CREATION OF NATIONAL RESEARCH ANDINNOVATION SYSTEM IN MONTENEGRO
/ The 4th International Seville Conference on Future-Oriented Technology Analysis (FTA):12 & 13 May 2011
FTA and Grand Societal Challenges:
Shaping and Driving Structural and Systemic Transformations
FTA AS A DRIVER FOR CREATION OF NATIONAL RESEARCH AND INNOVATION SYSTEM IN MONTENEGRO
Authors: / Đuro Kutlača, PhDJovan Mirković, PhD
Sandra Tinaj, mr. sc
Sponsors: / <PRONA NGO
Type: / National FTA exercise,
Geographic Coverage: / Nation /Montenegro
Scope: / To find promising ways of scientifically-technological and economic development of Montenegro
Applied Methods: / Collaborative team used the available data, brainstorming, analysis, interviews, six types of questionnaires, preparation of scenarios, SWOT analysis, Delphi and collecting comments, vision, evaluation, desire
Evaluation:
Impacts: / Analyzing the human and other development resources of Montenegro, identified innovation capacities, aspirations and goals.
The aim of the project was to assess the existing state of scientific research activities in Montenegro and to address the possible activities that could improve this important sector of science and society
Organiser: / Government of Montenegro, MontenegrinAcademy of Science and Art
Duration: / 1,5 years / Budget: / 100.000 / Time Horizon: / <1,5 / Date of Brief: / June 2012
Keywords: / team, science, priority, development, strategic
Purpose
Although the first book in Montenegro was printed in the fifteenth century, and arrival of telephone and cars followed the technological development of Europe, the first university in Montenegro was not founded until 1974. The scientific sector today is still characterized by poor infrastructure, few scientific papers, patents and innovation, insufficient human resources, weak association of academic, business and public sector, low investment in research, poor international cooperation and mobility of researchers, and undeveloped PhD studies. To find promising ways of scientifically-technological and economic development of Montenegro in the time of rapid technological change and the challenges of globalization, a multidisciplinary collaborative team is working on a subproject - Science and technology - within the strategic national project "Montenegro in the XXI century - the era of competitiveness", which is accepted as a research challenge and a kind of dialogue with the future.
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FTA AS A DRIVER FOR CREATION OF NATIONAL RESEARCH ANDINNOVATION SYSTEM IN MONTENEGRO
The methodology used in the process of implementation of the action is one of the first, pioneering applications of "foresight" methodology of science and technology forecasting in Montenegro.
Collaborative team used the available data, brainstorming, analysis, interviews, six types of questionnaires, preparation of scenarios, SWOT analysis, Delphi and collecting comments, vision, evaluation, desire. Solutions are generated in the process of communication between the implementers of the project in cooperation with public and private universities, institutes, small and large businesses, state and private companies, ministries, banks, hotels, insurance companies, NGOs and international organizations, as well as more hundreds of intellectuals and scientific Diaspora. We analyzed the human and other development resources of Montenegro, identified innovation capacities, aspirations and goals pursued in the economic and overall social development, and the role and importance of knowledge in the implementation of this development. As a result, the following has been defined: long-term vision - Montenegro as a knowledge-based society, and the goal - the establishment and functioning of national innovation system (NIS).
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FTA AS A DRIVER FOR CREATION OF NATIONAL RESEARCH ANDINNOVATION SYSTEM IN MONTENEGRO
The aim of the project was to assess the existing state of scientific research activities in Montenegro and to address the possible activities that could improve this important sector of science and society. Academic and commercial public in Montenegro was consulted about what directions to take in the research. One of the famous professors of the University led the team. Included were many professors and young researchers-PhD students. Team co-coordinator has identified team members, respecting the method of interdisciplinary and the method of forming think-tank groups. The foresight methodology in the implementation of the subproject "Science and Technology" included the Delphi method for expert evaluation of the factors that affect scientific research (SR) and development-research (DR) system in Montenegro. This determines the key directions of science and technology development in Montenegro. The evaluation comprised 165 experts, including 20 experts that were representatives of the scientific Diaspora of Montenegro.Interdisciplinary character of science and technology and the innovation system of the country are determined on the basis of research which included: Brainstorming meetings with representatives of academia, industry, government and others in the process of creating a development vision for the state; Delphi method; Surveys and SWOT analysis of organizations of SR and DR
systems as well as the enterprises engaged in innovation activities.
