Czech Republic, Singapore to Double R&D Investments

While the U.S. commitment to science is threatened by flattening federal R&D investments, two more countries demonstrate their shared belief that the way to economic prosperity is through science and innovation.

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic has outlined a five-year economic development plan that calls for doubling R&D's share of the gross domestic product by 2010. To achieve that goal requires increasing government spending for science and innovation by 20-25 percent annually, according to Martin Jahn, deputy prime minister for the economy.

The country of 10.2 million people (2005 est.) currently only spends 0.6 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on science. The goal is to raise that to 1.3 percent by 2010, still well below the European average of 1.9 percent but ambitious nonetheless for a former Soviet block nation. Government spending will have to increase by at least 2-4 billion Czech korunas (approx. $84.3 million to $168.6 million US) each year for the next five years to meet the goal. [Note to states: This is real money, not borrowed through long-term revenue bonds.]  For 2006, Czech scientists are slated to receive 18.2 billion Czech korunas ($767 million US).

To help encourage innovation, the country also is working to host the World Women Entrepreneurs Congress in 2007, increasing public investment capital availability by 200 million Czech korunas in 2006, and adjusting immigration policy with an "aim to keep young scientists in the Czech Republic," Jahn said.

Singapore

While the Czech Republic is motivated by raising its per capita GDP to the European average, the argument for doubling R&D expenditures in Singapore sounds very similar to those raised by many in the U.S.: the rise of China and India. The Ministerial Committee on Research and Development (MCRD), chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Tony Tan, has outlined a strategy to raise R&D's share of the country's GDP to 3 percent within the next five years.

The plan calls for public investment of $12 billion Singapore ($7.22 billion US) during the next five years in selected technologies areas such as current focus areas of electronics, chemicals and marine engineering, and biomedical sciences. In addition, new focus should be given to environmental and water technologies, and interactive digital media.

Public research investments would be more balanced under the new plan, Tan said, between investigator-led and mission-oriented research. Both academic and industry research sectors would receive increased funding from the national government. The academic research fund will nearly double from $550 million Singapore for fiscal years 2001-2005 to $1.05 billion Singapore for the five-year 2006-2010 planning period.

The final recommendation calls for reorganizing the country's research structure using the models of the Innovation Platform in the Netherlands and the Science and Technology Policy Council of Finland. Singapore's new entity would be called the Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council (REIC). In addition to advising the Cabinet on policy issues, REIC would oversee the establishment of a new $5 billion Singapore National Research Foundation.

In sum, total public sector support for research and innovation in Singapore, a country of 4.4 million people, would rise from $5 billion in FY 2001-2005 to $12 billion during FY 2006-2010 under the plan. MCRD's recommendations are being considered as the national government develops final five-year budget figures, Tan said.