At the sitting held on 1 October, the members of the Committee on Science and Technological Development considered the Information on cooperation with institutes abroad.

The Information was presented by Milos Nedeljkovic, State Secretary at the Ministry of Science and Technological Development and Viktor Nedojevic, Assistant Minister for International Cooperation.

According to Assistant Nedojevic, in the previous period Serbia joined the science development programme in Europe, part of Framework Programme 7, which is also the focus of the Ministry’s work. By 2007, through Framework Programme 6, Serbia gained the status of third country, and after the 2007 arrangement it became an associate member when the Memorandum on Understanding was signed. This allowed Serbian researchers presence in all scientific programmes and invitations called within Framework Programme 7, and it also enabled Serbian scientists to head these programmes, which they could not before. Framework Programme 7 will be realised by 2013, and Serbia, as all the other members, is obliged to contribute to the programme’s annual budget funding the science projects. In the talks with the European Commission Serbia received favourable financial conditions on it contribution into the Framework Programme 7 budget, and specific positions to come up with projects were also opened where Serbian researchers were enabled to join the committee programmes as observers. Framework Programme 7 contains 4 pillars (cooperation, capacities, people and ideas) each of which has 10 sub-fields into which Serbian researchers have been included. Also, the Ministry established an additional cooperation network with the EU by creating a network of national contact persons who assist the researchers. Serbia achieved the best results in the scientific research development and stimulation projects called by the European Commission in 2007 for the Western Balkans. Last year, in direct negotiation, Serbia facilitated an invitation for projects for the Western Balkans in the amount of 8 million EUR, out of which Serbia received 50% i.e. out of the 6 projects total Serbia got 3. Energy production, transport, food, telecommunications, nanotechnologies are the most successful fields where Serbia reached the European level of 20%. In real numbers, since 2007 Serbia has had over 80 confirmed projects, and over 20 million EUR of realised contracted funds. In some other fields, such as health care, Serbian success rate is only 5% and the Ministry is trying its best to raise the researchers’ and institutes’ success rate. With this in mind a unit was created to deal with dialogue and assist researchers and institutions in applying for specific projects. In addition to Framework Project 7, Serbia is also taking part in the pan-European project KOST which is creating a network among institutes of at least five countries and so far has 110 researchers involved in projects like these. Serbia is also participating in the EUREKA project financing applicable science by connecting scientific institutions and the economy. So far, Serbia has 30 such projects. Serbian scientists are also taking parting the CERN project, NATO SPS project and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission.

In the sphere of bilateral cooperation the realisation of science and technology agreements with other countries is currently underway. In 2010 alone Serbia signed agreements with the US, Italy, Austria, the Republic of Srpska, Spain. An agreement with Russia is expected by the end of the year, while agreements with Belarus and Greece have been reactivated.

In a long debate on the data presented by the Ministry representatives, the Committee members asked various questions about the project funds received from the EC, bilateral cooperation with Russia, China, India, Japan, as well as Syria and Romania, the scientific fields in which Serbian scientists achieve the best results, where Serbia’s chances for success and funding lie in that respect and the economy’s inclusion in the application of scientific achievements.

The sitting was chaired by Srboljub Zivanovic, Committee Chairman.