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01.04.2010 02:05 - Отворено писмо на Президента на Европейската федерация на академиите на науките
Автор: llluki Категория: Новини   
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Последна промяна: 01.04.2010 02:06


ALLEA
Prime Minister of Bulgaria
Boyko Borissov
1 Dondukov Blvd
1194 Sofia
Bulgaria
Amsterdam, 19 March 2010
Ref: L-1088/mb

Subject: Letter from ALLEA President to Prime Minister

Your Excellency, Honourable Prime Minister Borissov,

I am writing with the intention of contributing to an urgent and necessary debate about the future of the Bulgarian research and higher education systems. I was glad to learn that in these debates and deliberations the societal value of science is now receiving the priority status it deserves, as the future of your country in the European knowledge-based economy is at stake.
Our interest in this debate must be seen against the following background: ALLEA (“All European Academies”: the European Federation of National Academies of Sciences and Humanities) and ESF (“European Science Foundation”) recently completed a comprehensive review of the scientific capacities and prospects of the research institutes of the Bulgarian Academy of Science (BAS). This peer-review based evaluation, which involved some 40 internationally renowned scientists working for almost a year through the material provided by BAS researchers, and conducting several thousand hours of site visits in Bulgaria, was the first to scrutinise any institution in Bulgaria in such detail. BAS was found to be, in an international perspective, by far the leading scientific institution in the country.
This evaluation was driven by the intention to make an assessment of the long-term potential for growth of scientific output in BAS as the basis of any reform. In this context the review identified the strengths and weaknesses, and concluded that it would be detrimental to abandon positions of strength that BAS had conquered, also in international comparison: the process of its under-funding needs to be stopped.
The evaluation stated clearly that BAS and universities should not be seen as competitors. Rather, a national R&D policy should recognise their different roles: the universities as institutions of higher education would benefit from the existence of top-quality, research-intensive Academy institutes – just as in many Western and Central European countries.
We understand that BAS is currently implementing the reforms requested; it goes without saying, that during such complex reform processes, which will trigger strong internal opposition, the BAS leadership needs the full support of the national government that is committed to strengthening the country’s science base.
Across the continent and beyond, nations are struggling to keep up the momentum of investment in the future science base: the challenge is clearly one of positioning the country on the starting blocks for economic recovery. In many countries, national research centres – the equivalents of BAS – are receiving extra budgetary boosts, because they are recognised as producing the new knowledge, the innovative products, the path-breaking technologies, that will be needed to keep the nation’s industries afloat. In countries such as Austria, the Netherlands or Sweden, Academy research institutes fulfil the same role of pioneering science institutions as BAS does in Bulgaria. BAS is the Bulgarian counterpart of CNRS in France, or of the Max-Planck-Institutes in Germany, which are all non-university clusters of research-intensive institutes.
ALLEA
With its unique combination of specialised research units, BAS can ensure that in this complex reality of contemporary science all fields of research remain potentially connected. This is a highly recommended approach, one followed by research centres elsewhere such as the Max-Planck-Institutes in Germany. BAS has shown that it is committed to being judged by the same scientific standards as are its Western European counterparts, and to demonstrate that it is the place where talents can grow, stay and be attracted from abroad, where excellence is the leading criterion for support, and where research is spearheaded that will tackle future societal needs. Investment in basic research is an investment for the future; excellent research centres and teams cannot be established overnight: they need careful, long-term nurturing.
You are only too familiar with the vision of the European Commission’s Green Paper that assigns a central role to publicly funded National Research Centres, such as BAS, as the drivers of cutting-edge innovation, which would prepare the ground for the successes of revenue-generating private enterprise. The European Commission is quite clear in pointing out the responsibility of national governments to maintain and strengthen such organisations. Elsewhere across the continent the target is to devote one third of the overall research funding to National Research Centres.
You will be interested to learn that the National Research Centres across the European nations (including BAS), together with the national research funding agencies, are now in the process of re-organising their collaboration at European level. In Bulgaria, the organisation typically seen as a partner in these large-scale European collaborations is the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
Given that in times of crisis resources are scarce for new investments, each step towards a restructuring of the current system must be very carefully considered, lest any lasting damage be done. The ability for BAS to compete successfully in the international arena will be critically reduced if further budget restrictions are imposed. The loss for the country as a whole is difficult to overestimate.
Science and Technology Studies the world over have concluded that national R&D policies must have at their core a long-term investment in strong basic research – such as is carried out at the BAS research units. BAS has developed links and tools for knowledge transfer to the private sector, which is more than can be said of many research institutes in Western Europe. We believe the role of the leading Bulgarian research institution – the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences – needs to be appropriately acknowledged inside the country to match its reputation outside.
I do trust, Mr Prime Minister, that in acting for the best of your country, you will ensure that the restructuring of the research environment planned by your Government will make the best use of the excellence and expertise that is assembled in BAS as National Research Centre and will not diminish the ability of Bulgaria’s prime research institutions to provide young researchers with the possibility of a good science career in their own country.

Yours sincerely,
Professor Dr Jьri Engelbrecht
President of ALLEA


Тагове:   писмо,   Отворено,   науките,


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Автор: llluki
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