Science, research and innovation have long been denied the standing they deserve, Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAV) chief Jaromír Pastorek said Thursday. Pointing to the example of surrounding countries, Pastorek said that they allocate much more funding to this area knowing that it will bring economic growth in the future.
“That pre-supposes public support, but if we keep making cuts we'll never attain the objectives we've set for ourselves,” said Pastorek. Whereas the average spending on science in EU countries is 1.82 percent of GDP, Slovakia's is below 0.5 percent of GDP. “As for the objective set by this Government, this should go up to 1.2 percent of GDP by 2020, but it envisions a 1:2 ratio of funding from public and private resources,” he added.
