Slovak News Back to the news
Beblavy: Society and Government Don't Give a Damn About Science
Monday 14 December 2009 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, December 14 (TASR) - Deputy Premier for a Knowledge-based Society, European Affairs, Human Rights and Minorities Dusan Caplovic said at a conference on Monday that he regards information, education and research to be effective weapons in the fight against any economic or social crisis.
The conference 'Slovak Science' was held in Bratislava and focused on finding support for research and science.
"There's never-ending weeping and lamenting over the fact that society, the Government and enterprises don't give a damn about science. Hence, the first issue we'd like to tackle is finding out why science isn't a priority in Slovakia," said Miroslav Beblavy, the Administration Board chairman of the Slovak Governance Institute (SGI) that organised the event.
Despite the lack of interest in science, according to Beblavy, however, many view European funds to be a salvation. "We don't care, the EU will save us," said Beblavy of the public's attitude. Because of this kind of thinking, SGI invited Deputy Premier Caplovic to the conference.
Caplovic cautioned that the European funds might be a double-edged sword. "The 2007-2013 funding period represents a blessing; however, these resources should only be supplementary. On the other hand, the period after 2013 might be a curse," said Caplovic. He said that if Slovakia isn't able to "throw the switch and secure science and research funding from public and private sources as well, the European funds might become a curse, as major projects started today will need to live somehow after 2013".
In his speech, Caplovic talked mainly about the use of European funds, the priorities in science and legislative options to allow the participation of the private sector get involved in financing this field. He stated that, to date, these provisions have been lacking in Slovakia.
The conference was attended by the representatives from Slovak Academy of Science (SAV), universities and non-governmental organisations.
All rights reserved. Any publishing or further dissemination of press releases and photographs from TASR's resources without TASR's prior written approval constitutes a violation of the Copyrights Act.