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FTA AS A DRIVER FOR CREATION OF NATIONAL RESEARCH ANDINNOVATION SYSTEM IN MONTENEGRO
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FTA AS A DRIVER FOR CREATION OF NATIONAL RESEARCH ANDINNOVATION SYSTEM IN MONTENEGRO
Output & Impacts
The experts assessed the importance of 22 factors that should provide conditions for the development of human resources for the Science and research sector, for the education and training of employees in the private sector and the tertiary sector in Montenegro, and pointed out that the most important for Montenegro are following three factors:
1. Equipment for scientific research;
2. Adequate status of higher education and research and development in the state;
3. Appropriations for the Science and research sector from public sources for at least 1% of GDP.
The vast majority of experts (44.17%) estimated that the funding of Science and Research in Montenegro should be within the Fund for Science and Technology - this is the proposal of a new institutional solution for financing Science and Research sector in Montenegro. Almost all the experts (77.30%) estimated that the funding of Science and Research sector in Montenegro should be on a project basis, applying for projects.
In assessing the significance of 10 activities for the development and functioning of Science and Research system in Montenegro in the XXI century, experts point out that the most important for Montenegro are the following three:
1. The formation and development of scientific human resources;
2. Building a scientific research infrastructure and
3. International scientific research cooperation.
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FTA AS A DRIVER FOR CREATION OF NATIONAL RESEARCH ANDINNOVATION SYSTEM IN MONTENEGRO
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FTA AS A DRIVER FOR CREATION OF NATIONAL RESEARCH ANDINNOVATION SYSTEM IN MONTENEGRO
Outcome & Evaluation
The experts assessed the importance that certain sectors of the economy of Montenegro will have in the future(until 2020) The most important sectors for improving the operation and development of science and research and the higher education sector in Montenegro are the following:
1. Education and human resource development;
2. Agriculture and biotechnology, and
3. Environmental protection.?
-They are followed by tourism, regional planning, sector related to the management of different types of waste and processing industry as a whole (production and processing of metals, energy production, wood processing, etc.).
Experts involved in the application of Delphi method were asked: "What do you expect of government to do in order to improve conditions for functioning of the scientific research system in Montenegro?". Their answers are the qualifications of the scientific and research relations between the state system of Montenegro, as seen by the intellectual and academic elites and scientific diaspora Montenegro. These responses are arranged in three groups: (1) Proposed actions of state institutions for the science and research management system in Montenegro, (2) The proposal of direct measures to be taken by relevant government authorities in the field of science and research system in Montenegro, (3) qualifications and opinions of experts hired about the current state and / or the expected relationship in the immediate future of the state institutions in the field of science and research system in Montenegro.
Evensomeofconclusionsareas follow; forminga spin-off companies, and parksforresearch, oropeningof the regionalcenter. It is necessaryto attractinvestment, boostthe development oftechnology, the presenceon the international marketknowledge, managementof intellectual property,andcontinuallyencouragecreativity. An importantcomponent thatshouldforcethestrategicpartnershipof researchinstitutionsandindustry(and business sectors), as well as jointresearchunitsandresearch andtrainingprogramsthatencouragecommercialization ofresearch andchangingthe existingenvironment.
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FTA AS A DRIVER FOR CREATION OF NATIONAL RESEARCH ANDINNOVATION SYSTEM IN MONTENEGRO
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FTA AS A DRIVER FOR CREATION OF NATIONAL RESEARCH ANDINNOVATION SYSTEM IN MONTENEGRO
<Sources and References>
- A more research-intensive and integrated European Research Area Science, Technology and Competitiveness, Key figures report 2008/2009, European Commission Directorate-General for Research Communication Unit, ISBN 978-92-79-10173-1.
- Innovation Infrastructures in the Western Balkan Countries, Information office of the steering platform on research for the western balkan countries, See-science.eu, October 2007.
- Science and Technology in the Western Balkans, Reports of the Information Office of the Steering Platform on Research for Western Balkan Countries, ISBN 978-3-200-01190-8, april 2008.
- Strategy of Development of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises 2007-2010,Republic of Montenegro Government of the Republic of Montenegro Directorate for the Development of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises
- Strategy ofscientific researchofMontenegro(2008-2016), Government of the Republic of Montenegro, Ministry of Science and Education.
- White Paper on Gaps, Overlaps, and Opportunities in View of the Extension of Bilateral RTD Programmes and Initiatives towards Multilateral Approaches Transition Studies Review (2007) 14 (2): 205–261 DOI 10.1007/s11300-007-0153-0 The Netherlands.
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<Title>: FTA Brief No. <N>
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