Slovenia's Government Approves National Innovation Strategy Focused on R&D and Entrepreneurship

The Slovenian parliament recently approved the Resolution on the Research and Innovation Strategy of Slovenia 2011-2020, a comprehensive strategy to establish "a contemporary research and innovation system that will ensure a higher quality of life within the country." According to the UNESCO Science Report, Slovenia is drastically ahead of their counterparts in Southeastern Europe. However, Slovenia still intends to double the government's science budget from 0.52 percent of GDP to almost 1.0 percent of GDP (approximately $554.9 million) in 2012 with an expected increase to 1.2 percent in 2020. By 2012, the government expects to exceed the European Union (EU) required gross domestic expenditure on research and development (R&D) established by the Barcelona Objective (3 percent of GDP). Tax breaks and other government incentives will be utilized to spur domestic private sector investments and foreign direct investment into Slovenia's science and technology (S&T) sectors. This strong commitment to S&T is intended to attract successful researchers and companies from the Western Balkans and to increase the number of foreign researchers working in the country. To strengthen entrepreneurship, the plan includes aid to young Ph.D.s to establish startups, tax breaks to companies that invest in R&D, public-private research collaboration and reductions in red tape. The plan also gives public research organizations more autonomy but requires them to produce results that clearly "make a positive impact on science or the economy." Read the report...