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Rokovania predstaviteľov SAV a automobilového priemyslu sú čoraz intenzívnejšie.

Industry in need of research

29. 11. 2016 | 1649 visits
Slovak companies invest their own resources annually in research and development in order to increase their competitiveness in Europe and worldwide. At a time of rapidly changing modern technology and innovation, their own investment is not enough. Industry leaders initiated meetings with representatives of the Slovak Academy of Sciences to agree on ways of putting the research potential of the Academy to use in the industrial environment. The current legislative framework does not allow companies to use SAS research to their full advantage.

"The Slovak Academy of Sciences is working in the legislative environment in which we are a state budgetary organization. It is by its very nature an institution which is not intended for business and does not supply services for industry or the economic sphere. A budget organization should be funded by the state budget, and that should be the essence of its existence. The government is currently deliberating (deliberation is suspended) a bill that could transform SAS from a state institution to an institution of public research and open it more to the needs of the country. Institutions of this type work the same way in Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland", said the President of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Pavol Šajgalík.

Slovakia managed to draw more than € 1.2 billion under the Operational Programme for Research and Development in the last program period which has brought about research centres that are equipped with cutting edge technology. Many are located directly in companies which deal with applied research for the needs of those companies. On the other hand, it is legally stipulated in the Operational Programme for Research and Development that no profit may be generated from the infrastructure acquired from the Structural Funds and even reimbursement of operating costs by a third party is questionable.

"It must be clearly stated that our officials take action by looking at the previous programming period which prevents us from using these tools and the results arising from them in practice. Paradoxically, we have invested money from the structural funds, we have created common academy-industry workplaces and the Slovak Academy of Sciences under current standards cannot commercialize these results in any significant way. The second blocker is the current legal status of SAS. “explained Matador president Štefan Rosina.

The act on public research institutions has drifted into being an interrupted point of deliberation. Its approval should be decided early next year. The President of the Academy of Sciences together with the president of Matador agreed that Slovakia needs a regulatory environment in which SAS and industry work closely together on an economic basis in the areas of research that action on the needs of producers.